Selecting a Life Insurance policy is like selecting your life partner—it has to be perfect for you. One of the many vows of a marriage is to stand by your partner through the good as well as bad phases of life. For married couples, taking a Joint Life Insurance with their spouse is nothing but a way of strengthening the same promise.
What is Joint Life Insurance?
Under a Joint Life Insurance plan, you get the option to cover yourself and your spouse or alternatively, a business partner, under the same contract. So, instead of opting for two separate life covers for yourself and your spouse/business partner, you can choose to get multiple benefits for both of you under a single insurance plan.
Under this insurance cover, you and your spouse/business partner can both get to be the nominees and beneficiaries as well. So, if something unfortunate happens to either one of you, the other one gets to be the beneficiary of a life cover.
Additional Reading: Term Life or Whole Life Insurance?
What are the advantages of a Joint Life Insurance policy?
- It’s more affordable
Compared to getting two separate life covers for you and your spouse, getting one Joint Life Insurance policy usually works out to be more economical as the premium is likely to be lower than what you’d pay for taking two separate life covers.
- It’s not limited to married couples
While it works out to be great for married couples, you don’t always have to be married to avail of the benefits of a Joint Life Insurance plan. You can choose to get it with your business partner, or parents can get a Joint Life Insurance with their child as the co-applicant.
- It’s got you covered
With inflation rates rocketing by the day, there’s a need for both husband and wife to work and earn to run the household. Hence, if your family experiences a loss of income due to the demise of one partner or the other, the payout from a Joint Life Insurance plan will help your dependants immensely.
What are the disadvantages of a Joint Life Insurance policy?
- It pays out only once
Even though you’re both equally covered, the policy pays out only once when the first person passes away. If the survivor still wants a life cover, they need to take a new policy as this one is done and dusted.
- It might turn out to be more expensive for the survivor
As soon as the first person passes away, the policy pays out and the cover ends. As a result, the survivor needs to opt for a new individual life cover policy to secure their dependants. Since the policy premium increases with age, they might end up paying way more than usual.
- It might complicate things if you were to split up with your partner in the future
While a Joint Life Insurance policy works great for a happily married couple or two business partners who are on great terms with each other, it can lead to a pretty complicated situation if they decide to part ways in the future. Even if the couple splits up or the business partners decide to end their partnership, their respective partners would still be at the receiving end after the first partner passes away.
Since a Joint Life Insurance policy comes with its own set of pros and cons, it becomes essential to think twice before opting for a joint cover rather than taking two separate policies. Unless you’re sure about every minute detail of the policy, don’t go ahead with it.
Still confused about Life Insurance? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.