If you are looking for a pure insurance policy, then a Term plan is the best option. Term plans are basically pure risk cover plans. In a Term plan you get a high cover for a low premium paid. In the event of a death of the policy holder his dependents will get the benefit of the sum assured. This plan helps securing the future of your loved ones. But if the policy holder survives policy tenure then he does not get any maturity benefit.
There are various payment options like a single, yearly or half yearly premium paying option. If one has excess funds you can choose to make a single payment. This will ease the hassle of keeping track of payments but if you are a careful spender who budgets your money strictly then you can make premium payments on a periodic basis. The premium for Term plan covers the mortality charges and sales and administration expenses. In this, there is no savings element in the premium; therefore no maturity amount accrues.

Some add on benefits on term plans
A few benefits offered by some insurance companies are given below.
- Increase/decrease cover: You have the option to increase the cover of your term plan. This means depending on your lifestyle changes you can increase the sum assured by five per cent every year. You can even decrease the cover by five per cent every year if you find yourself tied to other commitments like loans, monthly installments.
- Convertible option: This option enables you to covert your term plan to endowment plan or a whole life plan.
- Insure your loan: If you have taken a loan during the term of a policy, you can insure it. In the event of your death, the insurance company will take care of the pending loan amount.
- Premium back option. On maturity of the plan, you can choose the ‘premium back’ feature. However, these plans are more expensive compared to pure term plans. Besides, with just the premium return option, it may not be worth to endure higher premium.

However, term plans are most profitable if you start as early as possible. This is because you can get high cover for low premium. And never mix your insurance needs with investments.