The Protected Indian

 The Protected Indian 

Is a fundamentally antithetical concept at least for a middle /lower-middle-class Indian! 

Because there was no social security, no unemployment benefits, not any substantial retirement support from the state or center that can be enough to easily live a respectable retired life! 

Most people are left to fend for themselves with whatever provident fund and gratuity amount at the end of their service tenure, they retire at 60 but have another crucial 20-25 years of life left ahead of them! Is the money enough for them to FEEL PROTECTED? The answer at large is NO! 

So it is obvious that a middle-class person has to take some extra steps to ensure a comfortable retirement 

The fact of the matter is या तो खुद ही को कर बुलंद इतना की हर तक़दीर से पहले खुदा बंदे से खुद पूछे बता तेरी रज़ा क्या है 

Either make yourself so established and well to do that you don't need anyone's support to look after your family after you, earn yourself and store. 

But that is not the definition of a typical middle-class Indian, so if you can't manage to do that then transfer that risk to someone else - GET INSURANCE 

Insurance is a means of transferring the risk of the inevitable - your demise to another entity (the insurance company). 

Human life is at 2 risks 1) dying too early 2) living too long 

Insurance companies offer something called term insurance to cover your risk of dying too early with a small premium from you 

Praying each day that you outlive that term so they don't have to pay your family 👍

So you can cover your risk of dying too early with term insurance, this is primarily meant to be to sustain your family in case of your premature departure in your earning years 

Living too long suppose you do outlive your term, you have lost some contributions for your term cover, but you're happy, right? You have lived long you have now retired and have a happy 20- 25 years ahead of you what about your expenses now? For this, you need to have a savings and income or retirement plan in your portfolio 

For both of these insurance investments, you need to provision during the time you are healthy, earing and young because if you are not health insurance companies won't cover you, your premiums are lower when you are young 

A common excuse is boss महीने के अंत में पैसे ही नहीं बचते की save करूँ (nothing remains at the end of the month to put aside)

This is true 

A Middle-class man is so burdened with survival, 

Car Loans, home loans, education loans, school fees, daily expenses that there is no money left for insurance. In fact, insurance becomes the last priority 

Prioritization is to blame 

The above case is true only if you look at insurance as an expense! If you look at it as an expense it is the least important expense for you. 

What if you make insurance your first expense of the mont and dont keep it for last ?

Or look at it this way, God forbid , but for the sake of argument.... suppose someone in your family needs a life-saving drug! Will you postpone it? No correct?! Why because that is a necessity! You cannot postpone necessities! 

Similarly, if you categorize insurance as a necessity then setting money aside for it on priority becomes possible. Just like your medicine you should /would not mind borrowing money from a relative /getting advance from the office /using your credit card to pay your insurance premium. 

In fact, I would say it's probably better to get your child shifted to a subsidized government school (instead of the 1-1.5 L pa private school), travel by public transport for a year (and give up your fancy car for which you are paying a loan) or change your lifestyle and curtail on necessary entertainment expenses….. but manage to pay for your insurance! 

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