The Life Insurance Association (LIA) has launched a digital calculator to help consumers better understand their financial protection needs and take steps to narrow gaps in their insurance coverage.

The calculator, which has been used about 500 times since its soft launch last month, allows consumers to find out their approximate protection needs and gaps starting with just seven questions, the LIA said yesterday.

It generates a report that gives users an overview of their coverage gaps, a detailed breakdown of their protection needs, and a summary of their financial resources.

This includes information on the cost of estimated expenses needed upon death or diagnosis of a critical illness.

Users first have to complete one or up to four sections of a questionnaire, depending on how accurate they want their results to be. The questionnaire covers information about the user, the user's family, financial obligations and resources.

"We tend to underestimate the probability of unfortunate events such as death and critical illness, and put off getting adequate protection until it is too late," said LIA Singapore president Khor Hock Seng.

"By presenting this personalised gap in tangible numbers produced by an industry-calibrated calculator, we seek to encourage consumers to be proactive in ensuring that they and their loved ones are well protected."