Life Insurance

A contract where you pay a premium and the insurer pays your family an agreed sum if you die during the policy term. Its job is to replace your income so that your family's plans survive even if you do not.

As a rule of thumb, ten to fifteen times your annual income, plus any outstanding loans, minus what you have already saved. We calculate it properly against your human life value rather than working off a thumb rule.

For pure protection, a term plan — it buys the most cover per rupee by a wide margin. Savings-linked and ULIP plans mix insurance with investment and usually do neither as well as buying them separately.

Under the old regime, premiums qualify for deduction under Section 80C and the death benefit is generally exempt under Section 10(10D), subject to conditions. We check how those apply to your regime and your policy.

Most policies have a grace period, typically 15 to 30 days. Beyond that a term policy lapses and cover stops — which is precisely when a family is left exposed. We help you keep it on track.

Until you stop being financially responsible for anyone — usually retirement, or when the loans are cleared and the children are earning. Cover that runs to 99 sounds thorough but mostly just costs more; it rarely pays for itself.

No. Employer cover ends the day you leave, is usually a modest multiple of salary, and vanishes exactly when you are between jobs. Treat it as a bonus on top of a personal policy you own outright.

No — and that is the point. You are buying protection, not a savings product. Return-of-premium variants exist, but they cost far more and the money you would have saved almost always does better invested elsewhere.

Some genuinely are. A critical-illness or accidental-disability rider covers the scenario where you survive but can no longer earn — which is financially just as damaging as death, and far more likely. Waiver-of-premium is often worth the small cost.

You can, and the premium may be marginally lower. What you do not get is anyone sizing the cover correctly, checking the exclusions, or standing with your family at claim time. That is where the value actually sits.

Overwhelmingly, yes — provided you disclosed honestly at the proposal stage. Rejections cluster around non-disclosure of medical history, income or habits, not around insurers looking for excuses. Tell the truth on the form and the policy does its job.

Yes, either with a fresh policy or through an increasing-cover option chosen at the start. But premiums rise with age and health, so buying adequate cover early beats topping up later, almost every time.