everyone knows there are various term plans with ample features, but do you know which one is the best of all that will suit your needs. so i thought of analyzing these term plans on a few parameters and find which one has it all. across 17 insurance players in the market currently, we have around 33 pure term insurance plans. out of which i have taken 15 insurance plans pertaining to only death benefit. the analysis is based on premiums, critical illness, accidental death, and discounts available.

the point i want to make here is that as you grow older in your life the premium that company will charge on your policy also increases. different companies target different age of people. the company which provides the lowest premium for particular age group might not offer the lowest premium for another age group and vice-versa.

for making this analysis easy and clear to understand i have compared it into various parameters viz are

• premium only for risk cover(basic premium)
• premium for risk cover +premium for critical illness benefit
• premium for risk cover +premium for accidental death benefit cover
• premium for risk cover +premium for critical illness + accidental death benefit

before starting the analysis i have observed certain things while comparing the plans which i would like to share with you.

observations

• if you are of 20 years age reliance life insurance companywill not offer you a term plan as the entry age for the term plan is 21years.
• if you are planning to buy a tata aig life insurance’sterm plan at the age of 20 years for a term of 20 years you’ll have to buya plan for more then rs 10,00,000 of sum assured as they have a conditionthat the minimum premium you pay should be either rs 2000 or more. thepremium for rs 10,00,000 is less then rs 2000 so it doesn’t meet thecriteria.
• if you buy bajaj allianz life insurance’s term plan thenyou have to opt for the rider’s sum assured as that of the basic sumassured. you cannot opt for a lower sum assured for the rider.
• if you planning to take akotak life’s term plan along with the riders then the maximum amount of benefit one can avail is equal to the basicsum assured. the aggregate premium on all value-adds should not, however,exceed 30% of the basic premium.
• for sbi life’s term plan thesum assured for all the riders should not exceed 30% of the basic premium.
• for reliance life’s term planthe minimum sum assured for riders is rs 25,000 and the maximum under allpolicies taken together is rs 50,00,000.
• in metlife insurance’s termplan the riders maximum face amount can be rs 10,00,000 or base policyface amount which ever is lower.
• while calculating the premiumonline only the calculators of icici prudential life insurance and bajajallianz life insurance calculate the estimated tax payable on the policycover.
• shriram life insurance companyand ing vysya do not provide pure term insurance plans.
• future generali life insurance’s accelerated criticalillness extended rider also provides accidental death benefit and includestotal disability in the rider.
• icici prudential life insurance, max new york life insurance and birla sunlife accidental death benefit provides total disability cover inbuilt init.

analysis

for this purpose i have taken three common examples across all the products and have tried to find which one is having the cheapest premium when the age of a male is 20 years, 30 years and 40 years, who wishes to take a pure term plan for the term of 20 years with a sum assured of rs 10,00,000 and paying premium on annual basis. we’ll also find out the premium if he wishes to attach the riders to the policy with a sum assured of rs 5,00,000 for a period of 20 years.

first i’ll start with the a male at age of 20 years who wants to cover himself for a period of 20 years with a sum assured of rs 10,00,000.

the table 1 below shows all the pure term plans available in the market by different insurers and the indicative premium for the above example which is exclusive of all taxes and other charges that the insurer may levy subject to underwriting. the table also provides the indicative premium for additional riders and some additional information if any.

parameter 1 (premium for risk cover)

this analysis is only on the premium of basic cover excluding any kind of riders. we have total 15 products across 17 insurers as shriram life insurance company and ing vysya life insurance company do not provide pure term plans.

table 1

here are the indicative premium exclusive of any taxes and charges for a male of age 20 for a term of 20 years with a sum assured of rs 10,00,000 for different companies.

according to table 1 the winner is sbi life insurance’s shield which has the lowest premium of rs 1865 and it also give some discount on the premium rates. whereas the second position goes to max new york life insurance’s level term policy whose premium is rs 2020 followed by life insurance corporation’s anmol jeevan whose premium is rs 2208 who also give some kind of discount on its premium rates.

whereas tata aig’s raksha pure term plan and reliance life insurance’s term plan doesn’t fall in the category as for tata the minimum premium criteria is rs 2000 and the premium for the above e.g. is less then rs 2000, whereas for reliance term plan the minimum age at entry is 21 years.

parameter 2 (premium for risk cover + premium for critical illness benefit)

now if you want to buy a term plan that also provides critical illness benefit then here are they. out of 15 products 8 products provide critical illness cover.

here are the indicative premium for a male of age 20 years with sum assured of rs 10,00,000 for a period of 20 years along with a critical illness cover for rs 5,00,000 for same period as of the term plan of different companies.

table 1.1

according to table 1.1 metlife’s met suraksha is the winner as it provides the cheapest total premium of rs 3100 for term plans with critical illness (10 critical illnesses) benefit. and the runner up is max new york’s level term policy as it provides the second lowest total premium of rs 3400 for basic cover with critical illness (10 critical illnesses) benefit followed by kotak old mutual life insurance’s term plan with a total premium of rs 3876.42 (11 critical illnesses).

whereas bharti axa life insurance and birla sun life also provide critical illness cover but you cannot calculate the premium online as the calculator doesn’t provide the option for calculating rider’s premium so i have not considered them.

parameter 3 (premium for risk cover + premium for accidental death benefit cover)

if you are planning to by term plan together with the accidental death benefit then you have 10 plans available out of 15 term plans that provide accidental death benefit.

here are the indicative premium for a male of age 20 with sum assured of rs 10,00,000 for a period of 20 years along with a cover of accidental death benefit for rs 5,00,000 for the same period as of the term plan for different companies.

table 1.2

according to table 1.2 the number 1 position goes to sbi life’s shield plan with a premium of rs 2365 for basic cover with accidental death benefit which is lowest premium among all the other products followed by max new york’s level term policy with the total premium of rs 2695.

even icici’s life guard falls in the list as the accidental death rider also includes accidental disability inbuilt in it which is an additional benefit for it with a total premium of rs 2947.

whereas bharti axa life insurance and birla sun life also provide accident death benefit cover but you cannot calculate the premium online as the calculator doesn’t provide the option for calculating rider’s premium and also future generali life insurance’s future care provide accidental death benefit but within the accelerated critical illness cover so i have not considered them.

parameter 4 (premium for risk cover + premium for critical illness + accidental death benefit)

these are the products that provide both critical illness cover and accidental death benefit. out of 15 products only 8 products provides both the option.

here are the indicative premium for a male of age 20 with sum assured of rs 10,00,000 for a period of 20 years along with a cover of critical illness and accidental death benefit for rs 5,00,000 individually for the same period as of the term plan for different companies.

table 1.3

according to table 1.3 metlife’s met suraksha is the winner as it provides the cheapest total premium of rs 3775 for term plans with critical illness (10 critical illnesses) benefit and accidental death benefit.

and the runner up is max new york’s level term policy as it provides the second lowest total premium of rs 4075 for basic cover with critical illness (10 critical illnesses) benefit and accidental death benefit followed by kotak old mutual life insurance’s with a total premium of rs 4326 (12 critical illnesses).

whereas bharti axa life insurance and birla sun life also provide critical illness cover and accidental death benefit both but you cannot calculate the premium online as the calculator doesn’t provide the option for calculating rider’s premium so i have not considered them.

conclusion

• winners of parameter 1(basic cover) are sbi life insurance, max new york life insurance and lifeinsurance corporation.
• winners of parameter 2(basic cover + critical illness cover) are met life insurance, max newyork life insurance and kotak old mutual life insurance.
• winners of parameter 3(basic cover + accidental death cover) are sbi life insurance, max newyork life insurance and icici prudential life insurance.
• winners of parameter 4 (basiccover + critical illness cover + accidental death cover) are met lifeinsurance, max new york life insurance and kotak old mutual lifeinsurance.

if you are planning to buy pure term plan, only with basic cover then the winner is sbi life insurance’s shield plan followed by max new york life insurance’s level term plan.

if you want to get any extra riders on your policy then the story is different. as any person would be more interested in buying critical illness cover then accidental death cover met life insurance’s met suraksha takes the trophy. it provides the lowest premium for basic cover along with critical illness benefit and accidental death benefit. undoubtedly the second position goes to max new york life insurance’s level term policy which provides all the features and stand second in all the four parameters. the third position goes to sbi life insurance’s shield which provides the cheapest premium for basic cover with accidental death benefit.

and the runner ups are kotak old mutual life insurance’s term plan which provides the third cheapest premium for basic cover with critical illness benefit and accidental death benefit followed by icici prudential’s life guard which provides the third cheapest premium for basic cover with accidental death.