A Developer's Guide to Insurance (The Honest Version)

Why Developers Should Care About Insurance

In my mid-twenties, an insurance agent introduced me to three policies: whole life insurance, private health insurance, and cancer insurance. Total monthly premiums came to about 273,000 won. That's 3,276,000 won per year. For four years, I just let the auto-payments run without thinking about it.

At 29, I started studying personal finance and pulled out my policy documents. Turns out one whole life policy was eating about 48% in administrative fees. (I can't believe I didn't know this for four years.)

What Insurance Developers Actually Need

Let's be honest -- development is a low-risk occupation when it comes to workplace injuries. We're not on construction sites or factory floors. But we do have occupational hazards.

Turtle neck syndrome, carpal tunnel, herniated discs, dry eyes. These accumulate over time. They start showing up one by one in your mid-thirties, and that's where private health insurance comes in handy.

Private health insurance is genuinely essential. The 4th generation plans have higher copays at around 20-30%, but that's still infinitely better than having nothing. You can get coverage for about 15,000 won per month.

What I Didn't Need

Whole life insurance. In my view, single developers in their 20s-30s almost never need whole life insurance. If you have no dependents, who's going to collect the death benefit? The agent told me it was a "savings product," but when I calculated the return, it was under 1.2% annually. In an era when bank deposits were paying 3%.

I canceled it two years ago. Out of the 13.1 million won I'd paid in, I got back 7.8 million. Lost about 5.3 million won. It stung, but cutting losses now was better than continuing to pour money in.

Savings-type insurance products are similar. Variable universal life, pension insurance -- if you look at the fee structure, administrative costs eat up almost everything for the first 7-10 years. That same money in ETFs would have done much better.

Here's the Summary

Essential: Private health insurance (4th generation), about 15,000 won/month.

Consider: Cancer insurance. Recommended if you have a family history. A 30 million won lump-sum diagnosis plan runs about 20,000 won/month. It's cheap if you sign up in your early 30s.

Consider: Income protection insurance. Especially important for freelancers. If illness or injury keeps you from working for 3+ months, your income drops to zero. Coverage of 2 million won/month costs about 30,000 won in premiums.

Unnecessary: Whole life insurance (if you're single), savings-type insurance, variable insurance. Use insurance for protection only and keep your savings in an investment account.

Tips for Cleaning Up Your Insurance

If you ask your insurance agent about canceling, they'll obviously talk you out of it. "You'll lose money if you cancel now." "Just hold on a bit longer and the return rate goes up." The truth is, the agent gets ongoing commissions for maintained policies, so of course they'll try to keep you.

Compare policies on insurance comparison sites, and call the customer service center directly to cancel what you don't need. If you schedule an in-person meeting, they'll try to talk you out of it again.

After cleaning house, my monthly insurance premiums went from 273,000 won to 48,000 won. That's 2.69 million won saved per year. I'm putting that into ETFs now. When I think about how I would've saved roughly 10.76 million won if I'd done this four years earlier... it stings a little.