tokio marine life insurance - launch of tm retirement life

today, i attended tokio marine life insurance's soft launch of tm retirement life at ntuc auditorium at one marina to roll out their latest product, tm retirement life. the official launch date is may 31, 2012. what is tm retirement life? this is a hybrid limited premium participating whole life plan with yearly cash benefits from either age 60 or age 65 (referred to as the 'payout' age) for as long as the life assured lives. my comments: the plan provides coverage for death and terminal illness and is available for both single life and joint-life application (husband and wife). starting from the selected payout age (either age 60 or age 65), a guaranteed cash benefit equivalent to 5% of the sum assured will be payable yearly for as long as the life assured is alive. payment of the cash benefists does not reduce the death benefit and sum assured. once again, as in most of tokio marine life insurance's participating products, the reversionary bonus rate is projected at $10 per $1,000 sum assured compounding at 1% per annum. this is neither aggresive nor overly optimistic as indeed, the worsening eurozone debt crisis has seen a flight of captial to safety like us and german government soverign papers. this product may be suitable for consumers looking for a perpetual 'bank account' (note, not perpetual securities) and can be considered to be an annuity also. tm retirement life is also open to joint-life application which of course is restricted to a legal husband and wife relationship. what's interesting is the plan will continue to pay the guaranteed cash benefit which is equivalent to 5% of the sum assured for so long as any of the life assured is alive from the selected payout age. today, there are not many insurers offering an annuity product in their stable and it is perhaps not difficult to understand why this is so, against the factor of ever increasing life expectancy here because our tiny red dot nation have one of the longest life expectancy on planet earth. and it is simply very demanding of the insurer to come out with such a product due to the very stringent requirements of reserves versus liabilities on a very long term horizon. and last but not least, promiselanders now have an additional option (a lifetime stream of guaranteed income) to offer consumers.