Women generally have a tendency to procrastinate when it comes to taking financial decisions about their own self. They are so busy juggling home and office, they tend to forget themselves. But, it is imperative for them to sit down and give a deep thought about their own self. It is important for them to make financial arrangements considering the uncertainties of life. Life is unpredictable and that is where the role insurance comes into the picture.
Listing below are the four important insurance plans which must be a part of a women’s financial kitty to ensure they are emotionally and financially prepared for odds of life coming their way in the form of untimely death, illness, disease or old age.
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1. Term Insurance Plan
With changing times the role of the women is also changing. Women move shoulder to shoulder with men in all spheres of life. Women are now not only restricted to their homes today, but are also now income earners. Therefore, they play a vital role in being a contributor to their family’s income. Being a bread earner is not only restricted to men only. The household expenses, financial goals, future of the kids is dependent in collation to the total income earned by a man and a woman in the family. Every woman dreams that her children have the best education and pursue all their dreams.
So, in times of her untimely demise, the family’s financial frame and standard of living would be certainly affected. This is where a robust life insurance policy comes into play in the form of a term insurance plan. The term insurance plan is a pure insurance plan which will support the nominees in case of an untimely death of the insured by financially compensating with the death claim amount equivalent to the sum assured under the term policy.
Term plans are the most affordable form of life insurance. Such pans offer a higher sum assured at the cheapest premium price as only death is covered and there are no frill benefits of maturity. Females have a special price differential and are charged lesser premiums as compared to males on the basis of having higher longevity to live.
However, most insurance companies do no offer term plans to housewives. The logic given is that since term plans are meant for income replacement, housewives technically do not qualify for these products as they have no income.But they always have the option to buy other forms of insurance. Thus, to offer a financial net to their loved ones in case of an unforeseen event, it is essential that women protect their families with a term insurance plan.
Term plan taken at an early stage ensures a higher amount of sum assured at lower premiums.
Below are the some cases which will give you the fair idea about the premium term plans offer for different scenarios.
| Term Insurance Plan | Premium Amount (30 year female, non smoker, Policy term: 40 years) | Premium (35 year female, non smoker Policy term: 35 years) | Premium (40 year female, non smoker, Policy term: 30 years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Life Online Term Plan | Rs 4425 (Rs 12.12/day) | Rs 5,192 (Rs 14.22/day) | Rs 6,372 (Rs 17.46/day) |
| HDFC Click2 Protect | Rs 6333 (Rs 17.35/day) | Rs 8,014 (Rs 21.96/day) | Rs 9,910 (Rs 27.15/day) |
| Aegon Life iTerm | Rs 4,051 (Rs 11.1/day) | Rs 4,936 (Rs 13.52/day) | Rs 6,299 (Rs 17.26/day) |
| HSBC Canara iSelect Term Plan – with Level Cover | 4,793 (Rs 13.13/day) | Rs 5,602 (Rs 15.35/day) | Rs 6,957 (Rs 19.06/day) |
| Bajaj Allianz eTouch Shield Plan | Rs 6,448 (Rs 17.94/day) | Rs 7,714 (Rs 21.13/day) | Rs 9,521 (Rs 26.08/day) |
*Premium rates are inclusive of GST
2. Health Insurance Plan
Despite the difficulties, women ensure that their family’s health is always taken care of and often neglect their own health. Unfortunately, they are not very cautious of their health. Increasing heart-related diseases, gestational diabetes, cancer, reproductive health, depression are just some of the reasons why women in India need to look at buying a health insurance policy. With pollution, adulteration and lifestyle diseases showing an upward trend, infertility treatments have become quite common, putting a dent in any family’s financial health.
It is often observed that women are part of some family floater health policies and very few women take independent health insurance policies. Having a health insurance policy will not only suffice unless you have a robust sum insured under the policy considering your age, past ailments, location, preference of hospitals and aggravating health care expense, etc.
For working women, relying only on group health plans may not be prudent as it will serve you till the time you are employed. A personal health insurance plan is essential and will certainly offer you a cushion impact in case of a medical exigency or planned treatments.
There are certain maternity based health insurance plan which adds value, but are little expensive as compared to health plans without maternity. Also, to avail maternity benefits, there is a long waiting period to be served ranging from 12 months to 36 months. It is advisable to take such plans right after marriage stage so that it can offer you benefits when required the most.
3. Critical Illness Health Insurance Plan
Women’s health issues are different as compared to men and need special attention. But sadly, very few women give importance to their own health. Mostly, women remain ignored, dependent or busy playing hide and seek between home and office. Women are more prone to certain critical illnesses like cancer being one of them. Cases of cervical and breast cancer are rising in the urban habitat due to many associated factors. There are other critical illnesses like CABG, Heart attack, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, Major Organ Transplantation, Kidney Failure, etc. which women are prone to.
Treatments for any of these dreadful diseases are expensive and are not affordable for a middle class family.The expenditure to cure can run in lakhs easily.Thus, here comes the need of a Critical Illness Health Insurance plans which are fixed benefit insurance plans.
Fixed benefit health insurance plans as the name suggests offer fixed and guaranteed amount of the claim to the policyholder in case of an occurrence of an insured event as per the policy terms. Such plans offer you a lump sum amount equal to the sum insured irrespective of your actual expenses.Fixed benefit health insurance plans include insurance products like Critical Illness Insurance Plans, stand alone Cancer/Heart Insurance Plans, Daily Hospital Cash plans where the benefits payable are fixed.
Women with a genetic critical illness must ensure they have a critical illness health insurance plan.
4. Retirement Plan
Retirement is the second innings of life.Women are on their toes throughout their life managing kids, house, office and what not. They hardly get any time to look upon their personal finance needs. But timely planning for their retirement corpus is essential. To enjoy the freedom of being financially independent and take care of your own expenses in the retirement stage is desired by everyone. But, it comes with a proper retirement planning. Also, women tend to live longer than men as per statistics which makes it all the more imperative to plan for the funds required in the later stage of life.
Retirement plans can offer you a fixed pension which acts as a source of your income in those retired days. Retirement plans comes with a life cover and without a life cover. It’s up to the policyholder to decide which one to buy.
A woman’s life makes a difference to so many people around her. Therefore, investing in a life insurance policy and creating a secured future for herself and her loved ones will be the prudent decision.