There8217;ll be no surrender charges if your Ulip has completed five years

For a long-term corpus,PPF is a good option as it now gives 8.7 tax-free returns. Further,it is an exempt-exempt-exempt scheme under the IT Act. You can invest a maximum of R1 lakh per annum in PPF. However,you are advised to diversify your portfolio through allocation to various category of assets.

How do I cancel a term policy I bought about 45 days ago?

Sudip Sharma

A policy can be cancelled within the freelook period,which is normally within 15 days of its receipt. However, if you want to discontinue a term policy,the best way is to not pay further premiums. You will not get back anything from the company and your risk cover comes to an end.

I want to do financial planning for my eight-year-old son. How should I start?

Shankar Rao

It is a good start already to think about your sons financial planning at such a young age. You need to decide about the needs of your son that are normally education and marriage. You have the advantage of time horizon for investment and can reap benefits of compounding. For both the goals. i.e.,higher education and marriage,you have to decide the amount you would like to spend at the current cost. Depending on your risk appetite and educational inflation,you can decide on the SIP amount in diversified equity mutual fund schemes. Further,you are advised to increase your life insurance cover by the goals amount so that in the event of anything happening to you,the insurance corpus will take care of the sons future financial needs.

Is it a good idea to take a health policy online? How much discount will I get for a policy of four people?

Pushkar Nath

It is convenient to take an online health insurance policy. One must make full disclosures about the state of health and any pre existing diseases to avoid any complications in claim settlement in future. The requirements for medical test is same for both online and offline policies.

There will be no discount for online health policies,but it will be cheaper to take a family floater if you are younger. Discounts are offered on individual policies if other family members also take individual policies together. Further,you can optimise on cost benefit by examining various options like deductibles,co-pay,top-up and super top-up policies.

If I surrender my five-year old unit-linked insurance plan,will the insurer deduct any money?

Parminder Sondhi

Once the Ulip completes five years,there will be no surrender charges and you will get the full fund value of your account. However,during the tenure of the policy,various charges like allocation charge includes commission,fund management charge,mortality charge,policy administration charge and switching charge are deducted.

The writer is founder and chief financial planner,Max Secure Financial Planners

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