Comparing term insurance plans with traditional life insurance cover

Parameters

Term insurance plan

Traditional insurance plan

Death benefit

It provides death benefit only at the demise of the person insured.

It offers both death and maturity benefit to the person insured.

Risk covered vs savings

They only provide death benefits and no survival benefits, which means there is no savings involved.

If one wants to create an investment corpus along with a life cover, a traditional insurance policy is the best option.

Flexibility

If you stop paying the premium, the policy lapses and so do the benefits. They are also renewable and offer options to convert it into endowment plan.

Maturity benefit is provided only when the person pays all the premiums. There is less flexibility in terms of closing or converting the policy.

Premium amount

They are more cost friendly and offer higher coverage at lower premiums.

You need to pay higher premium for higher coverage. They also provide low returns.

Tax benefit

Premium paid under term insurance is eligible for tax deductions under section 80C. But the premiums are lower than traditional insurance plans and you can invest the difference of premium amount into other saving schemes.

The premiums are higher but are eligible for tax deductions under section 80c.