Life Insurance Plans for Families in India

Types of Life Insurance Plans for Families in India

Insurance plans come in many different forms. Some give you plain and simple insurance cover for the premium you pay, while others try to give you facilities like survival benefits, pensions, etc. Some versions of these policies are actually family protection plans which make sure that your family's future is secure in case you die or are disabled and not able to earn anymore. The question of what the best family life insurance plan for you is answered by your own personal needs and capabilities. First let's take a look at some of the types of insurance plans then we can look at the benefits that each of them have to offer.

1. Term Insurance plans: These are sometimes called the basics form of life insurance. What happens in a term plan is that you pay a premium and the insurer makes sure that you are covered by a specific amount for the duration of the policy. What this means is that you decide the duration of a policy and choose the amount you want to be covered for. You pay the premiums for said amount and, in the unfortunate event of your death, your family gets the amount you are insured for. The period of such a policy can be anything from 10 years to 20 years based on the conditions set forth by the insurer.
2. Money-back policies: These are policies that don't stop at just insuring your life for a specific amount. Here too the general principles of a life insurance policy apply except in this case regular payments are made to you at certain intervals, hence the name money-back. Should the worst happen while this policy is in effect then the your family will be given the entire sum assured even if you have already received some money as part of the money-back scheme.
3. Unit Linked Insurance Plans: Unit Linked Insurance Plans or ULIPs are insurance plans where a part of the premium you pay is dedicated to providing life insurance cover to or your family members and the remainder is invested in the markets.
4. Pension policies: A Pension Policy, as the name suggests, is a plan that you take to plan for the future. It is obvious that you are not going to work forever so what happens when you retire? Pension Policies basically make sure that you keep getting a monthly income even after you retire, so that you can go ahead and enjoy some quality time with the grandchildren.
5. Joint life insurance: A joint life insurance plan is one which is designed specifically to be a life insurance plan for family members. Under this scheme a couple may take a life insurance policy together under one contract and the plan they take can be either a term plan or a ULIP or any other type of life insurance plan which ensures that you and your better half are going to stay financially independent should one of you die.
6. Child insurance plans: Many insurers offer customers the choice to take a life insurance plan for family members that makes sure that, should anything happen to you, your children don't have to suffer. With such a plan in place you can rest easy that your children's future is safe.

Advantages of Family Life Insurance Policies

There are many advantages to buying life insurance for a family. The advantages are so great that they almost make it a mandatory investment. These benefits may vary from one insurer to another but the common theme they have is to make sure that there is always something that the insurance plan can do for you and your family. Let's take a look at some of these advantages

1. Financial future: The first and most obvious advantage of insurance plans is that they are not simple insurance plans, they are actually family life insurance plans because the ones drawing the maximum benefit out of the scheme is the family. With a life insurance plan you can make sure that your family always has money even if you are not there. This is especially important if you are the primary breadwinner of the family.
2. Family life insurance plans for everyone: It doesn't matter that you are not super rich. If you are in a position where you can't afford to pay premiums for some of the insurance plans with money-back options then you can always go in for a term life insurance plan which still gives you the benefit of being insured and the added advantage that the premiums for such plans are not too heavy on the pocket. Term life insurance is actually a very affordable family protection plan insurance.
3. Get something in return: There are some for whom a simple term plan might not be enough. They want some sort of benefits at the time of maturity of the policy and during the tenure of the policy. Money-back plans offer features like regular payments to policyholders, maturity benefits and even pension planning where the insurance policy turns into a pension plan when you retire.
4. Double payment: If you have gone in for a joint life insurance scheme then you stand to gain more than the obvious advantage. The first is that the premiums for a joint insurance plan tends to be cheaper than other plans and the second is best explained by a small example. Let's say there is a family of a husband, a wife and their son. The husband and wife are covered by a joint insurance plan when the husband passes away. In this case the wife is paid the entire sum assured with which she can take care of herself and her son. A few years late the wife also passes away, what happens then? If the second person also passes away, while the policy is in effect, then there is another payment made of the sum assured under the same policy.
5. Tax Benefits: Since many of the life insurance plans on offer today are covered by relevant tax rules, policy holders can gain tax benefits under section 80C for the premiums they pay to keep these policies active.
6. Protection not limited to death: Many life insurance policies talk about amounts that will be paid to the family in case the policyholder passes away but what happens if the policyholder does not pass away but it left disabled and unable to work? Certain family protection plans also cover becoming disabled and call it Accidental Total Permanent Disability. This means that if you meet with an accident which leaves you disabled for life then you can claim the sum assured under your life insurance policy.
7. Lots of options to choose: With the growth in the life insurance sector many different companies have come in with offers that are meant to suit a wide variety of customers. In effect, today, there is an insurance plan to suit each policy holder's personal needs. There are traditional term plans, endowment plans that give you maturity benefits, there are ULIPs that are linked to debt or equity markets. There are even family life insurance plans make sure that your spouse and children are taken care of in case you pass away or are disabled and are unable to work due to an accident.

How to Choose the Right Insurance Plan

Now that you know what the benefits of having a proper family life insurance plan are let's look at how you should decide on which plan you should go in for.

1. When should you buy life insurance: The obvious answer is that the best time to buy life insurance is at the earliest possible because there is no point in waiting for a calamity to happen and then losing all your savings in its aftermath. If you intend on taking life insurance for family members then it's best to do it as soon as you get married. For individual life insurance plans its best to take them at the age of 18. But if you haven't done that and are already much older, do it immediately.
2. What do you want: The most important question you have to ask is what you want your life insurance plan to give you. You have to decide if you want simple insurance cover or do you want it to be more than just simple cover and provide you with maturity benefits too.
3. Does it fit your pocket: This is one of the most important questions when it comes to life insurance policies and your family. Sure there may be some plans that give you lots of benefits but you must always remember that premiums for such policies are considerably higher and if you are not in a position to afford them and take them anyway, it is just going to put unnecessary strain on your finances. If your budget isn't very big but you still want to provide for your family then you can go in for term insurance plans because they tend to be more affordable.
4. Shop around: There is one rule that applies every time you decide on buying something and that is, shop around. With the boom in the insurance industry there are lots of insurers offering customers plans that can take care of different aspects of life and that is why you must always shop around and see what the best family life insurance plan for you and your family is.
5. Is the insurance cover apt for the future: The cost of living is always on the rise and that is precisely why you need to factor it into your decision of which plan is best for you. Just because a life insurance plan seems attractive now you must look at its benefits from critical point of view which will help you decide if it will still be helpful in the future. You need to see if the maturity amount or the sum assured is enough to take care of your family or not.

The Importance of Comparing Life Insurance Plans

Once you have decided that you need to buy a life insurance plan for the family you need to make a decision about which one you should get and that is where the comparison comes in. With multiple vendors in the market offering a multitude of products you might be tempted to jump at the first plan that looks nice but you should not do that. Comparing different insurance policies lets you get a wider view of exactly what is on offer. It may happen that at times you may thing a particular policy is great but a comparison might reveal that there is something which will give you more than what the current policy offers. If you were to use the BankBazaar tool for term life insurance then all you have to do is enter a few basic details about yourself and the tool will show you all the plans that are best suited to you. You can then compare them and see which one you like the most and apply for it.

There is no denying the importance of a proper life insurance plan. When it comes to life, nothing is certain and that is why you need to make a well thought of decision so that you are sure that what you get is the best family life insurance plan that's available. There are lots of plans that you can choose from but you must make sure that you pick the one that suits your needs and gives you and your family the cover that they deserve.