Stop Buying Insurance to "Get Returns." That's Not What It's For.

I have this conversation almost every week. Someone shows me a policy that combines insurance with investment, calls it "guaranteed returns," then gets disappointed when I explain what's actually inside it. Insurance and investment solve two different problems. Insurance transfers risk, you pay a small known amount so your family isn't financially destroyed if something goes wrong. That's it. It was never meant to grow wealth. Investment grows money over time by taking calculated risk. When you bundle the two together, like many endowment or ULIP-style plans do, you end up with mediocre insurance and mediocre returns, wrapped into one expensive package. Even a large insurer like

sells both pure term plans and combined savings-linked plans side by side. The responsibility of picking the right one for your goals sits with you. Here's a number worth remembering. A healthy 28 year old can often get 1 crore of term cover for under 1000 rupees a month. Compare that to what a combined product charges for similar coverage. The lesson. Never expect insurance to build wealth, and never expect your investments to protect your family. Keep the two separate, and you'll end up better covered and richer, not less of both.