Begin with the end in mind

The only certainty for each one of us is “death”. 99.9% of the people (including me) are not prepared for it. As Stephen Covey aptly puts it, when you begin with the end in mind the whole game changes – Things which are unimportant get faded away and the ones that are more important to you start getting more attention. You do things that are closer to your heart and you do them in a hurry not to a scheduled calendar which often gets postponed for the nth time. Family gets centre stage and every thing else moves to the periphery.

Life span is limited with no known scientific calculator to measure it before hand. The best we can do is to accept the fact that death could happen any time and fill every moment of it with cherished memories. There is no time for quarrel and egos. Keep smiling and have fun.

You must help your family prepare financially for the eventuality. This is a much easier task, but not widely practiced in India. Take a pure term insurance policy that covers risk of death. This is a must for every bread earner of the family. No excuses. There is lot information available on the net. Search and choose the right policy. The idea is to pay the lowest premium and enjoy the maximum term of coverage. The premium rates have come down considerably now and are in the range of Rs15,000 per annum for a sum assured of 1 crore for a person in early 30s. Use online premium calculators to calculate your premium with each policy provider. The thumb rule is you should opt for coverage of 10 times your gross annual salary. Do not club this with any other investment such as ULIPs. You get to loose. Keep your investments and term life insurance separate.

Love your family, don’t post pone the good deeds and don’t forget to take a term life insurance policy.

Good Luck!