Life Insurance

1. Term Life Insurance: Term insurance or permanent life insurance plan is a long-term insurance plan where the death benefit is given to the nominee or the beneficiary, in case of the death of the insured during the term plan. If the insured survives the term plan or the specified time, the value of the coverage ceases with no claim to be Even the investment is not refunded to the insured. This life policy is one of the most affordable plans as the amount of the premium is quite nominal.

TYPES OF TERM LIFE INSURANCE
Level Term Life Insurance	Decreasing Term Life Insurance	Increasing Term Life Insurance
Sum assured for the beneficiary remains constant throughout the term of the plan. Even the premium and renewal premiums remain same during the term.	Sum assured decreases with time and the premium amount remains constant. Example: credit life insurance, mortgage redemption policies.	Sum assured and premium increases. Meant for people who think (i) with increase in income can invest more (ii) beneficiary will need more money later.

2. Whole Life Insurance/Life Cover Insurance: The insured is covered for the lifetime. Along with this, the beneficiary will also get the sum assured. The policy has a cash value component also that increases with time. In between, if the insured needs some money, he/she can withdraw money from the policy or take loan against the policy. If the insured is unable to pay back the loan amount due to death, the loan amount is deducted from the sum assured and the balance is paid to the beneficiary. Thus, one gets both protection and the money saved aside for future use.
3. Endowment Policy: It includes both coverage and savings. Like any other life insurance plan, the beneficiary will get the sum assured in case of the death of the insured. But if the insured survives the term plan, he/she would get the maturity benefit. The policy also has bonus or participating policy benefit, which provides additional guaranteed return along with the sum assured. The profit or bonus is the amount that is accumulated by the insured during the survival period.
4. Money Back Policy: The insured gets money during the tenure of the policy – a certain percentage of the sum assured is given to the insured in regular period of time during the term of the policy. If the insured survives the tenure of the policy then he/she would get the accumulated amount along with the accumulated bonus at the end of the term. And in case of the death of the insured during the term of the policy, the beneficiary gets the full sum assured regardless of the number of premiums paid. It is one of the expensive policies, as it provides benefit to the insured during the term period along with the long-term benefits of usual life insurance plans. Money back policy provides benefit to insured in between the term of the insurance which he/she can use for personal use.
5. Retirement Plans: Taking insurance policies for the sake of the family is not enough. One should also keep one’s old age in mind. When you are young you have a regular source of income, but during old age the situation can change. So, one needs to plan for the retirement also. Retirement plan gives the option of saving and investing money from which one would get regular income in the old age. Life insurance companies in India provides retirement plan which creates a corpus from which a regular income known as annuity or pension is given to the insured after reaching a certain age.

Retirement plans can be availed “with cover” or “without cover”. The first plan offers a sum assured to the beneficiary and the “without cover” gives out the corpus amount to the beneficiary only after the death of the insured. Retirement plans are of two types:

Immediate annuity plan – the insured gets the pension within one year of the premium amount being paid.

Deferred annuity – the insured decides a time frame after which he/she will get the annuity from the company. This time frame is known as deferred time.

6. Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP): It offers dual advantage – the insured is protected against contingencies, and can also choose the type of investment. Under this plan, the cash value/paid up value of the policy depends on the current asset value. The total premium paid by the insured is divided into two parts – one that is invested in the corpus out of which the claim amount is to be paid and the other part is invested in the market to earn interest. The type of investment is selected by the insured depending on the type of risk that he/she is willing to take.

There are different types of ULIPs depending on the type of investment made and the death benefit.

On the basis of investment made, the different types of ULIPs are:

Aggressive ULIP: Here 80-100% of investment amount is invested in equity.

Balanced ULIP: In this case, 40-60% of investment amount is invested in equity and the rest is invested
in debt market.

Conservative ULIP: Here 20% of investment amount is put in equity and the rest is invested in the
debt market.

On the other hand, ULIPs are of two types when we consider the death benefit that one gets. In the
first case, the beneficiary gets the sum assured or the fund value, whichever is higher. In the second
case, the beneficiary gets both the assured value as well as the fund value.

7. Child Insurance Policy: People can take this plan if they want to save money for the future of their child. It is a combination of saving and investment plan, where the money can be uses for the future needs of the child like higher education. The investment in this plan do not have any vesting age – one can start investing soon after the birth of the child and one can withdraw money after the child reaches a certain age. Some child policies offer intermediate withdrawal options as well.

A life insurance policy is not just about providing benefits to the family after the breadwinner’s death. Given that life is unpredictable, it is also meant to manage certain situations of life like retirement, disability, accident, etc. It is an important part of one’s financial portfolio. One should study and compare various life insurance plans and choose the best life insurance policy depending on one’s need and ability. One should use life insurance premium calculator to gauge the pros and cons.

Considering the increasing medical costs, one should also understand that medical insurance or health insurance is an important requirement today. Medical insurance companies in India offer various products to manage such needs of the customers. The companies also have the feature of offering cancer insurance to cover the financial risks involving diseases like cancer. One should read the policy documents well to understand all the features and benefits offered.

• Managing unpredictability: We all want our family to have a good life even after our demise. No one can fill the void of one’s death, but financially, one can secure his/her family’s future so that the members don’t have to be dependent on someone else. This is when a life insurance plan plays a big role.
• Financial Cushion: Life insurance plans helps bails out the family from the financial troubles after the untimely demise of the breadwinner of the family.
• Retirement: Retirement is a long-term goal for people who survive for long years. One needs to secure his/her old age, when there might be no source of income.
• Tax Benefit: One can get tax benefits as per section 80C of the I-T Act 1961 for the premium amount given by the insured.
• Mental peace: Once all the finances are sorted, a person is relieved from all the tension and thus, can concentrate on other aspects of life as well.
• Saving tool: Along with the traditional plan, one has an option to choose a plan which will be a combination of protection and This will help increase the overall future income for the family.
• Children’s Future: Education, marriage expenses, etc are the big cost of raising a child. In today’s world, we see these expenses shooting sky high and none of us want to compromise on these essential parts of the life. Child policy given by life insurance companies helps bail us out from this situation.
• Loan against policy: With certain insurance policies, one can even take loan against the amount of sum assured or the paid up value, depending on the type of the insurance plan taken. Usually these loans are taken on lower interest rate.
• Protection against other eventualities: The riders or additional facilities offered through these policies can provide financial help in cases like accidents and disabilities.
• Taking care of the business: One can buy out shares of the partner in a business through the life insurance policy.

1. AEGON Life Insurance
2. Aviva Life Insurance
3. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance
4. Bharti AXA Life Insurance
5. Birla Sun Life Insurance
6. Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance
7. DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance
8. Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance
9. Exide Life Insurance
10. Future Generali India Life Insurance
11. HDFC Standard Life Insurance
12. Life Insurance Corporation of India(LIC)
13. Max Life Insurance
14. PNB MetLife Insurance
15. Reliance Life Insurance
16. Sahara Life Insurance
17. SBI Life Insurance
18. Shriram Life Insurance
19. Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance
20. Tata AIA Life Insurance
21. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
22. IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd
23. Kotak Life Insurance
24. IDBI Federal Life Insurance

The market is full of various life insurance policies’ however, one should always compare them before purchasing one. The table given below will give you an insight into some good life insurance policies of 2018.

Life Insurance Plans	Entry Age (Min/Max)	Policy Term (Min/Max)	Sum Assured (Min/Max)
Aegon Life iTerm Plan	18/75 years	5/40 years	10 Lakh/NA
Aviva I-Life Plan	18/55 years	10/35 years	25 Lakh/NA
Bajaj AllianziSecure	18/70 years	10/30 years	20 Lakh/NA
Bharti AXA eProtect Term Plan	18/75 years	10/30 years	25 Lakh/NA
HDFC Click2Protect Plus	18 /65 years	10/30 years	10 Lakh/10 Crore
HDFC Life Sanchay	30/45 years	15/25 years	1,05,673/NA
HDFC SL Crest	14/55 years	10/10 years	(7 or 10) x Annual Premium/20 x Annual Premium
ICICI Pru iProtect	20/75 years	10/30 years	3 Lakh/NA
Kotak Life Preferred e-Term	18/75 years	10/40 years	25 Lakh/NA
LIC AmulyaJeevan	18/60 years	5/35 years	25 Lakh/NA
LIC New JeevanAnand	18/50 years	15/50 years	1 Lakh/NA
LIC Term Plan	18/75 years	10/35 years	50 Lakh/NA
Max Life Online Term Plan	18/70 years	10/35 years	25 Lakh/100 Crore
SBI eShield Plan	18/70 years	5/30 years	20 Lakh/NA
SBI ShubhNivesh Plan	18/60 years	5/30 years	75,000/NA

Insurance today can be brought through agents, employee of the company and online. Buying life insurance online through insurance web aggregators is also an option that is easier and safe. One can visit these sites to compare the details about different types of life insurance plans. One can even seek help from these online aggregators to know the best available policy for him/her and then purchase the one that suits his/her requirement.