Term Insurance for Families

Term insurance is a family product, not a personal one. The right structure depends on who earns, who depends, and what financial goals are running in the background.

Single-earner family

The earner should hold the bulk of the cover — typically 12–15x annual income, plus outstanding loans, plus future goal corpus for children. The non-earning spouse may still hold a smaller term plan if they perform household work whose replacement has financial cost (childcare, eldercare, household management).

Dual-earner family

Both partners should be insured separately, each for 10–15x their own income. The combined cover should also handle joint liabilities (home loan, car loan). Cover the higher earner first if budgets are tight.

With children

Add the projected cost of children's higher education (₹25–50 lakh per child, inflation-adjusted) and an emergency buffer of 6–12 months of household expenses to the base cover requirement.

Reviewing the cover

Re-check term cover every 3–5 years, or whenever any of these change: a new child, a new home loan, a major income change, a job change with different group cover, or a parent becoming financially dependent.