I have a few policies; do I still buy a term plan?

Yes, of course! It is like asking, can a batsman go to the field wearing only his knee pads for protection? What do you think will happen?

Because of incomplete protection, he will end up injuring his head, hands, or legs. 

This is exactly what will happen if you don't get term insurance and instead, opt only for employer insurance, credit card insurance, government insurance, mutual fund insurance, etc. 

The total amount from all of these other insurance policies will not be enough to meet your family's financial needs in your absence. 

On the other hand, the amount of one term policy is larger than the amount from multiple other insurance policies. 

If you pass away during the policy duration, your family will receive this lumpsum amount aka the life cover which will help them overcome any financial crisis they may face in your absence, especially if you are the sole breadwinner. 

So, to answer your question, yes, you need term insurance even if you have other insurance policies so that your family is protected not just partially but completely.

No, unfortunately, it is not enough. 

Employer or group term insurance is a great employee benefit, but the life cover you receive from that plan will never be adequate for your family’s financial needs in your absence. 

Besides insufficient coverage, your employer insurance plan comes with a lot of other limitations. For example:

• It offers limited customization according to your needs. It may not even come with add-on benefits like critical illness coverage

• It covers you only till you are employed within that organisation. If you quit or even take a sabbatical you may lose coverage

• You can’t renew your group term plan once you retire. And getting an individual plan at that age is going to cost you a bomb

Read to know in detail about the factors for which your employer term insurance is never enough and you still need to buy individual term insurance.

Yes, of course. Health insurance and term insurance serve completely different purposes. 

A health insurance policy will cover you for any medical expenses that may occur when you injure yourself or develop health issues, but it will not cover your dependents financially when you pass away. 

A term insurance policy on the other hand is specifically made for protecting your loved ones financially if you pass away unexpectedly. The insurance payout can be used by your dependents to pay off any liabilities, loans, etc., or to maintain their standard of living. 

Moreover, with your term insurance policy you can also get add-ons like the critical illness rider that gives you an advance payout from your life cover when you're diagnosed with any critical illness or a permanent disability rider that pays a pre-decided lumpsum amount  if you become disabled due to an accident. 

This will help your family stay financially secure if you cannot work or have reduced your work hours to focus on your treatment and consequently have faced a reduction or loss of pay. The best part? Unlike in regular term insurance, they don’t need to wait for your life cover payout which will happen only if you pass away during the policy duration. 

It’s great that you already have health insurance, but to secure your dependents’ financial future, you should consider buying a term insurance policy too.

It is good to hear that. Chances are you have created a robust financial plan too, since you are earning well. But you can still consider getting a term insurance policy. Here’s why:

See, your investments are most likely to give significant returns only in the distant future. You need to be alive to actively manage investments with the hope that they grow in the future. What about your family’s immediate financial needs in case you pass away before your time, especially if you are the sole breadwinner?

Even if you are trying to build a corpus for your family’s financial well-being, if something happens to you unexpectedly, that amount will be too insufficient to support them. And you don’t even know for sure if your investments will pay off at all or not. 

You still need to create a contingency plan in case something happens to you unexpectedly. That’s where term insurance comes in handy. 

The payout from your term plan can help your loved ones overcome any immediate financial liabilities such as loan repayment or medical costs. The significantly large life cover can protect them financially and help them meet all their life goals without lowering their standards of living.

They may not even need to touch the money that you may have passed on to them from your savings and investments. That could be used for other purposes, such as reinvestment and building a nest egg, instead of paying off debts.

See, the benefits of a term insurance policy are that: 

• It helps your loved ones, like your parents and siblings,  overcome financial difficulties in your absence, especially if you’re the sole earner of the family

• It gives you peace of mind because you know that your financial dependents are secure

So, married or not, you should get a term policy if you have anyone depending on your income. 

Even if you do not have financial dependents currently, you never know if you will have them in the future. So it’s advisable to buy term insurance early to save costs by locking in cheaper premiums.

Yes. 

For a really affordable amount, your term plan gives a significantly large payout to your family if you pass away suddenly. It helps you secure their financial future in your absence. 

Also, think about it. Even if they don’t end up needing it (congrats on living a long, healthy life btw!), you can still enjoy peace of mind, knowing that should something happen to you, your family will be taken care of. This will enable you to live life on your own terms instead of constantly worrying about your life. Won’t you agree this benefit makes your term insurance totally worth the cost?

You should buy your term insurance policy as early as possible when you start earning. As you age, you are more likely to suffer from health problems like diabetes or heart diseases or can develop unhealthy lifestyle habits like drinking and smoking. 

Your insurer will probably charge you a higher premium because there will be more risk associated with offering you a term plan than someone else not affected by these conditions. 
 

So if you don’t want your term plan to become expensive over time, you should buy it now without further delay. 

Find out your exact term insurance needs by taking the KlarifyLife Term Guide.

One type of term insurance may not fit everyone’s needs. That’s why there are different types of term policies available: 

• Pure protection plan - They give a payout if the policyholder passes away during the policy period
  
  

• Protection plans with changing cover - These plans allow you to change your life cover depending on your changing financial needs
  
  

• Protection plans with value at the end of the term - As the name suggests, they give some value or returns even if you outlive the policy. There are two types of such plans:
   

  • Term with Return of Premium (TROP) Plan - This plan refunds only the premiums you have paid during the policy tenure without any investment return. Know more about TROP Plans
     

  • Convertible term plan - This plan lets you convert your regular term plan into an investment plan so that at the end of the policy tenure, you get some investment returns along with your life cover
     

• Protection plans covering more than one person - These plans, like the name goes, can cover more than one person. Examples of such plans are group term plan and joint life plan

Find out in detail about the different types of term insurance policies from here.

Yes, you should still get term insurance. 

See, the purpose of having insurance as a financial safety net is to be able to replace the income that you’d have earned if you were still alive. This is an income your family won’t have access to in your absence. Of course, they will need sufficient finances to pay off your credit card debts, loans and other expenses but they will also need to meet their regular expenses as well as be able to fulfil their financial goals. 

The life cover offered by your credit card insurance is never going to be sufficient to meet your family’s needs if you are no more. 

So whether or not you have credit card insurance, you still need to buy term insurance to help your family maintain their standard of living.

Yes, you do. See, if you or your spouse pass away unexpectedly, it will have an impact on your family’s financial status:

• If both of you are working, your family’s income will be  impacted 
   

• If only one of you were working , your family will need to hire professional help to take care of children and elderly. Your spouse may even need to cut back their working hours and be more involved at home, resulting in a pay cut, or even a job loss!
   

• If there is a change of heart between you and your spouse (such as divorce or separation), they can replace you as the nominee from their term plan. So your family may no longer get benefits from your spouse’s policy.

This is  why you should still buy a term policy with adequate cover even if your spouse has one.