Life Events & Stages

Introduction

When you were young, you had limited financial responsibilities. Now that you are married, your insurance needs have changed. It becomes very important to plan, keeping in mind your present lifestyle and liabilities.

Why is life insurance important when you are married?
Now that you are married, you have people dependent on you for financial support. Life Insurance provides you and your family with protection against all the risks involved, moreover providing you an opportunity to grow your investments. It could be viewed as a long-term investment to provide for your child’s future expenses or your expenses.

How much life insurance do you need?
Ideally, you should insure yourself for as long as you are the critical or crucial breadwinning member of the family. This can mean different things for different families. For example, you may want to have enough life insurance to cover your present household expenses, possibly your housing loan, car loan, or even set aside money for your parent’s heath expenses, children’s education and marriage expenses or your spouse’s pension.

If you are the sole breadwinner, then you should plan so that your family gets all the financial support for their present needs and lifestyle.

If you have children...
If you have children, you will want to opt for more life insurance. As a caring parent you would always want your child to get the very best. To ensure that you fulfill dreams that you may have for your loved ones, financial planning for their secured future is very important.

Nominee/Assignee
Your spouse should be assigned as the beneficiary of your life insurance policy in order to receive payment in case something unforeseen happens to you.

In case you assigned the policy to someone else in the family earlier and later added in your will that your spouse receive the proceeds from the insurance policy, your spouse will not receive the proceeds but your assigned family member will. To make life simpler, you could assign the policy to your spouse and make your children the nominee to the policy. Naming your spouse and your children as beneficiaries can make it easier for your children to collect if something happens to you and your spouse at the same time. (However, keep in mind that courts will not allow minor children to directly receive the proceeds of a life insurance policy.)

If you already have life insurance…

If you already own a life insurance policy when you get married, you should do the following: