Author
Bowtie Team
Updated on
2025-06-19
Disclaimer: This article is translated with the assistance of AI.
Hong Kong’s insurance market is thriving, offering a wide range of products like medical, life, and critical illness coverage. Many people choose based on life stages such as graduation, marriage, or retirement. To guide you, Bowtie consulted an actuary and a seasoned expert with over 10 years in the industry for valuable insights.
As an international metropolis, Hong Kong’s insurance industry is fairly mature, offering a wide range of products that let people pick the coverage that suits them best. On the market, the most commonly recognized types include medical insurance, life insurance , critical illness insurance, travel insurance, and auto insurance , among others.
When it comes to deciding what insurance to buy and when, most folks break it down by life stages to assess their needs. Before picking the right policy, you can divide your life into three main stages, then think about the risks and expenses you’ll face at each one, helping you choose the appropriate protections.
To shed some light on this, Bowtie invited a actuary and Bowtie co-founder and joint CEO — Michael Chan FSA, CFP , along with an independent insurance broker with over 10 years in the industry — Lawrence Fong , to share their insights.
| Suggested Insurance Products | ||
| Independent Insurance Broker | Actuary | |
| After Graduation |
2. Hospitalization Cash Insurance 3. Critical Illness Insurance (if you can afford it) |
1. VHIS 3. Term Life Insurance (if your family depends on your income) |
| After Marriage | 1. Life Insurance
2. Loan Insurance 3. Children’s Insurance / Education Fund |
1. Medical Insurance (for yourself and family) 2. Life Insurance / Loan Insurance 3. Critical Illness Insurance 4. Accident Insurance (for yourself and family) |
| Before Retirement | 1. Savings Insurance
2. Annuity Plan |
1. Annuity Plan 2. Wealth Life Insurance (if your finances allow) |
Stage 1: Life After Graduation
Independent Insurance Broker: Just graduated and stepping into the real world, you’re starting to take on financial responsibilities for yourself or your family. But since family burdens aren’t too heavy at this stage, the focus should be on protecting your own health , so you won’t become a burden if illness strikes. At this point, hospitalisation insurance and hospital cash plans are ideal choices.
In Hong Kong, Public Hospital overcrowding is common, especially during flu peaks when it’s packed to the brim—and it’s only getting worse. Public hospitals can’t always guarantee your health needs, and if private hospital fees are out of reach, what then? A hospitalisation insurance policy gives you another option, letting you access private medical services while managing those hefty costs.
If your finances allow, you might also consider critical illness insurance to prepare for serious diseases. Many plans have level premiums, meaning they don’t increase with age after the policy starts, so the younger you buy it, the cheaper it is!
Still, since hospitalisation insurance is more affordable and practical, it’s the top pick for those just starting their careers.
Actuary: At any life stage, illness or injury is unavoidable, and health coverage is a must. With fewer big responsibilities now, your main worry is your own well-being, so you should prioritise medical insurance (like VHIS) to keep your quality of life intact if something happens. For young adults, I’d recommend this order: VHIS , Cancer Insurance , and Term Life Insurance .
Hospitalisation insurance covers a wide range of medical expenses, big or small, making it a solid and comprehensive choice. Most VHIS products include this coverage and are government-approved, so you don’t have to worry much about the risks. The standard VHIS plans handle basic medical costs well, and you can upgrade to a flexi plan for more protection if needed.
Compared to high-risk conditions like heart disease, cancer is more common in younger people, so cancer insurance might be more essential than general critical illness coverage. Opt for plans focused on medical needs, like surgery, hospital stays, and medications. Of course, some policies cover extras like transport, reconstructive surgery, or wigs, but they come with higher premiums—think carefully if you really need those add-ons.
As for term life insurance, it depends on whether you’re the family’s breadwinner. If your income supports dependents, like aging parents relying on you, then it’s worth considering to protect them .
Second Stage: After Marriage
Independent Insurance Broker: After working for a while, besides the increasing responsibilities towards your original family, you also have to handle housing and family burdens after marriage. At this time, in addition to needing medical coverage, you should also consider life insurance . If you become unable to work or die due to illness or injury, life insurance can ensure that your family won’t suddenly fall into financial hardship, avoiding the double blow of losing a loved one and the economic pillar.
Life insurance coverage can be divided into “people-centric” and “asset-based” . “People’centric” refers to the economic burdens you bear for your family, with a basic coverage amount of about 6 months to 1 year’s household expenses. For a more thorough consideration, you should factor in market changes like inflation, or parents’ medical expenses.
As for “Asset-based” , it refers to loan protection for assets. For Hong Kong people, the main loan protections are for cars and housing loans. Since these burdens decrease over time, you might consider some decreasing term life insurance to reduce premium costs.
Beyond that, after marriage, you might also start thinking about choosing insurance and education funds for your children. Since children don’t have family responsibilities, life insurance can be skipped, with the main focus on medical and hospitalization coverage needs .
Actuary: After starting your own family, you need to purchase Medical Insurance for your partner and children. There are family-oriented medical plans available on the market. If you and your partner already have company-provided group medical insurance, you need to weigh the premiums and coverage offered by family medical plans against individual medical insurance. If you choose to keep your existing medical insurance, consider whether to expand the coverage.
As for life insurance , as mentioned above: it depends on whether your family relies on your income . If your other half is a full-time caregiver with no income, making you the family’s breadwinner, then you might need life insurance to protect your family. Additionally, many people wonder if they need life insurance for their children to protect their lives. This is normally unnecessary , because children aren’t the family’s breadwinners, and their passing wouldn’t cause financial loss to the family. Of course, once they become adults and enter the workforce, if their parents (that’s you and your partner) rely on their income, then they might need life insurance to protect you and your partner.
Furthermore, since kids often get hurt from falls and scrapes, sometimes needing clinic visits for wound cleaning or hospital stitches, as a parent, you might consider getting accident insurance for them to cover medical expenses from accidents, big or small.
If you’re still paying off your property loan, you also need life insurance for your property to ensure your family doesn’t have to bear the heavy property loan burden if you unexpectedly pass away.
Third Stage: Pre-Retirement
Independent Insurance Broker: As people reach middle age, they naturally accumulate certain burdens: such as aging parents in the original family, who need more attention to health issues; and as you get older yourself, you start needing to plan for retirement. Various reasons will lead you to increase your existing coverage. For retirement savings, you can do it according to your means and consider participating in market savings insurance and annuity plans .
Actuary: Generally, before retirement, people have accumulated a certain amount of wealth, which you can use to protect your family or pass on to your children. Indirectly, your need for life insurance relatively decreases . Therefore, you can set the term of life insurance up to retirement age, with the sum assured gradually decreasing as age increases . Additionally, you can transfer your wealth to other investment products, such as Hong Kong annuities or qualified deferred annuity policies , to enjoy tax benefits.
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