How to Buy Life Insurance?
what are different options
available.
Once you have made up your mind to
go for a life insurance policy you have cleared the first hurdle. You might
have taken few days to several days to finally go for the Thing that eventually
will change your life. You will have a sense of satisfaction and Piece of mind that only comes when
you know deep down that from now onward your family is in safe hand.
Whatever happens to
you, your family will have enough to go on with life which might not have
been possible otherwise, in case of your death. Having said that let’s get on
with the procedure to buy your life insurance by following these steps. A
little bit of caution and presence of mind that’s all it needs to get you going the right way. Here
are the points:
1. Calculate what is your current & future needs:
You have your monthly expenditure, you
may have some debts like loans or EMIs to pay, including future expenses like
college fees etc. Find out how long you may need this alternate income and how
much it would be for your family members
to survive with immediate and
assumed future expenses keeping inflation in mind.
2. Request quotation from different insurance Providers:
Compare their rates, policy & their
different features and benefits so as to be confident enough to go ahead with
the plan.
3. Found the company you like, Now check its financial ratings:
This check guarantees that it has the
finances to pay up your claim. You should opt for CRISIL & IRDAI ratings for these to evaluate
their financial strength. A quick Google search might arm you with enough
details like the company’s solvency ratio etc.
3. Fix
appointment with a Trusted,
Licensed Agent:
Having found the requisite company, its
now time to see a licensed Agent & finalise the deal with a suitable insurance
plan. You may be presented with options to go for a Term insurance plan,
Endowment plan, whole life insurance plan etc. Choose the best according to
your needs. Following guidelines may help you.
The Term life Plan: This
plan provides high sum assured in much less premium. For example a person about
30 years age can taken a 35 years term policy for a small annual premium of Rs.10k
for a high sum assured value of as much as 1 Crore. His family will receive
this amount if he dies during this term.
Term insurance is best if started at
early years of earning career. To sum up this is the most affordable type of
policy which you can cancel any time during the term. After all the pros lets
see its cons. When the policy expires you get nothing from the insurance company,
Also your coverage stops as policy expires. You will have to buy a new policy
if you want one.
Endowment
Policy: Endowment plan combines the Savings and Insurance in
which a person pays certain amount as premium to cover himself & certain
amount is invested as Saving for
a span of time that rewards him with suitable accumulated amount when he
survives the policy period.
This amount can be further used for children’s
education, marriage or even on
retirement schemes thus reaping rich benefits in old age.If the insured dies during the term
period his family gets full sum assured amount. In case of financial emergency
the insured can take a loan against the policy. Also he gets tax rebate under
80C & 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act.
Whole life Policy: As the title suggests, this plan serves you as cover for
your entire life (99 years) as a backup. In case of any untoward incident like
death, the family of the insured gets the compensation. Also if he survives he
gets the entire amount plus the bonuses. This policy carries a saving component
that when accumulated for the specified period can help in certain
responsibilities of the insurer like children’s education, Marriages etc.
As
compared to term policy the Whole life policy and endowment polices are costlier
& must
be properly worked upon to check that you can pay their premiums which are 5 to 15
times costlier than the term policy.
4. Decide on the amount
of the premium:
Once suitable policy
is decided its time to decide about the Premium. Determine how much income is
coming your way and how much is your liabilities & make sure you are
getting the policy at affordable rate & you should be able to pay it
comfortably.
5. Read & Cross check your policy:
Make sure to read all the fine prints as
it will save future headaches. If you find any discrepancy or something not as
decided earlier in your policy, then you
have a free-look period of 15 days after the policy issue date to cancel your
policy. You can even receive refund of any premiums you paid,.
Hope you have found these points useful
& wishing you every success in life.

