More women increasingly make their own decisions while purchasing term insurance policy: Report
More women are opting for term life insurance policies, including homemakers and those without children, to secure their future
PremiumOne of the most common myths about women’s relationships with money is about their dependence on family members for financial planning. In contrast to the perception, more women are now opting for term life insurance by themselves, according to a recent data analysis by PolicyBazaar.
Term life insurance is gaining popularity among homemakers, despite the fact that they don't have any fixed source of income. The data found that 45% of homemakers are actively involved in the decision-making process with their husbands when purchasing term insurance for themselves.
“Housewives traditionally had a problem in terms of getting term insurance. It was only a year and a half that insurance companies understood the value that a housewife adds to the overall household. Valuing their contribution, companies started providing standalone term insurance plans for homemakers," said Rhishabh Garg, Head of Term Insurance, PolicyBazaar.
“It was because of the opening of the supply that led to more and more households buying the term plan," he added.
Not just homemakers, salaried women are also making their own decisions related to financial planning. According to the data, 81% of salaried and 66% of self-employed women make a joint decision when it comes to purchasing term life insurance. Women with formal education are much more likely to make the purchase decision independently.
The data also indicates that women in Western India are more active in making their independent decisions related to term life insurance. Women in Western India rank the highest in independent decision-making (36%) across tier-1 & 2 cities than the 27% of India average Securing children’s future main reason behind purchases, says the research data.
Points to take care of while taking a term insurance plan
People need to look at the sum assured by the policy, their income, and liabilities before taking term insurance, said Rhishabh Garg.
"Another important factor to consider is policy tenure, how long people want the term insurance to cover their insurance," he added.
It is also important to research the kind of riders that are offered in term insurance policies like health, accident, etc. The next step is to be aware of the kind of riders people would require based on factors like profession, gender, income, age, etc.
“For example, women are more susceptible to different kinds of cancers. In this case, a critical illness rider can help women prepare for scenarios like loss of income due to any critical illness like cancer," explains Rhishabh.
The rising number of women term insurance holders reflects their tendency to share the onus family’s future with their male counterparts.
In many cases, safeguarding the children’s future is the evident motivator for married women with children. However, the research found that popularity of term insurance policies is also high among married women without children and unmarried women.
The data says that 39% of women married without children secured a term plan for this very reason. Not just this, 16% of single women also planned and bought a term plan to secure their potential children. However, in this category, 69% of women bought term insurance to take care of aging parents.
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