Thursday, 10 November 2011

Importance of Child Plans


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 Parents always wish to fulfill the child's dreams of an ideal career, dream wedding, capital for business and so many other specialized needs that children have from time to time. With the wish comes the realization that they need a fortune to be able to get desired education and training for the child. They save and they invest for wealth enhancement just so that they can accomplish the task of saving enough. It is investment insurance plans designed to help you do just that.

Figure it out
Why do you need a child insurance plan? For most the reason will be, "to save for the child's education" and some may add "marriage or regular income till the child is independent". The reason that comes out most prominently is to provide for child's financial requirements, whether the parent is there or not. So while buying a plan, identifying your need and time you may need finances at have to be figured out carefully.

Benefits of a Child Plan
Since child plans are investment plans, they combine the benefits of insurance and investment. The premium is bifurcated for the purpose. While traditional plans give out guaranteed amount, ULIP are market linked and the returns are based on the performance of chosen funds.
Disciplined Savings
Child plans are systematic and disciplined way to save for the child's future. The money put into a plan provides for insurance as well as wealth enhancement

Creating a Corpus
Depending upon your capacity to take risk, you can choose between traditional or a unit linked child plan. With various individual advantages and disadvantages.

Critically Chosen Maturity Date
At the time of choosing the child plan, parents need to evaluate their financial resources as well as the time at which they will need the corpus. At this stage parents have the liberty to choose the maturity of the plans such that they are able to meet the financial requirements at given life stages of the child.

Waiver of Premium
The benefit that stands out in such a case is "waiver of premium". So, if anything happens to the parent, anytime after buying a child plan, the premiums will be waived off and the policy maturity benefits will be given to the child, as planned by the parent, on maturity.

Right time to buy a child plan
Time at which you buy child plan is an important factor for the policy to be effective in terms of premium paid and the returns. Just like any investment to grow substantially, it taken for a longer duration pay better whether traditional or ULIP. Since the maturity date of these plans is fixed, it is better to buy these when the child is still young.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6545307

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

Importance of Life Insurance Planning

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Buying a life insurance is one of the most important decisions of life you will ever make. One buys an insurance with a view to provide his family members or dependents a financial protection against the odds of life. Therefore, the need for adequate insurance planning becomes a crucial task for an individual seeking a life insurance. Each person thinks differently. There are those who are very cautious and there are those who believe in leading life recklessly without giving a thought about tomorrow. Thus, one should always be able to evaluate his insurance needs correctly and should not get affected by the decisions of others.

Although life insurance is an extremely excellent instrument which means far more than just investment returns and tax benefits, the question still remains 'Why is insurance necessary?' We all are well aware that life is uncertain and we do not know what it has in store for us. Although nobody has a control over time but if things are pre-planned, we can at least be prepared for even the worst of times. Some wise decisions today can lead to a beautiful secured life in future. Thus, it becomes essential to evaluate your insurance needs today and plan it accordingly for making life easy and comfortable for your family and yourself.

Insurance planning is concerned with ensuring adequate coverage against insurable risks. Calculating the right amount of risk cover is a specialized activity requiring considerable expertise. Proper insurance planning can help you look at the possibility of getting a wider coverage for a reduced premium. Your financial background is different from your neighbors, friends and relatives and so are your insurance needs. That is why, it is important to plan your finances and insurance needs accordingly. Your buying decision should very well depend on the number of dependents and their financial needs as well.

It is thus prudent to get a life insurance for oneself to provide a financial coverage to your loved ones. As all of us run a number of risks in our day-to-day lives, it becomes increasingly important to ensure oneself with an adequate amount of coverage and hence, the need for proper insurance planning is necessary

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6562513

Monday, 7 November 2011

An Introduction to Child Insurance


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With rising cost of living, it has become imperative for parents to plan for the future needs of their child at the earliest. Many parents start with the planning task when the child is in the womb. This helps them take care of any certain or unforeseen financial burden with ease without compromising on the interest of their child.

Child insurance is one such option that helps you in planning and securing your child future at any time. There are a number of insurance companies offering policies to suit your child's growing needs. Child insurance is a great option because taking out a small amount of premium from your monthly or annual income will not affect your other needs, and you won't even come to know how conveniently you collected a pool of money for your child's benefit.

A number of benefits are covered under this type of insurance. For example, education, health, medicine, and marriage are the common ones. However, generally one has to take a separate policy for each benefit. Every policy has different terms and conditions suiting different customer needs.

Some policies provide a guaranteed amount of lump sum money at the end of the policy tenure. They are commonly known as child endowment policies. Similarly, child money back policies work like an income plan where at periodic intervals guaranteed or non-guaranteed amount of money is paid to the insurance holder to help him meet various demands like admission fees, coaching classes, etc. from time-to-time. These days Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) has become popular. They are high-risk and high-return plans normally taken for a long tenure.

Every policy has a different growth rate that varies directly with the level of market risk involved. Policies with guaranteed returns, for instance, are less growth-oriented than the ones with varying returns like ULIP. Some of the policies also have a security feature according to which an assured sum of money decided in advance is payable in the event of the unfortunate death of the parent. Moreover, all future premiums are waived off.

You can take a policy depending upon your desired policy tenure, amount of premium, and the benefits covered. As there is a cut-throat competition among all the insurance companies, you can get the best deal for your child. The health of a child is covered under medical insurance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6607288

Thursday, 3 November 2011

Tips for Successfully Investing in Mutual Funds

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Most people today choose to invest in mutual funds. In fact, they are now considered an essential element of a well balanced portfolio. However, it is best to have a thorough understanding of what a they are, how they work and how to invest in them to take advantage of this investment option. They are quite suitable for those who do not want to get involved with the day-to-day operations of the market.
The Basic Things You Should Know Before You Invest

First, you should know what a mutual fund is before you invest in it. A mutual fund refers to a company which holds different instruments of investments like stocks, bonds, securities, certificate of deposits etc. One fund can hold any number of such investments. In fact, while choosing a one, you should make sure that it does hold several options.

Why are so many people attracted towards them? With mutual funds you will not have to constantly study the market to search the stocks and bonds that you should buy or sell. Instead you pay a fee to the fund company which carries the investment for you.

Before you invest, you need to do your research well. There are plenty of reputable mutual fund companies. You should study financial journals and websites before you shortlist some of them. Find out which funds have been performing consistently well.

You can ask for prospectus to find out how well the company has performed over both short and long term. Compare the performance each year with the benchmark index. If the performance diverts from the index widely every year, it is probably best not to consider that company. Look for consistency rather than sudden peaks while choosing your mutual funds.

Another important point to consider when choosing your preferred investment is the objective of your investment. Depending on whether you are saving for your retirement or a college fund or a vacation, you can choose funds of varying levels of aggressiveness. Whatever the goal, decide what proportion of your portfolio should consist of mutual funds and stick to it.

You should always talk to the fund manager in question before you make a firm commitment. Once your decision is made, you should fill in all the forms properly. The great advantage of mutual funds is that once you have invested your time and effort to search the company, you will have to devote little time to it. The fund will manage your investments and you will enjoy a healthy profit.
Do Your Due Diligence Before You Invest

When you have decided to invest, scrutinize the performance of the company carefully. Perhaps its successes were achieved under a different management regime which has now changed. It is better not to change your stocks too often because every time you do so, a taxable return is generated. Finally, choose a no load fund for your purposes. Do not forget to retain a copy of all your documents pertaining to mutual funds because you are going to need them for tax purposes.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6587456