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| There is a myth in india that life insurance is only for men |
There is a myth in india that life insurance is only for men. In simplest form, life insurance means protection against risks in life. While men might not give it due attention, risks also exist in a woman’s life, sometime even more than a man’s life.
Even though a woman may not be considered a breadwinner in the conventional manner, she also needs to protect against life’s risks, and thus needs life insurance.
In today's world, a woman's contribution to the finances of a family cannot be ignored. Besides, they provide much more than men in household matters. But women are seen to be holding themselves back when it comes to buying life insurance.
While most men are aware of the fact that life insurance can be an emergency fund and help meet one's objectives or protect their families, it is time women know their importance in their loved one’s lives. They need to get themselves insured, in fact, adequately insured.
Why women must buy life insurance?
The biggest reason a working woman must buy life insurance is because she is adding to her household income. Of course, about 100 years ago, the value that women were providing to the home wasn't considered worth insuring, but not anymore. Today the woman’s salary provides equally for the family, sometimes even more.
Now as a woman, you can actually put a number to the value you provide to the household and help your family to continue living at their current lifestyle.
So the reason you need a life insurance is to ensure that your family has the income to stay afloat even if something happens to you – like permanent disability, accident, or untimely death.
Now, if you are a single, working woman, the reason you must purchase life insurance is when you have ageing parents (or any other dependents like younger brother or sister) that you're caring for.
What kind of insurance women should buy?
What are the various types of life insurance?
There are two basic types of life insurance policies viz. Traditional Whole Life and Term Life Insurance. A whole life is a policy you pay till death of the policy holder and term life is a policy for a fixed amount of time.
The basic types of life insurance policies are:
Term plans are the most basic form of life insurance. They provide life cover with no savings / profits component. They are the most affordable form of life insurance as premiums are cheaper compared to other life insurance plans.
Online term insurance plans provide pure risk cover, which explains the lower premiums. A fixed sum of money - the sum assured – is paid to the beneficiaries if the policyholder expires over the policy term. If the policyholder survives, there is no pay out.
Endowment plans
Endowment plans differ from term plans in one critical aspect i.e. maturity benefit. Unlike term plans which pay out the sum assured, along with profits, only in case of an eventuality over the policy term, endowment planspay out the sum assured under both scenarios – death and survival. However, endowment plans charge higher fees / expenses – reflected in premiums – for paying out sum assured, along with profits, in either scenario – death or maturity. The profits are an outcome of premiums being invested in asset markets – equities and debt.
Unit linked insurance plans (ULIP)
ULIPs are a variant of the traditional endowment plan.They pay out the sum assured (or the investment portfolio if its higher) on death/maturity.
ULIPs differ from traditional endowment plans in certain areas. As the name suggests, performance of ULIP is linked to markets. Individuals can choose the allocation for investments in stock/debt markets. The value of the investment portfolio is captured by the NAV (net asset value). To that end, there are many similarities between ULIPs and mutual funds. ULIPs differ in one area, they are a combination of investment and insurance, while mutual funds are a pure investment avenue
Whole life policy
A whole life insurance policy covers a policyholder over his life. The main feature of a whole life policy is that the validity of the policy is not defined so the individual enjoys the life cover throughout his life. The policyholder pays regular premiums until his death, upon which the corpus is paid out to the family. The policy expiresonly in case of an eventuality as there is no pre-defined policy tenure.
Money back policy
A money back policy is a variant of the endowment plan. It gives periodic payments over the policy term. To that end, a portion of the sum assured is paid out at regular intervals. If the policy holder survives the term, he gets the balance sum assured. In case of death over the policy term, the beneficiary gets the full sum assured.
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