It’s astonishing how people, especially Indians like us, genuinely believe that they will not die. A person involuntarily believes that he’s Pitamaha Bhishma (Mahabharata reference, who had the gift of dying at his own will). The neighbour Sharmaji may die, Shilpa Aunty may die or the elderly shop-owner Nandu may die… but he will not!! And with this dubious confidence he believes that his family is safe and he will be there forever to take care of them for the rest of their life!! [more]
Another common observation is that people are very particular about insuring their car from time to time but they haven’t insured themselves. Does it imply that the person himself is less important than the car? Or is it sheer negligence, whereby the person has insured his car because it is enforced by law and did not cover himself simply because life insurance is not enforced upon. Of course, the other reasons for not availing insurance could be that he has a well established business, several properties, savings & investments, gold, etc to take care of all his family’s needs.
I often wonder what goes on in the mind of an individual who doesn’t believe in the concept of insurance. Would he want his family to go for a distress sale of the property if he meets with a sudden death? If the bread earner of the family is no longer alive, the dependents that are already in grief on his demise will have to undergo many hardships to arrange day-to-day financial requirements. Pledging assets, selling valuables, liquidating investments are a common sight now-a-days. Sounds miserable … doesn’t it? But that is the harsh reality…
Simply turn around and ask 10 people at random that how much insurance do they have? Eight out of ten will respond, “I do not believe in insurance”. The other two who do agree with the concept of insurance will have about 2 – 5 lakhs of cover. One wonders, how long would the 5 lakhs last for a family of say 3 members? Will it be enough to provide support for the next 18 years till the children are old enough to earn? Will it cope up with the rising inflation around them? I am sure no one wants me to even start discussing the change in prices of vegetables, rice, sugar or fuel in the last one year, leave alone next 18 years.
So basically we are looking at two issues – people are either Not Insured or they are terribly Underinsured. Either of the two is equally scary because they both will land their family into trouble in case of any unfortunate event. With so many life-threatening incidents, Maoists, Terrorists around us, do you still feel safe ANYWHERE?? Why only roads or highways, look around in cafés, restaurants, office buildings, malls, the risk is everywhere… So who knows what happens next?
I really care for my family to have them covered for an amount which is at least equal to my Life Insurance policy amount, which can take care of my family for at least 15-20 years and then may be add other savings.
Have you done the same? Or, you still want to ponder for the next few years over the logic of whether or not I need insurance. Or worse! You are convinced that you need insurance but do not know how much you should cover yourself for? Well if you are not sure of the ideal amount of insurance for your family, then at least you have some respite where a lot of insurance companies are on this awareness drive and nowadays one has access to Certified Financial Planners (CFP). But if you still belong to those set of people who do not completely believe in insurance, then all I can say is – “Think Again”.
