The internet has made the process of applying for life insurance much more easier. You can get your life insurance application processed in a matter of days or minutes, thanks to the presence of life insurance companies on the internet. You may want to take advantage of the speedy nature of online life insurance and get life insurance fast.
You need to know that only a foolish person would not buy life insurance. For many people, life insurance purchase is a selfless act which ensures that the needs of their loved ones are met even when they are no longer around to meet those needs themselves. With life insurance, you can breathe your last with a smile, knowing that your family is going to be well cared for.
Life insurance is also referred to term assurance. You have different types of life insurance covers that ranges from level term to decreasing term life insurance. Decreasing term life insurance refers to the covering of an event such as death or a terminal illness.
Whole life insurance differ from term life insurance because whole life insurance refers to insurance that you pay for your whole life while term life insurance refers to that which is paid for a particular duration of time. if you opt for whole life insurance, you get to stash a sizeable part of the insurance in a savings account where it will accumulate value.
Taking out a life insurance involves making crucial decisions such as how much you want to be covered for. Some people take out a life insurance policy for an amount that they cannot afford to pay for. Always ensure that you take your budget into account before you pay for a life insurance policy.
Cheap life insurance plans are in high demand by many people. A cheap life insurance plan is one that offers the most extensive coverage for the least cash. You should be careful about the cheap life insurance deals that you stumble across as some of these can be scams. Yes, didn't the experts say - you get what you pay for?
You should endeavor to pay your premiums frequently to avoid terminating your life insurance policy. Make sure that you collect a receipt for any transaction you make with your insurance company in order to avoid any legal tussles. Never pay your premiums to an insurance agent else you may not be able to keep track of it.
It is a fact that some life insurance companies fail to deliver on their promises to provide life insurance claims. To avoid falling victim of a failed life insurance claim, make sure that you keep record of every payment that you make in your book for recall in event of a legal suit.
Life insurance plays an important role in any individual's financial planning process. For it is life insurance that helps secure the financial future of the nominees. However, many individuals do not know how to go about while considering life insurance products. We have identified five points to remember before zeroing in on a life insurance product.
1. Identify your needs Before considering life insurance, it becomes imperative that individuals first identify their needs. An individual should understand whether buying life insurance is necessary to begin with. For example, if an individual is single and earning but has no financial dependants, then he may not really need life insurance. This stems from the fact that nobody is going to be ?financially hurt? in the absence of the insured (i.e. the individual in question).
On the other hand, we can consider a married individual who has family members dependent on him. He also happens to be the sole earning member in the family. Such an individual obviously needs life insurance. This stems from the fact that his entire family is dependant on him for financial support and in his absence, their lifestyle would be severely impaired. Such individuals should have adequate life cover as early as possible.
2. How much insurance do you need? After having identified the need to buy insurance, the next step is to ascertain the amount of cover needed. The concept of human life value (HLV) can help in deciding how much life cover an individual should opt for. The HLV takes factors like the individual's annual income and expenses along with the inflation rate into consideration while calculating the value.
3. Which product should you consider? After having quantified the need for insurance, the next step is to finalise a plan that will fulfil the individual's need. There are two kinds of insurance plans - term plans and savings-based plans. A term plan insures the individual for a high sum at a low cost. A term plan makes for a good fit in all individuals? portfolios, irrespective of their profile.
Many individuals also look at life insurance as a savings instrument. Here, apart from insuring the individual's life for a certain amount (i.e. the ?sum assured? in insurance parlance) savings-based life insurance plans also give returns on maturity. This is unlike term plans, which act as a pure risk cover and do not give any returns on maturity.
As can be seen from the table, it could become expensive for an individual to adequately cover himself for the necessary amount with a savings-based plan due to the higher premiums. Instead, individuals can look at covering themselves with a term plan for the necessary amount and invest their savings in various instruments at their disposal like the national savings certificate (NSC), public provident fund (PPF), bank deposits and mutual funds.
4. Select an insurance agent Having understood how much insurance is needed, an individual then needs to approach a life insurance agent. Individuals wanting to buy insurance should preferably opt for full-time life insurance agents. The agent should have a good track record to show for in terms of offering objective advice in the client's favour and not his own. This will stand the individual in good stead over the long run since life insurance needs call for evaluation every few years and the insurance agent will help the individual with the same over a period of time.
5. Compare policies across companies Before zeroing in on an insurance plan from any company, individuals should compare policies across insurance companies. This will help them in evaluating which insurance plan is best suited to their needs. One way of doing this is by contacting the insurance agent and asking him for a comparative analysis of insurance plans. Another way is by visiting the websites of different companies and scouting for relevant information.
For example, an ideal term plan for a 25 year old can be the one that offers him the necessary cover at the cheapest cost. For a unit linked insurance plan however, different criteria like expenses, fund management and flexibility offered will come into the picture. The comparison will differ across various parameters depending on individual needs as well as the type of plan chosen.
Both Johnjames & Pooja Gupta are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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