Importance of checking maturity benefits while choosing a life insurance policy

By admin, June 12, 2018

You must have considered a life insurance policy as something that only provides support in the event of a financial crisis. But you may not have considered its potential in the form of a long-term investment. Life insurance yields a great shield of safety around your household members in the event of an unforeseen wage loss e.g. accidents causing disabilities or death. The consideration of income loss for the future helps in determining the amount of compensation although the true worth of a human life can’t be measured in terms of money.

Under circumstances when the policyholder gets disabled or passes away, the family members achieve a guaranteed sum of money termed as the “sum assured”. Even with a term insurance plan, the policyholder needs to think of what he’ll achieve from this type of investment in case nothing unfortunate happens. Will he be able to meet the other inevitable expenses like that of bearing the cost of his children’s education, a world trip with his loved ones, and the marriage of his children?

Types of maturity benefit plans:

Term Life policies- Term insurance is a financial plan that reimburses extra premiums to the policyholder when the policy terms end and the insured survives through this period.

Endowment policies- The benefits of insurance and investment are combined under these plans. The money doesn’t yield great returns as it’s invested in debt funds. However, the risks can be managed more easily. The sum assured is actually not that high.

Unit-Linked policies- Compared to traditional forms of life insurance, the risk is much higher with this type of unit-linked products. The policyholder needs to bear some other associated charges, but he gains exposure to equity and obtains a fair growth of his money as against a higher return. These plans even allow money to be withdrawn partially that can be utilized for coping with the financial challenges whenever they surface. Death benefits are provided when the policyholder passes away within the tenure, but the guaranteed returns are provided when he survives before the policy period.

Maturity Benefit from life policies

Upon maturity of a policy, the benefits can be claimed by the policyholder. The completion of the plan tenure entitles the policyholder to receive a variable amount for ULIPs and other products linked with the market performance alongside the principal amount. However, for achieving the variable benefit, the policy needs to be concluded according to the pre-set terms. For traditional products, the owner will be entitled to receive the fixed amount only. The benefits that provided on maturity usually comprise of the sum of premiums that have been met during the entire policy tenure and the other return benefits stated in the paperwork.

The maturity benefits yield a sum of money that increases each year but is restricted to the overall premiums paid. That’s one reason why these plans are considered to be both a coverage benefit as well as an investment option. The corpus exhibits a uniform increase and the entire amount is paid out at the end of the maturity term.