Term insurance: Smart way to secure your family

Term insurance should be on top priority for everyone, especially for the breadwinner of a family as life is very uncertain. It ensures that your family is financially secured in case if something happens to you.

Term insurance is a pure risk product. It provides specific amount of coverage for a specific period of time. It is the cheapest form of life insurance. In case of death of the policyholder, the nominee gets the sum assured. However, in case if policyholder survives the policy tenure, there is no maturity or survival benefit. In other words, in case of insured surviving the policy term, he will have to forgo the entire premium. Term insurance provides very high coverage at very low price.

Term insurance also takes care of family in case of your disability or critical illness, as some insurance companies also cover permanent or partial disability wherein policyholder's regular income is disrupted.

 Term Insurance Provides Flexibility to Choose:

1. Sum assured

2. Cover on single life basis or joint life basis

3. Premium payment term: monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually

4. Death benefit as lump sum amount or as combination of lump sum and monthly amount

Why Should One Buy Term Insurance?

Term insurance are no frill products which give us very high life cover at least premium amount. It is the most basic form of insurance plan. Since insurance's basic definition means hedging ones self against unforeseen circumstances. Thus, term insurance serves this definition in the most appropriate way. It gives us the returns exactly when we need it the most, again at the least premium amount.

Guidelines While Buying Term Insurance

·         The minimum entry age for term insurance is 18 years and maximum 65 years. The minimum policy term is five years.

·         You can make your term insurance plan more comprehensive with add-on covers at minimal cost. An add-on cover or rider offers benefits over and above the basic policy. You can attach add-on covers to your term insurance plan. Some of the popular riders are critical illness cover, waiver of premium etc.

·         While buying term insurance policy, right amount of coverage is the key. If you are under insured it will defeat the whole purpose of insurance and if you are over insured then you will be paying unnecessary premium. Ideally life cover should be at least ten times your annual income plus your other liabilities such as outstanding car insurance loan, home insurance loan, etc. Do not forget to take into account inflation while deciding amount of coverage.

·         Term insurance policy also comes with tax benefits. You can get tax benefit under section 80C of the Income Tax Act for the premium paid for term insurance. And you can also get tax benefit under 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act for the amount received as death benefit. Premium paid for critical illness benefit qualifies for tax benefit under section 80D.

·         So, there is no reason why you should not buy term insurance plan. Term insurance plans can be bought either offline or online. However, online term insurance plans are even more cheaper option as there is no intermediary and cost is passed on to policyholders.