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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  Did You Know | How to find out the amount of life and health insurance cover you need
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Did You Know | How to find out the amount of life and health insurance cover you need

Did You Know | How to find out the amount of life and health insurance cover you need

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If you are planning to buy a life or health insurance policy and are not sure how much is enough, here is a quick guide to help you out.

Life insurance

The general thumb rule on life insurance says that you should not have less than 8-10 times your gross annual income as life insurance cover. So if your annual gross salary is 1 lakh, then you should take an insurance of 8-10 lakh. Anything less that this amount means you are under-insured. In other words, in case of your death, your dependants may not have adequate funds to meet their needs. Keep in mind that while going in for a life insurance policy, a term plan is the best bet.

Health insurance

As far as health insurance goes, there is no thumb rule to guide you about the amount of insurance you need. Financial planners say that keeping in mind the average cost of major surgeries these days, a cover of 4 lakh is good enough. Also, if you are covered by your employer for say 2 lakh, you can go in for an individual health policy of another 2 lakh, provided that you work at a reputable company and don’t change jobs frequently. If you are someone who changes jobs often, it’s best to have an individual health cover of 4 lakh.

What should you do?

The above-mentioned figures are just guidelines and do not take into account your specific individual situation. These one-size-fits-all thumb rules come handy when you don’t have immediate access to the Internet and your agent is trying to sell you a life insurance policy. These will help you ensure that the agent is selling an amount that you actually need. There are many online insurance amount calculators, which can provide you an in-depth view of the total life insurance amount you need based on your age, life stage and lifestyle. These calculators are available on the website of many insurance companies.

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Published: 22 Nov 2011, 10:49 PM IST
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