Mohan’s father passed away recently due to a heart attack. Neither Mohan nor his family members were aware of the fact that his father had a whole life insurance policy worth 30 lakhs. One day while searching house for some papers, Mohan came across a premium receipt of a life insurance policy paid by his father. Just like Mohan, there are lakhs of people in our country who do not know about life insurance policies taken by their loved ones when they were alive. As a result many life insurance policies are never claimed. According to a petition filed by the Society for Consumers and Investors Protection, a registered society of investors, the unclaimed deposits lying with 24 insurance companies amounted to over Rs 4,453.27 crores as on March 2012. Life insurance policy is an important tool to protect one’s family financially in the event of the policyholder’s death. This objective remains unfulfilled when a policy remains unclaimed by the nominee due to lack of awareness of the existence of policy. Hence it makes sense to tell your spouse/dependents about the life insurance policies taken by you. Also it would be advisable to write down the details of your policies in a dairy or in a file on your computer where your spouse/dependents will be able to access it when required. Important things to do after purchasing adequate life insurance
Tell your spouse/dependents about it
Keep a written record of your policies in a diary which can be accessed by your dependents when required
Keep your policy in safe place
