Age-free health policies may soon be a reality but pricing a concern

• Age barrier for health policies may go

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is planning to do away with the age limit for purchasing insurance policies, says Business Standard in its article today. While this process is still at a nascent stage, the regulator is in the process of clearing products targeted at senior citizens. At present, the entry age for most existing health insurance plans is capped at 65 years.

[caption id=“attachment_180082” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“While this good news for senior citizens, pricing such policies may be trouble. Photo:Seeveeaar/Flickr”] [/caption]

While this good news for senior citizens, pricing such policies may be trouble. Since loss ratio beyond 80 years is high, pricing such lifetime policies is a big concern for insurers. “As a result, the pricing for a Rs 5-lakh policy (for persons over 70 years) is expected to be around Rs 60,000-80,000 annually,” the article said. Read more here to understand how you can benefit from this.

While the steep rupee depreciation is not the best news for us, it definitely is good news for exporters and NRI investors who are all set to receive more rupee funds on conversion. From Rs 44.8 seven months ago, it has depreciated 18.28 percent against the dollar so far. This marks a good investment opportunity for NRIs to park their surplus funds, says Economic Times. If they are planning for short-term investments (6 months to a year) they could look at fixed income mutual funds. Over a one to three-year period, one could look at Balanced Mutual funds or NRE deposits. Click here to read the entire article.

• Understanding Cash Back Credit Cards

Excited and euphoric over your a cash back credit card? But do you really know how to use it? An article in the Economic Times today helps one understand the intricacies of a cash-back credit card. For example, every time you pay your electricity bill using the cash back credit card, you are eligible for a cash back. Say that you have paid Rs 2,000 towards the electricity bill and the bank offers you a five percent cash back, so in that case you only end up paying Rs1,900. But this will only work if your bank offers you this facility. Also it is better to keep certain points in mind like is there a limit on how much cash one can get back in a month or is there a minimum transaction value? Read the entire article here .

Even though pension plans of insurance companies may be non-existent in the market currently , salaried individuals should not bee too bothered. A Business Standard report says, “If you have superannuation plans like an employee provident fund (EPF) or public provident fund (PPF), there is little reason to buy a pension plan.” Also, pension plans are sold by insurance companies on two main platforms, one is the benefit of investment over the long term and second, tax benefit. To understand what works for you, read here .

•A guide to decode corporate earnings

As we roll into the earnings season, it’s good to understand key terms and what they mean. While Indusind Bank announced its results on Tuesday, Infosys and HDFC are announcing their results today. Business Standard has carried a list of certain terms which should help you read the results. For example, if we look at revenues, we must compare the current quarter numbers with those of the previous one for sequential or quarter-on-quarter growth or we could compare the figures with the same quarter a year ago. However, do remember that sequential comparison does not work for seasonal sectors like aviation, retail, gems, jewellery etc as you might see a sudden spike during the business months. Read more here to understand other terms like costs and profits.