How do you qualify for MDRT? The 2027 requirements in Singapore dollars

MDRT is the Million Dollar Round Table, a membership association for people who sell life insurance and financial products. Thirty-two producers started it in 1927, and today its members come from more than 80 countries and territories and nearly 700 companies.

Membership lasts one year. You qualify on what you produced in one calendar year, you apply the next year, and you do it again every year after. The 2027 membership is earned by the business paid to you in 2026, which is why the figure you need right now carries next year's date.

MDRT's table for Singapore, 2027 membership. It covers business paid to you from 1 January to 31 December 2026.

The figures on most of the pages that rank for this search are the 2026 ones: S$72,400 commission, S$217,200 premium and S$125,400 income. Those were for business paid in 2025. If you're working towards membership now, use the 2027 row.

How to read the table:

• Pick one row. That row is your method, and you need to reach the figure in one column of it.
• Your certifying letter reports production in US dollars. To convert, divide your Singapore figure by MDRT's conversion factor for Singapore: 0.8239 for commission, 1.2358 for premium and 0.8206 for income. S$75,800 divided by 0.8239 is MDRT's US$92,000. The factors are MDRT's own and aren't exchange rates.
• MDRT's monthly goal chart for Singapore splits the year evenly. For the MDRT commission figure that's S$18,950 by the end of March, S$37,900 by the end of June and S$56,850 by the end of September.

Under the commission method you add up the eligible commission paid to you in the year, and your company confirms it in a certifying letter.

Premium counts the eligible premium paid on your cases. In Singapore the premium figure is three times the commission figure, so the arithmetic is simple. If your first-year commission averages more than a third of first-year premium across your cases, the commission method needs less business. If it averages less than a third, premium needs less. Check this against the credit rules below, because single premium plans count very differently under each method.

Income is gross income from selling insurance and financial products: first-year, renewal and trail commission, fees, and production-based salary and bonuses. You need S$131,300, and within that at least US$46,000 from new business written in the year and US$46,000 from risk-protection products. The same new life policy can count towards both minimums. MDRT publishes these two minimums in US dollars only. First-time applicants have been able to use this method since the 2026 membership year. You sign the income letter yourself, and MDRT can audit it later and ask for commission statements or tax documents.

MDRT splits products into two groups. Risk-protection products are life, critical illness, disability income, accident, long-term care and annuities, individual or group, plus single premium and short-term endowment plans. Other products are health insurance, mutual funds (unit trusts), securities, wrap accounts and fees for advice.

Half of a commission or premium total has to come from risk-protection products before anything from the other group counts. On the 2027 commission figure that's S$37,900. MDRT's own example: an applicant with US$46,000 of risk-protection commission and US$100,000 from other products is credited US$146,000. With US$45,999 of risk-protection commission, they're credited US$45,999.

How much each product counts:

These don't count under the commission or premium method: override commission, training allowances, transition packages, sign-on bonuses, and sales or expense allowances. Under the income method, overrides count only on your own production, and incentive trips don't count at all.

A few more rules catch people out:

• The premium has to be accepted and the first-year commission paid to you within 1 January to 31 December. A case signed in late December may not be paid in time.
• A policy that lapses on or before 31 December doesn't count, unless it ended through death or a term conversion.
• If you replace a client's life policy, you only get credit for the amount by which the new policy's first-year commission or premium beats the old one.
• Policies on yourself, your spouse or your dependents can make up at most 5% of the requirement if you or your spouse pay any of the premium. For 2027 that's US$4,600 of commission.
• If an annualised commission is charged back next year, next year's credit goes down by that amount.

MDRT's Singapore table puts Court of the Table at three times the MDRT figure under every method, and Top of the Table at six times. For 2027 that's S$227,400 and S$454,800 of commission.

The risk-protection rule stays at the entry-level amount. You still need half of the MDRT figure, S$37,900 of commission, from risk-protection products before other products count, even when you're going for TOT. Under the income method, COT and TOT keep the same US$46,000 minimums for new business and risk-protection.

On dues, COT adds US$50 to the US$600 and TOT adds US$550. A member with 10 years at TOT who falls short one year can apply under a TOT waiver, and still pays TOT dues.

The requirement is a year's number. What you control is this week. To work back from S$75,800, you need two of your own figures: the average first-year commission on a case you close, and how many first meetings it takes to close one.

The numbers below are made up to show the sums. Use your own.

• Average first-year commission per case: S$1,500. S$75,800 divided by S$1,500 is 50.5, so 51 cases.
• Say you close 1 in 3 first meetings. Use your own ratio. 51 cases times 3 is 153 first meetings.
• Spread over 48 working weeks, that's 1.06 cases and 3.2 first meetings a week.

Starting late has a cost. Say it's the end of September and you've been paid S$40,000. The other S$35,800 is 24 more cases at S$1,500. With 13 weeks left, that's about 2 cases and 5 to 6 first meetings a week, and the last few cases have to be paid out before 31 December.

The MDRT calculator does these sums from today's date, with your own figure.

Check where you are against MDRT's monthly chart at the end of each month, so you know by June whether December is safe.

1. Applications for 2027 membership open on 1 November 2026.
2. Get your certifying letter signed by your company if you're using the commission or premium method. Under the income method you sign the letter yourself.
3. Apply online at mdrt.org. MDRT says it takes about 10 minutes if your documents are ready, and you're approved as soon as you finish the steps and pay.
4. Pay US$600, plus US$50 for COT or US$550 for TOT.
5. Do it by 15 March 2027. After that MDRT adds a US$200 late fee.

For 2027 MDRT moved the deadline from 1 March to 15 March. The FAQ on mdrt.org/join still says 1 March, and the newer rulebook says 15 March.

If you withdraw before you're approved, MDRT refunds the fees. After approval it doesn't. If your application is turned down, you get everything back.

If you're asking for a disability waiver for the first time, or there's an ethics complaint against you, you'll need a paper application.

When you apply, you agree to MDRT's code of ethics. It has seven points: you put the client's interests ahead of your own, keep your skills current, keep client information confidential, tell clients everything they need to decide, act in a way that reflects well on the profession, replace a policy only when that helps the client, and follow the law where they do business.

• Working to last year's figure. A blog post that says S$72,400 is quoting 2026.
• Counting overrides and allowances. They don't count under the commission or premium method.
• Mixing methods. MDRT approves you under one method only, so commission and premium can't be added together.
• Counting unit trust or health insurance commission before you have S$37,900 from risk-protection products. Until you cross that line, MDRT ignores it.
• Closing the year with December cases that aren't paid until January.
• Writing too much on your own family. The cap is 5% of the requirement.
• Missing 15 March and paying US$200 more.

This guide is free. ActivityTracker, the app we make for financial advisors, is paid. It doesn't know MDRT's figures, so you type in the one from the table above, and it keeps that number in front of you every week.

• Set S$75,800 as a goal with a 31 December deadline, and it shows what each month still needs
• Each goal shows on track, at risk or off track, so a slow quarter shows up in March
• The activity calculator works back from a yearly first-year commission target to the appointments and closed cases a month it takes
• Log appointments, first meetings and closed cases from your phone as they happen
• A weekly reflection with your week's numbers in it, answered the minute you file it