Smart Steps to Buy RIGHT Insurance

Facts & Questions

Investor Bazaar clears all doubts of clients for a worry-free and comprehensive Policy Plans

Which type of insurance is the most important?

There are two types of insurance needs – long-term and short-term. Short-term needs are usually for less than one year to up to 3 years. Long-term insurance needs can last for a lifetime. Long-term insurance needs such as life insurance and health cover needs are usually permanent.

However, insurance needs such as car insurance, travel insurance, etc. would be there for a limited period only.

What is the difference between life insurance and general insurance?

The technical difference is that one of the key principles of insurance, the ‘principle of indemnity,’ does not apply to life insurance policies. This principle says that the compensation from insurance can never exceed the magnitude of loss. However, in the cases of death magnitude of loss is unclear.

Thus, the benefit would be limited to certain times the annual income. Generally, insurers limit the benefit to 20 times, however, it can go up if your financial health is better.

How many claims can I file under my insurance policy?

For life insurance policies you can only file one claim per incident. For example, if your life insurance policy covers total and permanent disability you can file a claim for it only once. Even though your life cover will continue after this, the insurer will not entertain another disability claim on the same policy.

With general insurance policies, however, you can continue to file claims until your sum insured is completely exhausted. For example, family health insurance of Rs 5 lakhs will entertain hospital bills for any covered family member until the reimbursements reach the limit of 5 lakh.

What are the Tax Benefits of Insurance?

Insurance gives your safety and security benefits and also income tax benefits. The benefits are as follows:

a) You can claim a life insurance premium of up to Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C.

b) Under Section 80D, you can claim a medical insurance premium of up to Rs 25,000 for self and family and additional Rs 25,000 for parents. The deduction limit rises to Rs 50,000 if the insured are senior citizens.

c) Under Section 10(10D), the life insurance benefits you or the nominee receives from the insurance company are tax-exempted. This means both maturity value and death benefit received from a life insurance policy will be tax-free.

However, the maturity benefit is tax-free only if your annual premium for the policy does not exceed 10% of the base life cover in the policy.

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Zindagi Ke Baad bhi "