Page 26 - Insurance Times September 2019

varies from one source to another. However, Neil Howe and It's no secret that today's graduates, especially the ones
William Strauss, authors of the 1991 book Generations: The studying abroad, pursuing higher education in IIMs, IITs, and
History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, are often medical are burdened with record-breaking levels of
credited with coining the term. Howe and Strauss define student loan debt. If something were to happen, it could
the Millennial cohort as consisting of individuals born fall entirely on the parents to pay off those educational
between 1982 and 2004. loans. For example, if Mom and Dad took out an education
loan that these people are making payments on, the
Other proposed dates for Millennials: balance lands on their platter if one suddenly pass away.
According to Iconoclast, a consumer research firm, the first
For another example, let's say a millennial just got married
Millennials were born in 1978.
and racked up a huge credit card debt on a joint account. Or
maybe he just bought a home for which the millennial and
Newsweek magazine reported that the Millennial his spouse co-signed a lease. One has to consider whether
generation was born between 1977 and 1994. the spouse would be able to handle the load alone. Buying
enough life insurance can take care of all these financial
In separate articles, the New York Times pegged the issues. That way one's loved ones can have less stress to deal
Millennials at 1976-1990 and 1978-1998. with in the event the millennial pass away.

A Time magazine article placed the Millennials at 1980- For one more example to quote, millennials are falling into
2000. debt trap of credit cards, where they end up buying costly
gadgetsas frequently as possible.
Overall, the earliest proposed birthdate for Millennials is
1976 and the latest 2004. Given that a familial generation Millennials have children:
in developed nations lies somewhere between 25 and 30 Most millennials are waiting longer to get married and have
years, we might reasonably consider those the start and children. But if one had an early start, they have to make
end points. sure their little ones will be taken care of in the worst-case
scenario. This is particularly important if the spouse is a
Following are the reasons why life stay-at-home parent, or a domestic engineer. Since they'd
insurance is important to millennials: need the money to replace the bread-winner's income
stream at least temporarily. Even if both the spouses work,
It is cheaper when millennials are younger: life insurance could still come in handy when it's time to
When it comes to buying insurance, being young does have pay for higher education costs down the road.
its privileges. For one thing, the millennials are considered
low risk so that they will be able to buy a comprehensive Build up savings at the same time:
policy at a much cheaper rate, especially if they have no They can afford to choose a policy that grows and
pre-existing illnesses. They should shop around for a policy accumulates wealth and simultaneously provides
that provides the coverage they need at a rate they can protection. Insurance companies generally offer two types
afford. The longer they procrastinate, the higher will be the of such plans: Endowment and Unit-linked Insurance
premiums will be and might even have trouble securing any
insurance in the future if they develop any health issues.

Debt-free legacy for dependents:
What happens if a bread-winner has loans, say a home
loan, which is a long-term commitment involving costly
EMIs? What happens on an unexpected demise of the
bread winner? These loans have to be paid back. So, it's
best to avail a life insurance plan especially Term Plans or
Mortgage Plans and name one's dependents, spouse,
parents or children as beneficiaries. As discussed, the
millennials have age as an advantage and can secure a life
insurance plan at affordable rates.

26 The Insurance Times, September 2019