You are doing great harm to your financial well-being if you continue to fall into the trap laid down by life insurance companies, their agents and now the shareholders of these companies, under the benevolent gaze of the insurance regulator. How many of us are still buying these traps? In financial year 2018-19 (that is the latest data available), individuals bought almost 30 million new life insurance policies, pumping almost ₹1 trillion of household savings into them.
Which policies are the most harmful? Traditional plans that include with-profit money-back, whole-life, endowment policies and guaranteed plans are the worst. These make up 85% of the entire market. Ulips are not traps and are much better products but don’t do well on disclosures and flexibility as compared to mutual funds. Term cover, the best kind of life insurance that you must have, are hardly sold. They are largely self-bought as smart people figure out what to buy. They buy online, cutting out the agent.