Things to look out for when investing and insuring women

K ARAVIND

As the presence of women in the workforce increased, so did the number of married women and mothers. The representation of income-generating women in households has increased. The role of women in families has changed drastically as they take out home loans along with their husbands and play an important role in ensuring the financial protection of parents and children. But despite making a significant contribution to the family’s financial base, women are still lagging behind men in terms of financial planning, including investment and insurance.

She may have taken out a bank loan along with her husband and paid off a portion of its EMI, may have been careful to pay the tuition fees for the children on time, and may have raised funds for the parents’ health check-ups, but does’nt have an investment plan like her life partner.

Life insurance is an example. The basic premise is that those without income do not need life insurance. Because their untimely demise does not affect the financial status of others. Therefore, it is said that housewives do not need life insurance. But working women need life insurance. A working woman also needs to take out life insurance to ensure that the financial status of their dependent parents and children are not compromised by her untimely death.

Women who take out life insurance, on the other hand, often make the wrong choice. Many people take out endowment policies or money back policies that include investment. Such policies, on the other hand, are not conducive to achieving the goal of life insurance. All you need for life insurance are term insurance policies or protection policies. These are policies that provide a higher sum assured in the event of death of the policyholder. Term policy also covers loans for women who take out a home loan along with their husbands.

Women also need to be careful about investing on their own. In addition to the investment made for income after retirement, there should also be investment for dependent children and parents. If fixed investment options are to be given more prominence because of the risk reduction in investment for parents, equity-linked investment should be given more prominence than investment for children. A woman aged 35-40 years should include 60-65% of her investment in equity-linked products.