Make Sense of Your Life Insurance Policy

Of all the financial products, life insurance policies remain one of the most mis-sold products. It is a well-known fact that the way the commission structure has been built into the system, many intermediaries see short-term gain as their prime motive to mis-sell life insurance. It is not only the intermediaries or agents who try to mis-sell insurance; customers too do not understand the policy well and the agent is unable to explain the nuances, given the overly complicated structure of insurance-cum-investment plans. 

There is no doubt that life insurance is an important element of any sound financial plan. Nonetheless, what complicates the matter is lack of understanding about why the policy has been purchased. If you have chosen your life insurance policy by proper assessing your requirement then its fine but if you have been mis-sold, timely exit makes better sense. This is easier said than done as there are various shades of life insurance and each requires separate analysis to arrive at any conclusion.

Our cover story gives you details of how to exit from your unsuitable insurance policy since continuing with a wrong product will only make you lose more. One of our special reports talks about mutual fund taxation. Although nothing new has been announced in the recent budget regarding mutual fund taxation, knowing how different categories are being taxed in the short and long term will help you to plan your tax better given the fact that we are approaching the end of the financial year.

In another report we have covered an important aspect of your mutual fund portfolio. It talks about the number of funds that you should hold in your portfolio. It has been seen that investors keep on adding funds to their portfolio purely because it is in vogue or someone has suggested doing so. Nevertheless, our study shows that in case of equity mutual funds, after six funds there is hardly any gain in terms of returns or reduction in risk.

SHASHIKANT