I always tell investors that products should be evaluated on their effectiveness in achieving our important goals. Their multiple features should be examined with this simple perspective. All our financial goals have two main themes: protection and returns. Term insurance is the only pure protection product while insurance products like endowment, whole life, money back or Ulips are a combination of insurance/ protection and investment/ returns. Essentially, we have to determine whether the convenience of a multi benefit product justifies its additional costs. For a 40-year old, Rs 1 lakh of pure protection could be bought for Rs 350. If ...

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