Commercial Pilots

Many airlines provide a base level of loss-of-licence cover, but it's frequently inadequate relative to a pilot's actual income and ends the moment employment ends — an individual policy fills this gap and stays with you independent of your employer.

This depends entirely on the specific policy wording — typically a medical condition that results in the aviation regulator permanently or long-term revoking your flying licence — which is why reviewing the exact definitions and exclusions with an advisor before buying matters more for this product than most.

Nothing punitive — most AMCs simply skip that month's debit if there are insufficient funds; your SIP continues the following month without penalty, though 2-3 consecutive misses can trigger auto-cancellation depending on the AMC.

Yes — SIPs can be stepped up, paused, or stopped at any time through the AMC portal or your advisor, with no exit penalty on a standard open-ended flexi-cap fund.

A common rule of thumb is 15-20x your annual income, adjusted for outstanding loans (home/car), number of dependents, and years until your children are financially independent — a personalised calculation is more reliable than a flat multiple.

Buying directly from the insurer or via an independent advisor typically gives access to a wider range of insurers to compare, whereas banks often push only their own group insurance partner's product regardless of fit.

The deductible is the amount your base health policy (or your own pocket) must cover before the super top-up kicks in — for example, a ₹5L deductible super top-up only pays claims above ₹5L in a policy year, which is why it must be paired with an adequate base policy.

No — most insurers will cover pre-existing conditions after a waiting period (commonly 2-4 years) rather than excluding them permanently, though premium loading may apply depending on the condition and insurer.

At least 40% of your NPS corpus must buy an annuity (a regular pension) from an IRDAI-registered insurer at maturity — this annuity income is then taxed as regular income in the years you receive it, unlike the tax-free lump-sum withdrawal portion.

Tier I is the primary retirement account with tax benefits and a lock-in until 60; Tier II is a voluntary add-on account with no lock-in and no tax benefit, functioning more like a flexible savings account within the NPS structure.

Yes, on full maturity you can withdraw the entire corpus tax-free, or choose to extend the account in blocks of 5 years, either with further contributions or without (interest continues to accrue either way).

Yes, a parent/guardian can open a PPF account on behalf of a minor, but the combined contribution across the parent's own account and the minor's account cannot exceed ₹1.5L per year for 80C purposes.

No — each individual SIP instalment has its own independent 3-year lock-in from its purchase date, so a SIP running for several years will have units unlocking on a rolling basis, not all at once.

Generally no from a pure tax-saving perspective, since the new regime doesn't allow the Section 80C deduction — but ELSS remains a perfectly good diversified equity fund on its own merits if you like the fund and manager, just without the tax-saving rationale.

No — a nominee is legally only a trustee who receives the asset for onward distribution to the rightful legal heirs as per the will (or succession law if there's no will); this is a common and costly misunderstanding, which is why the will and nominations must be kept consistent with each other.

For NRIs or anyone with significant foreign assets, a separate will governed by the local jurisdiction (or a single will explicitly covering worldwide assets, drafted by someone experienced in cross-border succession) is usually advisable, since a single India-only will may not be recognised or may complicate probate abroad.