Why do I need Insurance? (Back To Top)
Insurance is a risk management tool. Insurance is bought in order to hedge against the possible risks of the future which may or may not take place. This is a mode of financially insuring that if such an incident occurs then the loss does not affect the present well-being of the person or the property insured. Thus, through insurance, a person buys security and protection.
Types of insurance (Back To Top)
Life
You have worked very hard to give your family financial security and thereby giving them the opportunity to enjoy the good things in life - from providing for their basic needs to giving them a life of luxury, you are the key to their financial and material needs. The biggest asset for any family is the main bread-earner of that family.
Now what happens if that member passes away prematurely?
Apart from the psychological trauma, the family is left completely insecure for the future. In the eventuality that your family is forced to adapt to a world without you, they should be free of any additional burden of financial worries at the time. Therefore, it becomes imperative for an individual to hedge or protect his family's future against the risk of his death or critical illness, by insuring himself.
Life insurance assumes your responsibilities of providing for your family, as planned, even in your absence. Life Insurance products protect the family by transferring the risk of the loss to insurance company, for a small premium charged by the company. The family would receive regular payments, in the unfortunate event of death of the insured family member.
Non-Life/General
You have put in years of efforts and saved every penny to give yourself and your loved ones the security of a nice house, along with other luxuries like a car, television, air-conditioners, refrigerator, etc.
After putting in major amounts of time, efforts and investments, you have built up your business/profession to the current level. Your office, manufacturing unit, inventory, employees are all extremely important for your business to operate uninterrupted and flourish.
Finally, you are the one who brings it all together for your family. From providing for their basic needs to giving them a life of luxury, you are the key to their financial and material needs.
Now, what happens if the things mentioned above are destroyed in case of some natural calamity like fire or flood or earthquake? What if there is a burglary and some of these hard-earned items are stolen? What would happen in the unfortunate event of you not being able to work because of getting inflicted with some critical illness (like cancer, paralysis, etc.) or getting critically injured in case of an accident? What happens to their financial security? How would you pay for all the medical expenses?
Have you planned for these unforeseen and unfortunate events?
Insurance against risk of loss to assets like house, car, office, health etc. is covered under General or Non-life Insurance. General insurance includes insurance against natural calamities, burglary, health problems, personal accidents, etc.
Advantages of Life Insurance vis-a-vis Savings (Back To Top)
Contract Of Insurance:
A contract of insurance is a contract of utmost good faith technically known as uberrima fides. The doctrine of disclosing all material facts is embodied in this important principle, which applies to all forms of insurance.
At the time of taking a policy, policyholder should ensure that all questions in the proposal form are correctly answered. Any misrepresentation, non-disclosure or fraud in any document leading to the acceptance of the risk would render the insurance contract null and void.
Protection:
Savings through life insurance guarantee full protection against risk of death of the saver. Also, in case of demise, life insurance assures payment of the entire amount assured (with bonuses wherever applicable) whereas in other savings schemes, only the amount saved (with interest) is payable.
Aid To Thrift:
Life insurance encourages 'thrift'. It allows long-term savings since payments can be made effortlessly because of the 'easy installment' facility built into the scheme. (Premium payment for insurance is either monthly, quarterly, half yearly or yearly).
Liquidity:In case of insurance, it is easy to acquire loans on the sole security of any policy that has acquired loan value. Besides, a life insurance policy is also generally accepted as security, even for a commercial loan.
Tax Relief:
Life Insurance is the best way to enjoy tax deductions on income tax and wealth tax. This is available for amounts paid by way of premium for life insurance subject to income tax rates in force. Assesses can also avail of provisions in the law for tax relief. In such cases the assured in effect pays a lower premium for insurance than otherwise.
Money When You Need It:
A policy that has a suitable insurance plan or a combination of different plans can be effectively used to meet certain monetary needs that may arise from time-to-time. Children's education, start-in-life or marriage provision or even periodical needs for cash over a stretch of time can be less stressful with the help of these policies. Alternatively, policy money can be made available at the time of one's retirement from service and used for any specific purpose, such as, purchase of a house or for other investments. Also, loans are granted to policyholders for house building or for purchase of flats (subject to certain conditions).