So, YouTube has a ton of videos on term insurance and you know what's common in all these videos? Absolutely no one is answering questions, which is a shame because that's where I think the real questions, the actual doubts are. So, here's what I did.
I pulled out thousands of comments related to term insurance. I then dumped them into an AI model, did some cleaning, and the results are these 40, 50 odd questions that you see here. I won't be able to cover all these questions at least in this video.
So what I've done is I've printed each question on a slip of paper. It's all there in this bowl and question. I'll keep my answers short.
I'll share my own perspective and I'll definitely talk from experience both as a consumer and also someone who's worked in the life insurance industry. Okay, if everyone's ready, let's start with purch number one. Okay.
Is there a limit on the number of term insuranceances one can purchase? No, there is no such limit. In fact, uh I have two life insurance policies of my own term life policies.
The first one I purchased in 2010 a good 15 years back when term insurance had just started in the country and then when my salary increased, my dependencies increased, I opted for another term insurance policy which was from Access Max life insurance. Of course, this doesn't mean you can take an unlimited number of policies. There are checks and balances in place with insurance underwriters examining your income, age, your health condition, etc.
before deciding on an aggregate coverage limit. Next one, if my company provides term insurance, do I still need to buy a separate policy? Firstly, congratulations.
Not all companies offer term insurance coverage. So well done on choosing an organization that takes care of employee benefits. Uh okay.
So on this question there are largely a couple of things you need to consider. First is the amount of coverage. Organizations typically provide a sumured of one to three times of your annual CT which I think is quite insufficient.
Secondly and I'm sure you know this but your group term insurance cover is there only till the time you are employed with that organization. Now imagine this. Let's say you have exited a company for whatever reason.
You are now 50 years old with lots of health complications and you now try to buy an individual term insurance policy. The chances are that a no life insurer would offer you one and secondly if anyone does then the premium will be extremely high. So either ways you're likely to lose out and therefore my suggestion is have your own term insurance policy.
What happens if my life insurance company goes bankrupt? Nice. It's a very valid question.
So, insurance in India is a very tightly regulated business in the sense that the IRDI, the insurance regulatory and development authority of India, it has very strict norms that every insurer has to follow. For example, there's something called the solveny ratio, which is nothing but the insurers's ability to pay future claims. Now the current rule requires a solvency ratio of at least 150%.
And pleasantly most insurance companies are well above this number. That said a collapse is possible. Not very probable but still possible and the only situation I can recall from an Indian context is that of Sahara life insurance which had a ton of problems.
The regulator had to intervene. However, if you wish to be a little careful about this then perhaps you'd like to stick with the more established players. So an insurer like Access Max Life for instance which is consistently counted amongst India's top life insurance companies and is doing well on metrics like the solvency ratio and the claim settlement ratio.
Okay, I'm a 40year-old earning two lakhs per month. How much life insurance coverage do I need? I'm actually glad this came up.
I think there's a big misunderstanding of how people estimate their ideal term insurance cover amount and hopefully I can address it here. So we have two pieces of information. This person has offered the age and the income.
And let me add a few more variables to this table. For example, your investment corpus. If you already have a few kures invested, then your need for life insurance is far lower than someone who has no savings.
The same goes for liabilities. If you have outstanding loans, let's say a home loan, then your term insurance cover needs to be much higher than someone who is debtfree. So, a bit like this, you can build up more scenarios.
But if you want to really be scientific about it, then watch this video where I've detailed out the entire coverage estimation process with lots of calculations giving you a better clarity on what your family might actually need. My point is, whatever coverage you choose, it should essentially reflect the financial burden your family would face if you weren't around. I know insurance companies don't look at it this way.
They prefer to use age and income to arrive at an eligibility. But that's not how you need to look at your requirements. So watch that video.
I'm sure you'll find it very useful. All right. Is the access max life smart term plan plus the smartest term plan one can buy?
Okay. Uh let's examine some of the unique features of this plan. Let's start with the premium.
And with these plans starting from just a little over 500 rupees a month, it's definitely one of the most budget friendly plans out there. It offers a guaranteed death benefit during the policy term. Additionally, there's a special exit value benefit that returns back all paid premiums from the 30th year onwards.
The plan also comes with a smart cover variant that pays 150% of the base summer in case the policy holder dies during the first 15 years. If you're a salaried individual, the plan comes with a firstear 15% discount. And exclusively for females, there's a 15% lifetime discount.
Yes, you heard that right, a 15% lifetime discount, which is over and above the salary discount. So, these are just some of the benefits. And together with a 99.
7% claim settlement ratio and a threehour claim settlement guarantee, this platform Access Max Life makes for a compelling proposition. So, if you're someone who's still wondering which plan to buy, do explore and consider the Access Max Life Smart Term Plan Plus. And as always, the link to this product is available in the description.
What happens if someone is not smoking or drinking at the time of policy purchase but starts doing that later? Okay. So, do you need to inform the insurance company?
The answer is no. You don't need to. Will claims be rejected?
Again, the answer is no. Unless the insurance company proves that you were already smoking or drinking when you bought that policy, in which case the claim can and in most cases will be rejected. In fact, every policy holder should know this.
So, there's a section section 45 in the insurance act that says no claim can be rejected by the insurance company after 3 years of policy issuance for any reason unless it involves proven fraud. And what is fraud? Well, in an insurance context, fraud is the deliberate attempt to hide or falsify critical information.
For example, if you hide the fact that you are a heavy smoker or drinker, then that's fraud. If you submit fake medical reports, fraud, or if you claim you are salaried when you're not, you probably said it to grab that 15% discount that Access Max Life Smart Term Plan Plus offers. Then that too is a fraud.
Remember in the case of fraud the insurer can reject the claim even after 3 years. However, the burden of proof lies entirely with the insurance company. Okay.
Can a jobless person get term life insurance? Yes, someone without an income can be considered. But this happens on a case-to case basis and is not very common.
Of course, the underwriting here will be done a little differently and from experience, I can tell you the process will be a lot longer and a bit more tedious. As to why insurers are hesitant in offering insurance to this no income cohort, you see technically term insurance is meant to replace someone's lost future income. So if you don't have an income then insurers will naturally question why you need coverage and how does one even determine how much that coverage should be.
It's the reason why housewives, freelancers, unemployed and even self-employed people like me find it a bit difficult to fit within the insurers's eligibility matrix. But that doesn't mean it's impossible. My term insurance application was rejected due to a pre-existing conditions.
What are my options? But yeah, question. So step one is to understand why it was rejected.
I know it says due to a pre-existing condition, but understandably it's in your interest to find out more. Did the insurer find the risk too high? What are the acceptable limits?
Did you fail to disclose any condition that later came out during medicals and things like that? Okay, once you have this, let's look at the options and thankfully there are a bunch of them. Number one and the most obvious is to reapply after your health stabilizes.
Of course, I'm assuming your medical condition is temporary. So once you are better, please reapply. Option number two, you can always try out other insurers, but I'll suggest you work with an adviser for this.
The reason being advisers usually have a better understanding of where the underwriting department might be a bit lenient and that maybe can be used to your advantage. Group term insurance is another option. Typically, your company or your bank or some association you're a part of, they often have a term plan that's exclusively for their members.
And these usually don't require any medicals. And finally, if nothing seems to be working, you can always go back to the original insurer and ask them to accept your proposal conditionally. It's the last resort.
And if the underwriter does agree to it, they would either load it as in they will charge a higher premium for it or they would have specific exclusions that say something like if death occurs due to X, Y or Zed disease, then the claim is inadmissible. So these are the four options that a person with pre-existing conditions can explore. It's not easy, but there's always that chance that one of these options might work for you.
Hi. So the question is are there any discounts available on term insurance premium? And the answer is yes.
There are all kinds of discounts. Some are universal. So if you're a non-smoker then your premiums are a lot lower.
Sometimes 30 40% lower as compared to what a smoker would pay. Then there's a female discount that's offered by a few insurers wherein women pay a lot lower for term insurance when compared to the men. In fact, the Access Max Life Smart Term Plan Plus is also doing this.
It offers females a lifetime discount of 15% which presently is not just applicable for the first year but throughout the premium payment term. Then there's also something called digital discount. Some insurance companies offer a small discount here generally 5% if you buy the policy online.
And now there's something that I'm increasingly seeing and even the access plan has this which is a salarite discount. It's basically a knockoff in premium for salaried individuals that can go as high as 15% on your first year. Will a claim be honored if the policy holder moves abroad and dies there?
The answer is yes. Term insurance claims are usually paid out even if the policy holder dies abroad. But just be aware of the paperwork.
This can be a bit intense. For example, some of the key documents to be submitted by the nominee is the death certificate issued by that country's local authority along with the passport and the visa documents. These might take a little while.
So keep the insurance company informed of the progress and always do this in writing via eBay. Also note some insurers might have restrictions on geographies. So warp prone or sanctioned countries like Syria, Yemen etc.
And also certain professions are deemed to be high-risisk. So do watch out for that and for specifics do refer to the policy boardings. Okay.
Uh this is something I've been asked before. I'm opting for a 3 cr cover. Should I split the coverage amongst three different insurers?
That is take three policies from three insurers of 1 cr each. So basically the policy holder wants to diversify, spread out the risk, not keep all eggs in one basket. And while something like this might work in investing, it is very unlikely to work with term insurance.
I mean, let's think through it. So, all term insurance policies have very standard and similar terms and conditions. This is something we all understand.
Which means if one insurer were to reject the claim due to whatever reason, then there's every likelihood that the other insurer will also reject the claim citing the very same reason. Then there's a second issue which is procedural in nature as in while taking three policies one will have to fill multiple proposal forms get medicals done with every insurer separately and during claims picture your nominee running from one insurer to the other. I think it's just not worth it.
And if you have to choose between 3 * 1 or 1* 3, then I'll say go for a 3 cr cover cover with a single insurance. To the extent possible, go with an established brand, someone with a strong claim settlement ratio like Access Max life, which has done extremely well for many years and also offers a three-hour claim settlement guarantee for genuine claims. Is there an option to port my existing term insurance policy?
No. Uh not currently. It's there in health insurance.
But as far as term insurance goes, there is no such facility of switching insurers or upgrading to a different plan while retaining your existing benefits or premium. That said, the regulator had proposed something to this effect way back in 2017, I think, but I don't think this has materialized. So essentially, if you're looking to change your term insurance, the only option is for you to buy a new policy aresh and discontinue the existing one.
Do insurance companies always reject claims stating stupid reasons? I like the way this person has written always reject claims. It reveals a couple of things.
One, a clear lack of awareness. And secondly, it's very probable that this person has neither bought a policy nor made a claim. It's very sad to see such clouded opinions especially when the fact is life insurance companies pay thousands of kores on death claims every year.
That said, some claims do get rejected and the reasons include the usual stuff. Non-disclosure of material facts like your smoking habit, health condition, etc. Incorrect or misleading information like falsifying your employment status.
Policy lapses as in your policy wasn't active or you hadn't paid premiums on time. furnishing fraud or fabricated documents like faking death certificates, tampering of medical records and exclusions in policy terms like death by suicide in the first year or when partaking adventure sports etc. All right.
Should I take riders along with term insurance or as a separate health insurance policy? It's an interesting question. I don't have a pucka answer but let's just go through this.
So the most popular riders across plans are accidental death, permanent disability, critical illness, hospital cash and there's also a waiver of premium rider. Now if I would logically assess this, I think waiver of premium and permanent disability are two riders which are not easily available under health insurance. So if these are not very expensive, then I'll say you should go for it.
As far as the rest is concerned, especially critical illness, I'll surely encourage you to do some research. The terms, conditions, what illnesses are covered, for how long is it covered, what happens to the summer? These are definitely the questions you must ask before you opt for any such rider.
Okay. Oh. Um, all right folks.
Uh, this is I think this is all the time we have for today's video. We've covered 14 questions I'm told which is good because these are the kind of questions which are there in the mind which we want answers to but it really shows up in any literature or on YouTube. I sincerely hope you like this video and if you're in the mood to buy a term insurance plans for yourself then do check out the access max life smart term plan plus.
It has tons of features. It's at a good premium. There are many discounts.
It comes from a very well-established company and as someone who's had an access max life plan for the last 10 years, I'll simply say welcome to the family. Do share this video with others. Do like it, subscribe to my channel, my newsletter and I'll see you very soon.
