Life Insurance
Plans & Policy

LIFE INSURANCE POLICY

IndiaFirst Life Insurance offers various types of life insurance plans and policies to ensure your loved ones' protection and financial health. A life insurance policy need not be difficult to understand. At IndiaFirst Life, we take pride in creating life insurance solutions that are simple, affordable, and effective.

Choose from various types of life insurance policy options that are tailor-made to suit your life insurance needs. The arena of life insurance of India is a robust one, and IndiaFirst Life Insurance offers a life insurance policy to match your requirements at every stage of life.

WHAT IS LIFE INSURANCE?

At its essence, a life insurance policy is a contract signed between the life insurance provider and a policy holder. Life insurance plans offer a substantial life cover in the form of an assured sum that the insurer pays to the nominees/beneficiaries listed in the life insurance policy if the insured person dies during the life policy term. In return for this guarantee, the policy holder agrees to pay a specific premium amount at regular intervals during their lifetime.

To safeguard the legally-binding nature of a life cover contract, it is essential for the policy holder to accurately disclose all details about their past and present health conditions. No medical life insurance plans allow you to start life insurance without medical tests. However, accurate disclosure of pertinent details is mandatory.

While a term life insurance policy offers life cover for a specific term, permanent life insurance policies continue to remain effective until the death of the policy holder at any age, the payment of life insurance premiums stops, or the life insurance investment is surrendered.

WHY DO YOU NEED LIFE INSURANCE?

Life insurance provides financial security to your loved ones after your demise. There are many reasons to buy life insurance, depending on the stage of your life you are at. Different types of life insurance policies fulfill different needs. However, one of the prime benefits of life insurance is the guarantee that your surviving dependents will have the financial support they need in the future.

Every single person faces the same two fears—the fear of dying too soon and the fear of living too long. If you die too soon, you leave behind dependents who do not have the financial wherewithal to take care of themselves. If you live too long, you are likely to run out of money and become dependent yourself. Life insurance plans help ease both these fears.

• YOU NEED A LIFE COVER INSURANCE POLICY FOR YOUR DEPENDENTS.

  One of the fundamental reasons to buy life insurance is to ensure that your nominees or immediate family members have financial support in case of your demise. Often, responsibilities do not end even after you are gone. Different types of life insurance policy options serve to ensure that you replace your family's lost income, pay for your children's education, and financially support your spouse even after your death.

• YOU NEED A LIFE INSURANCE POLICY TO DEAL WITH DEBT.

  Most adults have at least a liability or two to pay off. If you have an outstanding home loan, car loan, credit card dues, or personal loan payments to make, you are in debt. In case of your untimely demise, your family will be burdened with these financial liabilities. Life insurance policy plans provide lump sum death benefit payments and life cover to take care of these debt payments after your passing.

• YOU NEED PERMANENT LIFE INSURANCE OR WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE IN INDIA FOR YOUR FUTURE.

  It is a misnomer that life cover policy options only help when you die. What happens if you live too long? With medical advancements and improved access to medical facilities, most humans live way past their 80s. If you retire at the age of 60, do you have enough savings to maintain your living standard and beat inflation for 3-4 decades after retirement?
  A permanent life insurance policy stays in effect for as long as you live and continue making life insurance premium payments or surrender the permanent life insurance investment policy. A whole life insurance policy is a type of permanent life insurance that accrues cash value over the years. This makes the insurance whole life policy an attractive life cover option at any age. Retirement life insurance plans provide guaranteed monthly pay-outs to safeguard your golden years.

• YOU NEED LIFE INSURANCE INVESTMENT OPTIONS TO ACHIEVE YOUR LONG-TERM GOALS.

  A life insurance investment policy is designed to keep you systematically invested for an extended period of time. Different types of life insurance plans are connected to different investment instruments. Some life insurance plans are market-linked for higher returns, while other types of life insurance policy options offer profit-participation and bonuses. If you opt for life insurance with cash back, you reap the dual benefits of life insurance cover and periodic cashback to meet your expenses.

• YOU NEED LIFE INSURANCE WHOLE LIFE POLICY OPTIONS TO MEET YOUR RETIREMENT NEEDS.

  While saving for retirement, you hope that your savings last as long as you do. However, when you factor in increasing health-related expenses and inflation, your savings alone are unlikely to meet your needs. Whole life insurance in India serves to fulfill this gap and supplement your retirement corpus. With the right types of life insurance plans, you can ensure that a second stream of income is created to replace your professional income after retirement.

• YOU NEED LIFE INSURANCE WITH CASH BACK TO PROVIDE FOR FISCAL CONTINGENCIES.

  Life's uncertainties are the only certainty in life. Plans that offer life insurance with cash back provide you periodic payments of a percentage of the sum assured that you could use to meet financial contingencies and other expenses with ease. Depending on the chosen types of life insurance plans in India, you can avail of many benefits of life insurance to meet your specific requirements.

• YOU NEED LIFE INSURANCE PLANS TO PROVIDE FOR YOUR CHILDREN.

  Irrespective of their age, your children will always be your responsibility. When your children are young, life insurance investment plans and life insurance with cash back help you provide for their education expenses and other lifestyle needs. The power of compounding plays out in life insurance investment policies to ensure that your money grows at a guaranteed pace. In the case of special-needs children, their age is irrelevant—they are likely to require lifelong physical and financial help. Life insurance cover can ensure that their needs continue to be taken care of after their primary caregivers/parents' death.

• YOU NEED THE BENEFITS OF WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE TO NOT BURDEN YOUR CHILDREN.

  In your old age, life comes a full circle. The children you raised now have the responsibility to take care of you. However, as parents, the goal is to help your children thrive and not be a burden for them to carry. Various types of whole life policy options ensure that a portion of your life insurance premium is directed at earning cash value and interest that you can withdraw or get a loan against. Life insurance with cash back and retirement life cover ensure a stream of income that provides you financial independence.

WHAT ARE THE LIFE INSURANCE TERMS
YOU SHOULD KNOW?

In order to understand life insurance policy details and buy life insurance, there are a few basic life insurance terms you should know.

• Policy holder – When you buy life insurance and make periodic life insurance premium payments, you become a life insurance policy holder. While you own the policy, the life assured within the life insurance cover could be someone else.
• Life assured – The insured person who has life cover as mentioned in the life insurance policy details.
• Life insurance premium – The amount you pay to buy life insurance and keep the policy active.
• Sum assured – The guaranteed sum of money that your nominees/beneficiaries will receive in case of the life insurance policy holder's demise.
• Death benefit – This is the amount paid to the nominee if the policy holder dies during the policy term. The death benefit and the sum assured are not the same—the death benefit is likely to be higher than the sum assured as it includes rider benefits and bonuses (if any).
• Survival/maturity benefit – A survival benefit is paid to the policy holder upon completing a pre-determined amount of life policy tenure. In contrast, a maturity benefit is paid when the insured outlasts the life insurance policy term. Pure protection or term life insurance plans do not offer either benefit.
• Riders – Riders are additional features that can be added to life insurance plans for a fee to expand the scope of the basic life cover policy. Typical life insurance rider options include accidental death benefit rider, accidental total and permanent disability benefit, critical illness cover, and waiver of life insurance premium rider.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES?

There are many types of life insurance plans in India that you can opt for depending on your needs.

• Participating (par) products are products where the surplus is shared with its policyholders in the form of bonuses. They are also referred to as “With Profit” products. These policies usually have a minimum guaranteed amount that is payable upon death or maturity in addition to the bonuses declared from time to time. The bonuses once declared, accrue to the policy and are guaranteed. Par products have significant exit loads upon policy discontinuance and do not offer customers a choice of asset allocation. However, due to the structure of these products, customers are not exposed to the volatility of underlying asset returns and benefit from smoother returns. We typically recommend these products to customers who have a low risk appetite and want to save for certain definite goals.


• Non-participating protection products are basic life insurance plans which help provide insurance coverage to guarantee financial security for the insured and kin. Also known as term plans, a pure protection plan provides life coverage, spanning for 99 to 100 years, for the policy's duration in exchange for a premium to be paid every year. In case of the policyholder's untimely demise, a term plan provides the predefined sum assured to the nominee in instalments or in a lump sum. Protection plans also provide coverage against accidental death, disability, terminal as well as critical illnesses.


• Non-participating savings products are products that offer benefits that are guaranteed in absolute terms at the beginning of the policy, thereby transferring the risk of guarantees and returns to the insurance company. Like par products, these products also have significant exit loads on policy discontinuance and do not offer customers a choice of asset allocation. Customers who have a low risk appetite and who want to park a portion of their long-term requirements in guaranteed products, transferring the risk of returns, market volatility and interest rate movements to the insurer, typically prefer these products. We also offer immediate annuity products where an income is paid out to the customer as long as they are alive in return for a certain lump sum paid up front.


• Unit Linked Insurance Products (“ULIP”) offer a combination of investment and protection where the customer can choose the level of life cover subject to minimum levels mandated by regulations. Customers have the flexibility to decide the asset classes in which their contributions are invested, depending on their risk appetite. We also provide our customers with the flexibility to transfer money among different funds in a tax-efficient manner depending on their market outlook and evolving risk appetite. These features make unit linked products typically more transparent than other types of products.

HOW MUCH LIFE INSURANCE COVER DO YOU NEED?

Analyze your financial situation—income, liabilities, and future responsibilities before you buy life insurance. Calculate the life insurance cover you need based on your current income, potential growth prospects in terms of salary, current living standards and expenses, projected future living costs, inflation, financial liabilities such as loans, and responsibilities such as children's education and marriage.

WHAT ARE THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE
LIFE INSURANCE PREMIUM?

The life insurance premium you pay depends on several factors, such as:

• Age – The earlier you buy life insurance online or offline, the lower the life insurance premium will be.
• Gender – Women tend to live longer than men and are typically offered lower life insurance premium rates.
• Medical history – Even with no medical life insurance policies, you are required to disclose past medical history and family history of illnesses as it impacts your life insurance premium.
• Smoking habit – Smokers have a higher mortality rate and tend to contract more illnesses than non-smokers. Life insurance premium amounts reflect risk, so smokers tend to pay a higher life insurance premium.
• Insurer – Choose a transparent and reliable company offering life insurance plans in India to ensure that you get the most competitive rates

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BUYING A LIFE INSURANCE
PLAN ONLINE VS. OFFLINE?

Buying online life insurance offers many advantages. If you buy life insurance online, you are purchasing directly without paying commission to intermediaries. You can make an informed choice by checking online life insurance policy reviews, comparing types of life insurance policy options, and the benefits of life insurance plans. You get access to online services and 24x7 customer support when you buy online life insurance policy plans. As compared to offline purchasing, you can buy life insurance online quickly, easily, and in a paperless manner.