FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN
(PART 3 OF 4)
5. INSURANCE
· Adequate insurance is an instrument that allows you to secure your dependents, health or property.
· At its worst, many women don’t even know the difference between life and medical insurance.
· If you are a homemaker, ensure that your husband has adequate life insurance cover to take care of your expenses and other loans and liabilities in case he is not around.
· If you are earning, invest in a simple term plan to ensure financial continuity for dependents.
· Medical or health insurance is taken to cover hospitalization expenses for yourself and any other family member, by buying an individual plan or a family floater plan.
· If you are not earning, urge your husband to buy a family plan or check if his employer has given one.
· You should be able to distinguish the term plans from endowment plans and Ulips from medical plans.
· While insurance secures your life, health and property, investment helps your money grow.
· So, if you just want to secure your life, go for a term plan, which is the cheapest form of insurance, as it is simply meant to ensure that if you are an earning member, your family doesn’t suffer financially if you pass away during the plan’s tenure, without any other returns.
· The other types of insurance plans offer insurance and invest your money, but are either too expensive or offer low returns, and do not serve the same purpose as the term plan.
· While endowment policies give you a lump sum on maturity, money-back plans make periodic payments to you, but the life covers and returns are very low.
· Ulips invest in equities, and give you market-related returns, but offer low life cover at high premiums.
6. DOCUMENTATION
· Ensure all your investment documents are in order, as it is equally important as investing itself.
· Find out about the following from your father/husband:
o How much and where have the investments been made?
o Are you or your kids joint holders/nominees for bank accounts and other investments?
o What are the EMI amount, tenure and size of loans?
o Is your husband adequately insured, if he is the only earning member?
o Has your father/spouse made a will in which you/kids are beneficiaries?
o Has the procedure of processing these documents been made known to you?
· Establishing the ownership of assets is critical for women.
· Note down all these details in your diary for their easy access when you need them.
· Draw up your own will if you have assets, no matter how old you are.
· Read up the