A safety net for the people who depend on you.
Life insurance pays a lump sum to the people who depend on you. Critical illness cover pays you a guaranteed lump sum on diagnosis of a severe illness such as cancer, heart attack or stroke.
Why this cover matters
Life rarely goes exactly as planned. If death, permanent disability or serious illness occurs, the financial consequences can be immediate and severe for those left behind. Mortgages, education costs, everyday living expenses and debts do not disappear. They pass to your family.
A life policy is a financial safety net that keeps your loved ones supported and stable during an already difficult time. For expats and internationally mobile families, it matters even more when dependants live in different countries or rely on a single income.
Each type serves a different purpose.
We help you understand where each fits, and where it does not.
Term life insurance
Simple, cost-effective protection for a fixed period. If death occurs during the term, a guaranteed lump sum goes to your beneficiaries. With no cash value, premiums are generally lower, so it is an efficient way to protect dependants through the key earning years.
Whole life insurance
Lifelong protection with a conservative savings element. Part of each premium builds cash value over time, which can often be partly withdrawn while cover continues. Plans can grow with you after events such as marriage or children.
Critical illness insurance
A lump sum on diagnosis of a covered serious condition such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. Unlike medical insurance, it is paid to you and can be used for anything: treatment, recovery, lifestyle changes or replacing lost income.
Group term life insurance
An employer-provided benefit that pays a lump sum to an employee’s beneficiaries, typically a multiple of salary. Pooling risk across staff generally keeps premiums lower.
How this sits beside MPF and a company scheme
Most people arriving in Hong Kong already hold something. An MPF account is opened on the first day of employment, and a longer-serving employer may run an ORSO scheme or a group benefit as well. None of these is life cover, and reading them as if they were is the commonest gap we see. An MPF balance is a retirement pot: on death it passes to the estate, and it is worth what has accumulated, not a multiple of what your family needs.
| What you hold | What it does, and does not |
|---|---|
| MPF | A retirement account funded by contributions. Passes to the estate and is sized by what is in it. |
| ORSO scheme | An occupational retirement arrangement. Terms vary, and a death benefit may or may not be included. |
| Group term life | Usually a multiple of salary, and it stops on the day employment does. |
| Savings and investments | Real money, but rarely sized against a liability, and usually needed for something else. |
| Personal cover | Portable, sized to your own liabilities and unaffected by a change of employer. |
How life insurance plans differ
Two shapes of contract sit behind almost every quote an expat sees here. The first pays only if death occurs inside a defined window: ten years, twenty, or up to a chosen age. The second has no window at all. It pays whenever death occurs, and builds a surrender value along the way. Everything else on the market is a variation on those two.
The choice is rarely about which is better. It is about how long the money is actually needed. A family with a mortgage and two children at school carries a debt that shrinks each year and a dependency that ends. A business owner with a buy-sell agreement, or a parent supporting an adult child who will never be financially independent, carries an obligation that does not.
Where term life fits
For most arriving families a fixed-window plan does the heavy lifting. It buys the largest sum for the smallest premium, and the years it covers are the years when the hole left by a death would be widest: the mortgage, the school fees, and a partner stepping back from work to care for children. Many expat families run both, a large fixed-window plan sized to the years of maximum exposure and a smaller permanent plan underneath it.
Cover that runs to 100
Several products written in Hong Kong now run to age 100 instead of for life without limit. At 100 the contract matures and pays out, so the money is certain, not conditional on a date nobody can predict. It matters for estate planning, and two products sold as the same thing can differ on exactly this point, so ask before you sign.
What underwriting looks at
Age at entry, height and weight, smoking, family history and anything already under treatment. None of it is unusual and almost none of it is a bar. It changes the price, and occasionally adds a small exclusion. The useful comparison is not the headline premium. It is what each plan still pays if you leave this city, change employer or develop a condition five years from now.
Four steps, and we stay with you after them.
Talk to us about your needs
We learn your situation, priorities and budget.
Compare your options
We put the three or four best-fit policies side by side, in plain language.
Get covered quickly
We handle the paperwork and deal with the insurers for you.
Ongoing support
When it is time to claim, renew or change your cover, we are there to help.
What clients say
Real reviews from expats, families and businesses who use Expat Insurance for clear advice and reliable support.
“We have used Expat Insurance for several years over multiple different products including life, travel, contents and helper insurances. They have always been super attentive and I have always felt that they have listened to our needs and requests, helping us to find the best solution on the market. They are really friendly and have been great to work with! Highly recommend!”
“I have been using Expat Insurance services for a couple of years for home, life, car insurance and I am very happy with them. The team is very efficient and supportive and I know I can count on a quick and detailed reply anytime I have a question.”
“Marc and team have helped me with business and personal insurance for almost 10 years now. Marc is extremely knowledgeable & always available for advice and support. Highly recommend.”
Frequently asked questions
What is life insurance?
A contract with an insurance company under which, in exchange for a premium, an agreed sum is paid to the people you name if you die during the period covered. Term, whole of life and cash-value plans are all variations on that one mechanic.
What is pure protection cover good for?
It buys the largest death benefit for the smallest premium, because none of it is diverted into savings. It tends to suit a defined liability with an end date, such as a mortgage or the years until children are independent.
How much cover do I need?
The usual starting point is what would still have to be paid if your income stopped (the mortgage, school fees and a few years of living costs), less what is already provided.
Do I still need cover if my employer provides it?
Employer cover is a useful baseline, but it is normally a multiple of salary and it ends with the job. Personal cover is portable and sized to what you owe, so most people hold some of their own alongside it.
Does it still pay if I leave Hong Kong?
Internationally portable plans are written to respond wherever the life insured is resident, but residence and travel are rated at underwriting. If you are moving, tell us before you go, because what happens to cover on departure depends on the wording.
Guides on life insurance in Hong Kong
Everything we have written on this cover: what it includes, what it costs and the questions worth asking before you commit.
- Working out how much cover you need
- Term vs whole life
- Why expats tend to use a broker for this
- What happens if you leave
- Getting Life Insurance With a Pre-Existing Condition
- Leaving Hong Kong: What Happens to Your Life Insurance
- How Much Life Insurance Do I Need? A Hong Kong Expat’s Calculation
- Income Protection and Disability Insurance for Expats in Hong Kong
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