Answers to your insurance queries

I am 32 years old. I have a term insurance plan of Rs 50 lakh for a period of 30 years. It is 10 times of my annual income. I want to know the criteria for increasing my insurance cover? Also is it possible to change the insurer and the term period of my existing policy.

Typically insurance cover cannot be increased with increasing income levels unless products are designed and sold that way. What you can do is to supplement your insurance cover with a new product and ensure that you are adequately covered. Life insurance policies are yet not provisioned for portability amongst various insurers.

My husband has an endowment policy with a yearly premium of Rs 24,500 and sum assured of Rs 6,10,000/-. He is paying premium since April 2004. Should we continue with the policy? He invests in several SIPs in multiple and diversified mutual funds of around 25,000 per month. Do we need to change our investment strategy?

As an insurer, we would recommend your husband to continue with the existing endowment policy till it matures since these products are all designed as long term investments. You should certainly augment your cover with a term and a health insurance product to protect against the life and health risks. Investment strategy will depend on your financial goals and risk appetite, and much cliched as it sounds, it’s always best to not put all eggs in one basket. It is always recommended to invest money in different investment options to diversify risks.