Tuesday 22 August 2017

All you need to know about the LIC child plan

In this article, we discuss the top two child plans from LIC. We talk about their benefits and how they can be of use to you and your child. Take a look. Life Insurance Corporation of India, or LIC, as it is commonly known is one of the oldest and the most reputed life insurance companies in the country. It has some very good insurance products. The child insurance plans from LIC especially stand out as they have some of the best features. In this article, we take a look at the LIC child plans and their features and benefits.

What is a child plan?
Before we proceed, let us first understand what a child plan is. A child insurance plan provides protection to a child by covering his parent. The parent is, therefore, the policyholder and the child is the beneficiary. So if anything happens to the parent, the sum assured from the child plan will be given to the child and can be used for her or his education, health and general well-being.
LIC child insurance plans
There are primarily two child plans available from LIC. They are:
  1. LIC Child Future Plan
  2. LIC Child Career Plan
Let us take a detailed look at these plans.
LIC Child Future Plan
The features of this LIC child plan are as follows:
  • Waiver of Premium: The premium is waived off if the parent, who is the policyholder, dies within the policy period. The insurer pays the premium on behalf of the parent and the plan continues with its regular payouts.
  • Money Back Plan: This is a money back insurance plan where the child gets payouts at regular intervals. The payouts can be used to pay the child’s school and college admission fees and also to pay for her or his marriage later on in life.
  • Death Benefit and Sum Assured: If the parent dies with policy period, the nominee receives a death benefit right away along with any bonus that has been earned. If however the policy period is outlived, an amount equivalent to 115% of the sum assured is paid to the child.
  • Additional Cover: The child continues to stay covered for an added term of 7 years after the policy matures.
These features make the LIC Child Future Plan one of the best child insurance plans in India presently.
LIC Child Career Plan
Next, we have the Child Career Plan from LIC. This too is a money back plan where the child receives payouts at pre-decided intervals. The features of this plan include:
  • Waiver of Premium: Here too, the premium is waived off if the parent dies within the policy period. The child continues to remain covered, however. He or she receives an additional coverage of 7 years after the policy matures.
  • Survival Benefit: The LIC Child Career Plan provides a survival benefit. A sum equivalent to 30% of the sum assured is paid in this case.
  • Maturity Benefit: When the policy matures, the child receives an additional amount, equivalent to 15% of the sum assured, along with the accumulated bonus.
  • High Age Bracket: The plan can be taken for children between the ages of 0 months and 12 years. The maturity age of the policy varies between 23 and 27 years.
These are some of the features that make the LIC Child Career Plan stand out.
To Sum It Up
As we saw, the LIC child plans are packed with benefits. As a parent, you must do everything within your power to protect your child. A child is a gift and the gift needs care. So buy a child plan from the Life Insurance Corporation of India and keep your precious child secured. After all, you would want him or her to enjoy a comfortable life even after you are gone.

Monday 21 August 2017

Do Kids Need Health Insurance?

Many factors prompt you to buy health insurance for your kids. In this article, we discuss the various reasons why you must protect the health your children.
As a responsible parent, it is your duty to protect the well-being of your child in all walks of life. And since health is such a crucial aspect, you have to secure your child’s health. Health insurance for kids is as important as health insurance for any other family member. Take a look at the points mentioned below to know exactly why you need a good medical insurance plan for your children.


Reasons why kids need health insurance
Here are some of the main reasons why you should buy a good health plan for your child:
  1. Healthcare is Expensive: As we all know, health care costs are very expensive these days. Treating a simple ear infection can also cost you thousand of rupees. So you can quite imagine what a more complicated illness would cost! And since we always want to provide the best treatment to our children, buying insurance is the only option. With a health insurance plan in place, you can afford to take your child to the best hospital in the unfortunate event of an illness.
  2. Protection During Unfavourable Times: Let us assume you lose your job. Along with it, you not only lose your income but also your group health insurance coverage. What happens if your child falls ill during this period? We never think such incidents would strike us, but life is unpredictable and we have to take all the precautions. It, therefore, is vital for you to buy health insurance for kids and keep them protected always.
  3. Preventive Care: Most health insurance plans for children cover vaccines, doctor consultation fees, medicines and OPD charges. This is a good reason to buy a health plan for your children. Children who have health insurance, for this reason, are seen to have better access to preventive health care and therefore lead healthier lives in general.
  4. Children Need Constant Care: It is true that an older person is more likely to get sick as compared to a child. However, children need constant medical care as their immune systems are weak. With exposure to infections at school, children are often seen to suffer from a wide range of diseases. Some of these are mild while some are serious, but all require medical attention. With a health insurance in place, you can always afford to address the small and big health issues of your child.
  5. Protection in Your Absence: If you die suddenly, your child will continue to stay protected under the health plan. This is a very big advantage. It assures you that even in your absence your child will be entitled to the best healthcare facilities.

Health Insurance for kids – An Absolute Necessity
It indeed is rightly said that children’s health insurance is a complete necessity. So if you have a young child at home, secure his or her health at the earliest. As you clearly saw from the points mentioned above, a good medical insurance plan protects the child from a number of unpleasant issues that can crop up at any time. Trouble often comes unannounced. And as we all know, prevention is better than cure. So buy a health insurance plan for your children and prevent the troubles from striking, as much as possible. Even if they do strike, be equipped to face them properly. Speak to your insurance agent and see what options are available in the kids’ health insurance department. Go through your requirements, choose an appropriate plan and keep your children safe at all times.


Wednesday 26 July 2017

How to plan medical insurance for children?

Tuesday 9 May 2017

Conventional Child or Term plus SIP for 15 Years Tenure?

Good financial planning is the secret of a successful family when it comes to wealth management for taking care of every major financial need of each of the family members. Life insurance plays a major role as a financial instrument that protects the family of insured party in case of untimely demise of the policy holder. With time the term insurance has evolved a lot and many variant products are available to customize different needs of the people.



Conventional Child Plan

This gives the policy holder the opportunity to include the child in the term plan taken by him/her.  Insurers offer child plans to the policy holders for the welfare of their children in case of their untimely death. For Example, Mr. Ravi has taken a child plan from the insurance company where his minor daughter Kiran was included, Kiran is currently 5 years old. The child plan does not insure the life of Kiran but in case of the untimely death of Ravi, The insurance company will provide the necessary future support for Kiranbased on the Child plan purchased by Mr. Ravi. The plan is for Ravi where the detail of Kiran is mentioned as the future beneficiary.
Certain features of Child Plan include:

·         Policy Term, Premium Amount and Maturity Amount – Policy term should be determined based on when the child requires the benefit of the plan. In case of Kiran, who is currently 5 years old, a 15 year term will enable her for the benefits when she attains 20 years of age. Premium amount is calculated keeping the maturity amount in mind
·         Riders, Benefits of the plan – Certain add on are imperative like the Waiver of Premium that means during the tenure of the child plan if the policy holder (parent usually) dies, the future premiums that were payable by the policy holder will be waived though the benefits of the policy as it was mentioned in the plan will remain unchanged. This will benefit the child of the insured for the future. Some other optional but important benefits are: Accidental Death or Disability Benefit, Critical Illness benefit
·         Partial Withdrawal – Many times rather than waiting for the maturity, many parents withdraw partial amounts at different points based on the requirement for the child

Term plus SIP

This is the financial instrument where the customers get the benefits of both life insurance coverage as well as the investment benefits. Let us consider the case of Mr.Rishi who is working at a MNC and want to have investment that will give return in future as well as serves a life coverage. There are similar instruments offered by different insurers, and Mr. Rishi is considering the following after some market research based on his requirement, affordability and eligibility:

·         The Policy term will be 15 years
·         The policy should give life coverage plus financial income
·         Premium payment term and Policy term will be same
·         Terminal Bonus and vested reversionary bonus will be paid lump sum at maturity
·         Guaranteed pay-outs will be at 11% rate of sum assured and this will be paid annually and for next 15 years after the maturity of the policy (Note: There could be the option to get the lump sum maturity amount in one shot. that is the sum total of: 110% of basic sum assured, Terminal Bonus and Vested Reversionary Bonuses)

The policy could be customised using different Riders as required like Critical Care, Accidental death Benefits, Permanent Disability Benefit etc.

Rishi’s selected Policy Product Resembles the following:

Policy Term
Minimum Age of Entry
Maximum Age of Entry
7 years
11
58
12 years
8
53
15 years
8
50
Age At Maturity
Minimum:  18 years
Maximum: 65 years
Sum Assured
Minimum: ?100,000
Maximum: No limit
Premium Frequency
Monthly/Quarterly/Half Yearly/Yearly
Pay out Period
15 years
Pay out frequency
Yearly

In case of Premature Death during the term of Policy, the nominee receives the higher of:
  1. a) 105% of all the premiums paid by insured until death and
  2. b) Sum Assured on death + Vested Simple Reversionary Bonuses + Terminal bonus, if any


Comparison of Conventional Child Plan and Term plus SIP
While both the plans have the life coverage as common feature, the other benefits are specific to the individual requirement. If Kid’s education and future is priority then Child Plan is preferred and could be done lump sum or partial withdrawal of maturity amount as needed. Whereas, for a preference of pay-out for prolonged period, Term plus SIP is the right option.

Source: Conventional Child or Term plus SIP for 15 Years Tenure?




Friday 21 April 2017

Which is the best future investment plan for a girl child?

Having a girl child is every parent’s dream. And if you happen to be a girl child to your parents, your parents will be concerned about everything starting from your upbringing, schooling, education, marriage and the list never ends. And money plays an important role in fulfilling obligations like higher education, marriage and others.
Financial planning will take you a long way in achieving your aspirations. You should start your financial planning as soon as a child is born be it girl or boy. But a girl child is very special for every parent.




Every father thinks of making his daughter independent, get her married and settle down in life. Parents keep their wishes at the last spot and priority is being given to children especially the girl child as a girl is the most close to her father.

Let us discuss the various options available for investment if you have a girl child and how you can choose them wisely to secure them financially.

Options for investing:

SIPs
SIPs is an abbreviation for systematic investment plan. SIPs are mutual fund wherein you can invest money at frequent intervals mostly every month for creating corpus fund. It does not require you to pay a lump sum amount and the money is invested into equities market or debt market or a combination of both. Financial experts recommend investing in SIPs at an early age so that the investor can enjoy the benefits of compounding.

Gold ETF
You will have the desire to gift gold to your daughter during occasions and marriages. GOLD ETF is one of the best options for investing keeping a girl baby in mind. Gold ETF (exchange-traded funds) is gold in paper form and not in physical form. Gold ETF serves two purposes, one is it creates a well- diversified investment portfolio and can be used for your daughter’s wedding.

SukanyaSamridhiyojana
It is a small deposit scheme introduced by the Prime minister Narendra Modi under the betibachaobetipadhao program. This scheme was introduced for encouraging a girl child and to ensure a girl baby can have a shining future for herself.  The main objective of this scheme is to meet the education and marriage cost of the girl child. Investing in this account gives attractive rate of interest and the income of deposits is exempt from taxation.
An account in sukanyasamridhiyojana (SSY) can be opened after the girl child is born and up to she turns 10 years of age. You can open this account in post offices or authorized banks by investing a minimum of Rs.1,000/- and a maximum of Rs.1.5 lacs during a financial year. Also, you can withdraw 50% of the balance for education purpose after the girl child attains 18 years of age.

Child insurance plan
Child insurance plan is an insurance plan wherein you invest money for a fixed period of time and get returns after the policy matures. The thought of any unwarranted situation making the child financially unsecure is always at the back of your mind. To ensure the security of child, you should buy a child insurance plan as it ensures that in case of sudden demise of the bread winner, the child will have adequate financial resources to fulfill his aspirations.
Many insurance companies are offering child plans with features like:

ü  Riders for premium waiver and sum assured to the nominee in the event of death of policy holder.
ü  Sum assured decided keeping in mind the inflation and the future cost of higher education
ü  Withdraw the funds partially as and when needed and not when the policy matures
ü  Takes into account the age of the child while arriving at the tenure of the policy
ü  Enables to build a huge corpus required to fund the child’s future needs like education and marriage

You can buy a child plan online by comparing the plans offered by various insurance companies. There are several websites, which help you in comparing the benefits offered and selects the one which best suits your need.


To ensure a girl baby’s future, you should definitely buy a child insurance plan to secure her dreams and ambitions financially.

Thursday 30 March 2017

5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KEEP IN MIND WHILE BUYING A CHILD INSURANCE PLAN

You, as parents are concerned about their future education and can sacrifice on their own leisure expenses, if need be, but do not want to compromise on their children’s future.

Buying a children plan ensures that your child’s future aims and ambitions are attained and will not be impacted financially due to any unforeseen circumstances. Below are the top 5 things you should keep in mind while buying a Child Insurance Plan.
  • Education cost and Inflation
While deciding the sum assured, you should take into account the estimated future education cost and inflation. For example, an MBA today costs Rs.12-15 lacs in a premier institute. So, you need to take the cost 10 or 15 years down the line.  Ideally, the sum assured should be over 10 times the current income of the policy holder.
  • Tenure of the plan
Deciding the tenure of the policy  is very crucial as it makes you plan things accordingly. Suppose, your child is of 8 years now, and you believe once he is 18 years, he will be sure of the field he wants to pursue his education. That will be the time you will need money to help him pursue his dreams. So, you can select a plan with 10 years maturity period.
If you ignore the link between age of the child and tenure of the plan, you might face a cash crunch as you will need funds before  policy matures. The period of a policy should be decided as to when the child will attain 18 or 21 years of age.
  • Partial withdrawals
Many a times, you would want to get the funds as and when required and not when the policy matures. You should look for partial withdrawals clause. Managing the education cost becomes much easier if you can withdraw money after a fixed interval.
  • Riders in child insurance plans
A rider is an additional benefit provided to the existing plan. The insurance companies charges extra premium for adding a rider to the plan. Policy holder should know about the riders offered by the insurance companies as these riders enhance the procedure.

Some riders offered by insurance companies are:
Premium rider
These days, insurance companies offer child plan with inbuilt premium rider clause. In case of untimely death of
policy holder, the balance premium payments are waived off and the nominee is entitled to get the benefits after policy matures.
If you are buying a plan, it is advisable that you look in for the premium rider clause.
Death Rider
In case of untimely death of the plan holder, the nominee gets a lump sum amount from the insurance companies. This rider ensures that the procedure does not lapse due to unfortunate events.
Other riders available are income benefit, accidental benefit, critical ailments etc. Riders vary from companies to companies and the person proposing to buy a policy should be aware regarding the riders offered.
  • Compare child plans online
Finding the best children  plan as per your need is the easiest way to know about the various plans offered by insurance companies. It is convenient, paper less and hassle-free. You, also, have a customer assistance 24/7 that can help to sort all your queries. While comparing policy online, you will have to fill in personal details like the age of the parent and child, current income etc.  Comparing and buying plans online helps you save the time of going to the insurance agent or the insurance company.Also, you can download the brochure of children plans from the insurance company’s website.
By now, you know the things to look in while buying a children plan. For the purpose of securing your child’s future, you should invest in a children  plan which works as an insurance cum investment plan thus enabling your child’s dream turn into reality.