Choosing the right life insurance policy is of utmost importance and an important financial decision. Therefore, you must understand everything about life plans before making your choice.
You must clearly know about every detail of the policy, the various benefits and features, and the terms and conditions. You may seek advice from an experienced agent. Here are three questions to ask the advisor before making your choice:
Is the agent advisor qualified or authorized to suggest me a life insurance solution?
Firstly, check the agent’s license number, issue date, and expiry details. This allows you to understand his total experience in the industry. Moreover, you need to check if he is a part-time or full-time advisor. Every insurance agent reports to a manager working for the insurer. It is recommended that you maintain the contact details and other information of the branch and his reporting manager.
What are my financial needs – current and future?
The agent must be able to help you determine the current and future financial needs of you and your family. To help you achieve these, the agent must ask you several questions about your lifestyle, goals, and other aspects. If he is unable to do this, you must find another agent.
Before the advisor recommends a particular type of plan or policy, he should thoroughly assess the difference between your assets and liabilities, your current lifestyle, annual earnings, spending traits, and long-term financial goals and obligations.
Based on the information provided, he should suggest the right kind of insurance plan that is suitable as per your needs. The different types of plans include whole life, unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs), term insurance, and endowment policies.
After the advisor conducts the analysis and recommends a particular product, you need to further understand the following three things:
- The total premium payable during the policy tenure
- The sum assured and the value of the fund during maturity (depends on the type of plan chosen)
- The included and excluded coverage in the policy
A few other details such as the minimum lock-in if any, premium payment tenure, partial withdrawal availability, and mode of payment must also be clarified.
What are the differentiators of this product?
While asking questions related to insurance, you need to understand the differentiating features of the recommended policy with other comparable products offered by other companies. This will also allow you to check the reliability and knowledge of the agent.
An experienced agent should know about all the different types of products available and the industry competitiveness. This allows him to provide meaningful and unbiased recommendations. The agent should consider your well-being without being attentive to his earnings.
Another important insurance question is the availability of riders. Additional riders such as critical illness cover and accidental benefits enhance the overall coverage available with the policy. Most of these riders are available at affordable premiums and are an excellent and affordable way to procure comprehensive coverage.
Finally, when you are deciding on the best insurance policy, it is important to procure signed calculations of the benefits available with the plan from the agent. As per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the agent may provide optimistic calculations at 10% and conservative calculations at 6%.
Now that you have got an idea about what insurance questions you must ask your agent, you must follow the aforementioned guide to make smart investment decisions.
