INTRODUCTION

Life insurance is usually taken by the earning member(s) of the family to ensure that in case of their death, and hence their source of income ceasing to exist, the dependent family members would have a lump-sum amount to fall back on. So by paying a small amount every year the earning member of the family can ensure that the future of their loved ones is absolutely secure from a financial point of view. So in the event of death of an insured person, the nominee of the policy would receive an amount called the sum assured which can then be used effectively to plan for their future.

Life insurance is absolutely critical for everyone irrespective of the amount of income you currently earn, unless you have saved enough to ensure that your family can comfortably live with the savings alone – not everyone can manage to do this even with high salary and income levels. Imagine living in a great house you have taken on loan and your family not being able to live in it, just because they do not have the income to keep paying the monthly EMIs of the home loan!

Direct Benefits of taking a Life Insurance Plan

Provides for Loss of Income - In case of the policy holder’s death, the dependents will suddenly be left without a constant source of income. The future requirements of the dependent members too would be hugely compromised with them having to settle for options which are not as good as you would have wanted if you were around. With a good amount of life insurance cover you can ensure that your family is not left high and dry along with emotional trauma of your absence. It is one of the most important reasons for taking a life insurance policy.

Protects your Assets - In your absence, your family should not have to resort to selling the assets which you accumulated with your hard work. In the event that there is no source of income your family would have to sell assets like land, home, vehicle, jewellery which you had so lovingly purchased. The comforts you wanted to provide to your family should not be taken away from them to make do for their day-to-day living. In case you are adequately ensured, all your loans and your family’s financial future would be well taken care of.

Financial Planning - Life insurance policies can also be taken for sound financial planning depending on your requirements and risk appetite. For the conservative investors there are a host of traditional policies like money back insurance policies and endowment plans to provide income to you at regular intervals of time. The more market friendly investors can choose ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plans) to plan their future. There is a higher element of risk involved with ULIPs but the gains too can potentially be on the higher side. Ideally each individual should assess their requirements and choose their investment options and time horizon.

Tax Savings - One of the key reasons, people buy life insurance is to avail tax benefits under section 80C up to the limit of Rs. 1,00,000 annually. Money paid as premium of Life Insurance policies is exempted from income tax and the proceeds from a life insurance policy on maturity also get tax exemption under section 10(10D) of the income tax.

Why Compare Life Insurance Policy?

Nothing is more important to a person than the feeling that their family is financially secure - at all times. Though frightening, the thought that your family will

not be financially burdened in case of your un-timely death, gives you and your family some respite to know at all times that YOU have planned for such an event too. Hence it is very important that you get the best life insurance policy for yourself - both in terms of price and features.

We display the list of life insurance plans that are available based on your requirements, and compare life insurance policies - both price and the features and select the life insurance policy that suits your requirements the best. Life insurance quotes from different life insurance companies are displayed - the policies with the cheapest premiums being displayed on top. We take pride in the fact that we could compare best life insurance policy.

1. Money Back Insurance Policy:-

In the insurance terminology this is called Anticipated Endowment Plan, meaning that the customer can ‘anticipate’ when the sum assured would be paid to him. In money back insurance policy, a certain percentage of the sum assured comes back to the policy holder on survival after say every 3 or 5 years, as pre-determined. This is also referred to as a survival benefit. The common example used is, consider 20% of the sum assured is paid every 5 years and 40% on survival for a 20-year term and full sum assured is paid in case of death at any time during the 20 years. If the policy holder dies before the policy matures, then the entire sum assured is paid to the family as death benefit, irrespective of the survival benefits paid or not. It is effectively a combination of a term insurance plan for 20 years for full sum assured and 4 different pure endowment plans, that is, 20% sum assured for 5 years, 20% sum assured for 10 years, 20% sum assured for 15 years and 40% sum assured for 20 years.

The plan can be best explained with the help of an example. Rahul who is 27 years old has taken a money back plan of sum assured Rs. 25,00,000 for a term of 30 years. According to the terms of the plan, he would get 15% of sum assured, i.e. Rs. 3,75,000 every 5 years and on maturity of the policy he would get 25% of the sum assured, i.e. Rs. 6,25,000.

Thus following is his illustration: On completion of 5 years, when Rahul is 32 yrs old: Rs.

3,75,000 is due. On completion of 10 years, when Rahul is 37 yrs old: Rs.

3,75,000 is due.

On completion of 15 years, when Rahul is 42 yrs old: Rs. 3,75,000 is due.

On completion of 20 years, when Rahul is 47 yrs old: Rs. 3,75,000 is due.

On completion of 25 years, when Rahul is 52 yrs old: Rs. 3,75,000 is due.

On completion of 30 years, i.e. on the day of policy maturity, when Rahul is 57 yrs old: Rs. 6,25,000 is due.

Now, Rahul needs to be alive to get the survival benefits, as the name suggests. Somehow, if Rahul happens to die when he is 55 years old, he would have received Rs. 18,75,000 already. However the entire sum assured of Rs. 25,00,000 would then be paid to Rahul’s family as he died before the policy matured. This is the uniqueness of the policy.

This policy could be taken by someone who might require liquidity at regular intervals for purposes like children’s education, wedding, purchase business equipment, buy an asset or some other planned expense. Also the fact that the death benefit is guaranteed irrespective of the survival benefits already paid makes it a compelling insurance policy to buy.

So compare from the several money back insurance plans available from the life insurance companies in India and calculate the life insurance quotes meeting your requirements.

Money Back Plans from different Insurance Companies

Aegon Religare Money Back Plan

Aviva Dhan Vriddhi Aviva Money Back

Bajaj Allianz CashGain Bharti AXA Life

SaveConfident

BSLI Money Back Plus Plan

HDFC Money Back Plan ICICI Prudential

CashBak ING Creating Life

Money Back Plan ING Safal Jeevan

Money Back Plan ING New Fulfilling Life Kotak Money Back Plan LIC The Money Back

Policy-20 Years LIC The Money Back

Policy-25 Years LIC Jeevan Surabhi-15

Years

LIC Jeevan Surabhi-20 Years

LIC Jeevan Surabhi-25 Years

LIC Bima Bachat Max New York Life

Secure Dreams Life Pay™ Money Back Met Monthly Income

Plan Met Sukh Reliance Cash Flow Plan Sahara Sampann Sahara Samriddhi SBI Life - Money Back SBI Life - Sanjeevan

Supreme Shriram Akshay Nidhi Tata AIG Life Assure 21

years Money Saver

2. Term Insurance policy:-

Term insurance plans are also commonly known as protection plans. This is a pure insurance cover where only the risk of death is covered for a specified period. If the insured does not die

within the specified period, then no payment is made under the term insurance plan. Such plans are like Fire Insurance policies whereby if the specified contingency doesn’t occur then the policy holder or the nominee does not get any payment or compensation from the insurer. This is also the cheapest form of life insurance as mortality charges and administration expenses incurred in booking the policy are the only components of the premium.

Being the cheapest life insurance policy, one can get a substantially high life cover (sum assured) with a nominal premium amount. Therefore, a person gets to protect his family’s financial security at a very low cost. It means that a person pays a certain premium to protect his family against his sudden or early death. If death does not occur, then the policy holder or his nominee gets no payment from the insurance company.

The Sum Assured can be kept constant throughout the term of the policy or it can be made to increase or decrease with age during the period. Increasing Sum Assured is availed in anticipation of increase in income, expenses, liabilities and standard of living as the age of the person progresses. Decreasing Sum Assured is more often planned keeping in mind a collateral or an outstanding debt like loans and mortgages.

Term insurance plans have no saving or investment component and hence they are not very popular. Hence, recently a few insurance companies have introduced variations in term insurance plans where there is a return of premium option. The premium of such a term plan is higher than the normal or conventional term plan. Also, it leaves very little difference

between a term plan which offers return of premium and an endowment insurance plan.

However, experts still believe that a term insurance policy is the purest form of insurance and is a must for every individual. Many people suggest that the purchase of term insurance may be done in phases. As and when the income of an individual rises, the amount of term insurance cover must be increased. The insurance premiums are low when the age is low and increases as the age increases - so the earlier one takes a higher cover, the cheaper it would be.

Term Plans from Insurance Companies in India

Aegon Religare Level Term Plan

Aegon Religare Increasing Term Plan

Aegon Religare Decreasing Term Plan

Aegon Religare I-Term Plan

Aviva LifeShield Plus Aviva LifeShield

Bajaj Allianz New Risk Care

Bajaj Allianz Term Care Bharti AXA Life

SecureConfident Birla Sun Life Term

Plan Birla Sun Life Premium

Back Term Plan Birla Sun Life High Net

Worth Term Plan

3. Whole Life Insurance policy:-

Whole life insurance policies are very similar to term insurance plans. This is a term plan with an unlimited term. As the name suggests, a whole life policy is an insurance cover against death, where the sum assured is payable only on death, whenever it may occur.

Under this plan, the policyholder pays regular premiums until his death (till a claim arises), following which the payment is made to the nominee or the claimant. Although, in the case of Whole Life policies, the sum assured is payable only on death, many insurance companies pay the sum assured, when the life insured reaches a particular age. Earlier a lot of insurance companies used to make this payment at the age of 100 years and recently many have dropped it down to 75 years.

Premium is usually paid till the sum assures becomes payable but many insurers provide an option to pay premiums for a limited period. Such policies would be called as Limited payment policies. People who are skeptical of the consistency of their earnings and expect it to discontinue or drop substantially over a period of time may prefer limited payment policies. This is often the case with professionals like sports personalities, skilled artists and armed forces personnel. Many a times, a person has or receives a lump sum amount from somewhere and is not sure whether he will be able to pay the same amount every year. For such customers, there is an option to pay the premium only once. Such a policy where the premium is payable only for one year at the beginning of the policy is called as a single premium policy.

The premium for a whole life insurance policy would surely be higher than a pure term insurance plan and unlike a term plan

where the cover is for a specific period, a whole life insurance policy doesn’t attach a policy term and is valid till the death of the policy holder, whenever it may occur.

Whole Life Insurance Plans from different Insurance Companies

Bharti AXA Life Elite Secure

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Stay Smart Plan

HDFC Single Premium Whole of Life Insurance Plan

Kotak Eternal Life Plans LIC - The Whole Life

Policy

LIC - The Whole Life Policy- Limited Payment

LIC - The Whole Life Policy- Single Premium

LIC - Jeevan Tarang Max New York Whole

Life Participating Met 100 Reliance Whole Life

Plan Tata AIG Life MahaLife

Gold

4. Endowment Insurance Policy:-

Endowment assurance policy is a combination of term insurance plan and a pure endowment plan, under which the sum assured, is paid on survival of the specified period or on earlier death. In this type of life insurance policy there is both a death benefit or the maturity benefit. In an endowment assurance policy, the sum assured is payable on survival to the end of the term or on earlier death. Like in the case of the whole life insurance policy, the premium in an endowment plan is also

payable till the sum assured becomes payable that is, till a claim arises.

In this plan, if the policy holder dies before the maturity of the policy, then his nominee would get the sum assured or the death benefit and the policy terminates. However, if the policy holder survives till the end of the term, then he gets the maturity benefit according to the terms and conditions of the policy. So he stands to gain in both ways.

An endowment policy is also a form of financial saving, as in if the person covered remains alive beyond the term of the policy. he gets investment benefits, usually referred to as guaranteed additions, in addition to the sum assured. A term insurance plan with a pure endowment plan of double the value is called a Double Endowment Assurance plan. Then there are other types of endowment, like a marriage endowment plan, which stipulates the date on which the sum assured will be pad if the life insured dies early. This policy enables the policy holder to choose the date of maturity to coincide with a specific age of his/ her child, to make available the sum assured at a particular time for their marriage. Another endowment plan option is the Educational Annuity plan, where the sum assured would be paid in installments, commencing from a date which may be chosen as the likely date when the child is pursuing higher or professional education.Earlier, the maturity period of the endowment policy used to be at a certain age say 75, but of late insurance companies have come out with a fixed term endowment policy or limited term endowment plans, for example a 20-year endowment policy or a 25-year endowment assurance plan.

Often, insurance companies introduce an endowment assurance plan in 2 variants, that is, a “with profit” or “without profit” policy. With profit policy also known as participating policy enjoys the right to participate in the growth of the insurance company and is eligible for bonuses. On the other hand, Without profit or Non-participating policy is not entitled to any bonus declared by the insurance company and hence are not very popular too. But one has to pay an extra premium in the participating endowment policy as compared to the non-participating endowment policy.

Endowment Insurance Plans from different Insurance Companies

Bajaj Allianz Life Time Care

Bajaj Allianz Super Saver

BSLI Guaranteed Bachat Plan

Future Assure Future INSTAlife Future Saral Anand Plan Future Anand Plan HDFC Endowment

Assurance Plan HDFC Assurance Plan HDFC Savings

Assurance Plan ICICI LifeGuard ICICI Save‘n’Protect ING Assured Returns

ING Reassuring Life Endowment Plan (Reversionary Bonus)

ING Safal Jeevan Endowment Plan

ING Powering Life ING Platinum Life Kotak Capital Multiplier

Plan Kotak Endowment Plan Kotak Premium Return

Plan Kotak Surakshit Jeevan LIC The Endowment

Assurance Policy LIC The Endowment

Assurance Policy-Limited Payment

LIC Jeevan Mitra (Double Cover Endowment Plan)

LIC Jeevan Mitra (Triple Cover Endowment Plan)

LIC Jeevan Anand

LIC New Janaraksha Plan

LIC Jeevan Amrit Max New York 20 year

Endowment (Par) Max New York

Endowment to Age 60 (Par)

Max New York Life Gain™ Plus 20 (Par)

Max New York Life Gain™ Plus 25 (Par)

Max New York Life Gain™ Endowment

Max New York Life Partner Plus

Met Suvidha Met Saral Reliance Traditional

Super InvestAssure Plan Reliance Endowment

Plan Reliance Super Five Plus Reliance Connect 2 Life

Plan Sahara Nidhi SBI Life - Shubh Nivesh ShriLife ShriRaksha ShriLaabh ShriVivah Star Union Dai-ichi

Jeevan Safar Star Union Dai-ichi

Instant Endowment Plan Tata AIG Life

ShubhLife

5. Pension insurance policy:-

Pension plan or retirement plan is useful to save money during a person’s income-earning days to provide for regular periodical payments during his/ her retirement days. Pension payments are also known as annuities and are paid as long as the recipient is alive. In certain policies, even after the pensioner’s or the recipient’s death, the pension or annuity is paid to the spouse or

nominee. In an annuity, the insurer agrees to pay the insured a certain sum of money at regular intervals. The purpose of an annuity is to protect against the risk of living too long as well as provide money in the form of pension periodically. In practice, there is no medical underwriting done in case of annuity contact since there is no death risk cover attached.

One may interpret the concept of annuity as a reverse of life insurance contract. In a life insurance contract, the person agrees to pay regular payments, that is, premiums, in consideration for a lump sum amount to him on maturity or his nominee on death. On the contrary, in a retirement plan (annuity contract), the person agrees to pay a specific amount (also referred to as capital) to the insurance company and in return the insurance company promises to make regular periodic payments to him as long as he/ she is alive.

A lot of basic policy formations discussed theoretically may have many variations in actual practice. For example, the capital for a retirement plan need not be paid in lump sum at the start of the policy; it can also be paid in installments like insurance premiums over a period of time before the vesting date or start receiving annuity and continue paying premiums.

We recommend that before purchasing pension or annuity plans, you compare and get life insurance quotes from various insurance companies

Benefits on Vesting

At times, there are 2 options a person has on vesting date; one option is to receive a lump sum payment up to 1/3rd of the amount available plus the accrued bonus or guaranteed additions

also known as option to commute. Here the balance two-third is converted into annuity Second option is to convert the full amount to an annuity. Annuity is a convenient and disciplined way to plan for your retirement.

Immediate annuity is when the annuity commences immediately after the purchaser pays the purchase price in lump sum or has made all the periodic payments as per schedule. Deferred Annuity is an alternate option to the immediate annuity, where the annuitant can specify a particular date to start receiving annuity payments after he has paid the purchase price. The period from the payment of the capital or purchase price to the date when the annuity starts is called the deferment period.

Annuity Options

An annuity can be payable to the recipient (annuitant or his nominee) in many ways, few of them are:

Life Annuity - where the annuity is payable to the annuitant during his or her and such payments will cease on the death of the annuitant.

Joint Life Annuity - here the annuity is payable to annuitant as long as he is alive and then to his spouse as long as the spouse is alive. Often insurance companies pay only 50%s of the annuity amount ad not the full amount to the spouse.

Annuity Certain - here the annuity is paid for a fixed number of years, like 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years as chosen by the annuitant. In case of death of the annuitant during the chosen period, annuity will be paid in similar instalments to the nominee or any of the legal heirs of the annuitant.

Joint Life Certain Annuity - Annuity will be paid for a fixed number of years and thereafter till the death of the annuitant or till the death of his spouse.

Annuity with return of purchase price on death - here the annuity is paid to the annuitant till he/ she is alive and on death of the annuitant the purchase price of the annuity is paid to the nominee. The purchase price may or may not include guaranteed additions and bonuses, if any.

Increasing Annuity - in this case, the annuity is paid as long as the annuitant is alive and the amount of annuity paid every year increases at a certain simple rate per annum.

Pension Plans from different Insurance Companies

Traditional Pension Plans

Aegon Religare Insta Pension Plan

Aviva Secure Pension Bajaj Allianz Pension

Guarantee BSLI Immediate Income

Plan BSLI Freedom 58 Plan Future Pension Plan HDFC Personal Pension

Plan HDFC Immediate

Annuity

ICICI Pru ForeverLife ICICI Pru Immediate

Annuity ING New Best Years Kotak Retirement

Income Plan LIC Jeevan Nidhi LIC Jeevan Akshay-VI LIC New Jeevan Dhara-I LIC New Jeevan

Suraksha-I

Easy Life™ Retirement (Par)

Met Pension - Par Sahara Amar Jeevan SBI Life - Immediate

Annuity

SBI Life - Lifelong Pension Plus

Annuity Plan Immediate Annuity Plan

6. Child Life Insurance Policy:-

As the name suggests, child insurance policy or children plans means an insurance policy on the lives of children, who are not majors. Since the age of child is below 18 years, the proposal will have to be made by a parent or a guardian.

One of the advantages of child insurance plans is that the premium which will be considered at the commencement of the policy is relatively lower because of the young age. Usually, a child insurance plan can be purchased when the child is 3 months old (or 91 days of age). However, the risk cover on the life of the insured child will commence only when the child attains a specified age. This clause is according to the rules of IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority). Such a time gap between the date of commencement of the insurance policy and the commencement of the risk is called the “Deferment period”. The date, on which the risk will commence, at the end of the deferment period is called the “Deferred Date”.

Let us explain the basic concept of a child plan with Ranjan’s example. He is 27 years old, married with a 2-year old daughter. He purchases a child plan for his daughter Sameera. Ranjan has now covered his daughter under the child insurance plan but her life cover doesn’t start till she is 7 years old. However, the plan

continues as usual and no mortality charge is deducted till Sameera reaches 7 years of age; this is because her life cover doesn’t start till such time. The day her life cover starts, i.e. the first policy anniversary after her 7th birthday, is called the Deferred Date. From this day onwards the life cover of the child Sameera starts, i.e. if she dies after the deferred date her family would get the entire sum assured. But if she had died before the deferred date, her family would only get back the premiums paid and no sum assured would be payable. When Sameera attains 18 years of age or any later date as may be chosen, the title of the policy automatically passes on to her name. This process is called as Vesting. Therefore, the day on which the policy contract is transferred from Ranjan to Sameera, i.e. the first policy anniversary after her 18th birthday, is called the Vesting Date. After vesting, the insurance policy becomes a contract between the insurance company and Sameera.

This life insurance policy covers the risk of the child’s life. This is a distinctive plan as the entire amount payable gets transferred in the name of the child once he/ she is 18 years old. Thus it becomes a big asset for the child’s future to take care of various financial commitments and pursue higher education, professional courses, develop skill sets, travel places, plan other investments and many others.

Child Plans from different Insurance CompaniesTraditional Child Insurance Plans

Aegon Religare Star Child Plan

Bajaj Allianz ChildGain Bajaj Allianz

YoungCare II

Future Child Benefit Plan

HDFC Children’s Plan ICICI Pru SmartKid

Regular Premium

ING Creating Life Child Protection Plan

LIC Jeevan Anurag LIC CDA Endowment

Vesting At 21 LIC CDA Endowment

Vesting At 18 LIC Jeevan Kishore LIC Child Career Plan LIC Child Fortune Plus LIC Komal Jeevan LIC Marriage

Endowment Or Educational Annuity Plan

LIC Jeevan Chhaya LIC Child Future Plan Children’s Endowment

to 18 (Par) Children’s Endowment

to 24 (Par) Met Bhavishya Met Junior Endowment Met Junior- Money Back Reliance Child Plan SBI Life - Scholar II

(Child Plan) ShriVidya Tata AIG Life Assure

Career Builder

Unit Linked Child Insurance Plans

Tata AIG Life Assure Educare

Tata AIG Life Starkid Aviva New Young

Scholar Bharti AXA Life Bright

Stars Plus BSLI Dream Child Plan BSLI Saral Children’s

Plan HDFC YoungStar Super HDFC YoungStar

Supreme

HDFC YoungStar Super Suvidha

HDFC YoungStar Supreme Suvidha