Term Insurance — How Much, Until When, and What to Watch

Three decisions matter when buying term insurance. First, the sum assured. The right cover is a needs-based number — outstanding loans plus future major expenses plus residual income-replacement corpus. A simpler proxy is 10-15x annual income for a primary breadwinner with dependents. Most Indian families are dramatically under-insured; buying ₹50 lakh when ₹2 crore is appropriate is one of the most common — and most consequential — financial mistakes. Term insurance is cheap; the marginal premium for additional cover is small at ages 25-45. Second, the policy term. Choose a term that covers your earning years until self-sufficient retirement corpus accumulation. For most working professionals, a term ending at age 65-70 is appropriate. Beyond that age, the family's reliance on the insured's future income has diminished, and the children are typically self-supporting. Buying term cover beyond age 70 is usually unnecessary and the premiums rise sharply. Third, the riders. The most useful riders to evaluate: Critical Illness rider (lump sum on diagnosis of specified illnesses — though a separate Critical Illness policy is often more cost-effective), Accidental Death Benefit (additional payout on death by accident), Waiver of Premium on Disability (insurer pays remaining premiums if insured becomes disabled). Pure term-without-riders is the cleanest baseline; riders add cost and complexity that may or may not be justified depending on individual circumstances. On insurer selection, the key metric is the Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR) — published by IRDAI annually. CSR above 95% indicates that the insurer settles 95+% of claims received. Insurers below 90% should be avoided. Other considerations: insurer's claim-experience for online-purchased policies (some insurers settle online policies less reliably than agent-sold), insurer's solvency ratio (regulatory minimum 1.5x), and insurer's reputation for transparency at claim time. Trustner Insurance Brokers maintains comparative data across all major insurers and recommends based on a balanced view of premium, CSR, and operational reliability.