Understanding How a Child Insurance Plan Works: Step-by-Step Breakdown
A Child Insurance Plan helps secure the financial future of your child & meet rising educational expenses. Parents always put their efforts hard work to offer their children the best possible to fulfil their dreams. Though it offers life coverage, but also works as a Child Saving Plan by allocating a part of the premium towards investments, which can be used to build a corpus for their education, marriage, etc. &, and allocating another part of the premium towards insurance, which ensures the financial security of a child in case of the sudden demise of the parent.
Reasons to Buy a Child Insurance Plan
Provided are the reasons to buy a child insurance plan:
- Urgent Help for Financial Emergencies
In the case of a parent’s sudden demise, the death benefits are received by their beneficiaries. This will help them maintain their livelihood in terms of routine expenses by providing them with financial security.
- Addressing Increasing Costs
With the rising costs, your plan should also cope with the same to keep pace with inflation. As ULIPs are market-linked, this helps you build a large corpus, helping you meet your child’s future costs. The traditional child educational plans offer bonuses & assured returns, which also help increase corpus funds.
- Using Collateral to Secure Loans
As parents, you can use these plans as collateral against a loan to meet your child’s future costs.
- Safeguarding Your Child’s Future
The premium waiver benefit provides a child with an option to continue the plan even in the case of their parents’ demise. This means an insurance company will continue paying the premium amount if the policyholder dies on their behalf, helping to create corpus funds for the child.
- Investment Returns
The market-linked returns earned help you create corpus funds fulfilling your child’s requirements.
- Life Coverage
This plan offers life coverage, besides savings corpus funds for your child.
- Tax Benefits
The premium paid towards this plan is eligible for a tax deduction u/s 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Additionally, the maturity or death benefits received are also exempt from tax u/s 10(10D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
How to Choose the Best Child Insurance Plan?
Provided are the factors that should be considered to choose the Best Child Insurance Plan:
- Coverage & Benefits
Evaluate the coverage offered to the parents, & benefits offered in terms of waiver of premium, amount of payouts, etc. A good plan is such which offers both investment & protection, & providing enough maturity benefit that will be enough to meet the future costs.
- Flexibility
Check the plan you are willing to apply for, whether it is flexible in terms of premium payment frequency, i.e. monthly, quarterly, annually, or in a lump sum. Additionally, you should also check whether it provides an option to choose between increasing, decreasing, term plans, or to pay top-up premiums, or allows you to switch between the funds.
- Returns on Investment
Consider the returns on investment made while selecting your child’s insurance plan. If you want to opt for a long-term investment plan, a money-back or ULIP can be a good option. These plans offer dual benefits of insurance & investments. For individuals who are reluctant to accept risks, guaranteed return or endowment plans are best suited.
- Claim Settlement Ratio
It is a ratio of the number of claims an insurance company receives in a year to the number of claims it settles. The higher the claim settlement ratio, the higher the company’s ability to settle claims.
- Tax Implications
Most of the child insurance plans are eligible for a tax deduction on the premium amount paid u/s 80C, together with an exemption on the maturity benefits received. Review the plan to opt for these benefits.
How Does a Child Insurance Plan Work?
A child insurance plan is a combination of long-term savings & financial protection in case of a parent’s sudden demise. This plan helps build a financial corpus of funds to fulfil the future financial requirements of your child. Now, let us understand how a child insurance plan works:
Step 1: Choosing the Most Suited Plan
An appropriate child insurance plan must be chosen by the parents, which would depend on the desired coverage amount, premium paying capacity, & financial objectives.
Step 2: Regular Premium Payments
The policyholder is then required to make payment towards the premium amount, depending upon the frequency & mode chosen.
Step 3: Investment
A part of the premium is allocated towards life insurance, providing coverage to the policyholder, & the remaining part is allocated to build a financial corpus of funds by the insurance company.
Step 4: Growth
Under traditional life insurance plans, the funds grow continuously but offer assured returns, making them ideal for risk-averse investors. On the other hand &, ULIPs, which are market-linked securities, offer higher returns.
Step 5: Maturity Benefit
Under a traditional plan, the maturity benefits are decided by the insurance company, i.e. either predefined or fixed. Under ULIPs, the maturity benefits depend on market performance.
Step 6: Death Benefit
The death benefit will be paid to the policyholder’s nominees in case of death of the policyholder.
Step 7: Premium Waiver
Get a waiver of the premium amount after the death of the parent to continue getting uninterrupted benefits for the child’s brighter future & achievement of desired objectives.
Step 8: Flexibility
Under ULIPs, the policyholder gets an option to switch between the funds depending on the financial objectives, risk appetite level, financial objectives, etc.
Step 9: Riders & Additional Benefits
Additional riders can be added to the present plan at an added cost, such as accidental riders, critical illness riders, waiver of premium riders, etc.
Conclusion
Being a parent is always a blessing, but it comes with an added responsibility to secure the financial future of your child. Parents should look for a child plan which will ensure the smooth financial journey of their child, ensuring disciplined savings to meet milestones like education, marriage, etc. Additionally, these plans offer taxation benefits with flexibility in premium payment options & worldwide coverage. It is always advised to start as soon as possible by comparing the plans, reviewing them, and remaining invested always helps to build a strong financial structure.
