An effective way to manage risks in life and business is getting insurance. Insurance acts as a protection against any unexpected financial loss. If you have insurance and experience an unexpected loss or setback, the company will pay you for it. Therefore, we can say that the insurance is a written policy or contract between the policyholder and the company providing the policy. There are significant benefits of insurance in our daily life. For instance, if you have your car insured and end up in an accident, the company will compensate for the car damage after subtracting the deductibles. If you don’t have any insurance, you will have to bear the costs all by yourself.
Components of Insurance
Below are the main components associated with insurance:
- Premium: Premium is the amount of money a person has to pay for the insurance they want. The evaluation of this premium is based on the business’s risk to the policyholder. The insurer decides this premium based on his research about the policyholder. For example, a person having health issues such as diabetes or heart disease will have a high premium for life insurance. The price of insurance varies from company to company according to their policies.
- Policy Limit: The policy limit refers to the maximum amount an insurer will pay to the policyholder for their losses. If the policy limits are higher, their premiums will also be higher. For example: in the case of health insurance, the amount of money paid by the insurer on the death of the policyholder or the insured will be the policy limit or the face value.
- Deductible: Deductible refers to the amount a policyholder will have to pay before the insurer pays them. To simplify, we can say that the insurance company only pays if the claim made by the policyholder exceeds the amount of deductible decided. For example: if a person claims 35,000 INR and his deductibles are 20,000 INR, the company will only have to pay 15,000 INR. The policies with high deductibles usually have a lower premium, and similarly, the policies with low deductibles typically have a higher premium.
Benefits of Insurance
Insurance has many underlying benefits if chosen appropriately. These benefits of insurance are as follows:
- Protection from Unexpected Losses: Insurance can protect us from unexpected losses. For example, if your car or bike gets stolen and you have an insurance policy, the company will pay you an amount equal to the current monetary value of the vehicle. However, in case of no insurance policy, you alone will be responsible for compensating for your loss. However, choosing a good insurance policy is necessary by comparing all others.
- Reducing Financial Risk: It reduces a person’s financial risks due to some mishappening. For example: if you have renter’s insurance and there’s a theft in your apartment, the company will pay you for the items under their insurance policy, according to the policy limit.
- Providing Investment Opportunities: Many insurance companies grant bonuses to help the investment growth. For instance, the unit-linked investment plan will invest some part of your premium into different market funds, and you will regularly get benefits from it.
Benefits of Life Insurance
Some of the benefits of life insurance that can help your family to meet their financial needs are as follows:
- Life insurance ensures a better standard of living for children and other family members after the demise of an earning member of the family. If you have life insurance of seven to 10 times your income, your family member does not have to worry about minor and major expenses such as college education.
- Due to a lack of savings, the amount required to spend on the final rites of an individual can cause great trouble to their family members. However, some life insurance policies help by paying for the final rites.
- On the sudden demise of someone, the estate’s heirs have to pay taxes to receive the inherited property. This tax varies for the state or country concerned. However, life insurance can either partially or entirely remove this tax, and the heirs can inherit the property without any hassle.
Conclusion
Insurance is the best way to reduce risks in life. Life insurance gives security to the children and family if the policyholder dies. It is a written contract between the policyholder and the insurer, and it is necessary to read all the terms and conditions properly. Some of the benefits of insurance include protection from unexpected losses, reducing financial risks, providing investment opportunities, regularly paying the children and family after the demise of the policyholder, paying for the last rites etc. The benefits vary for different policies. Therefore, choosing the right policy is necessary when going to get insurance.