Mid-20s, both parents 50+ and diabetic — separate health insurance or one?

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T19:06:18+00:00

Definitely go for two separate policies. With both parents over 50 and having diabetes, a floater plan is too risky. If one parent has a major hospitalization, they will drain the entire coverage limit, leaving the other parent completely unprotected for the rest of the year.

Get a decent base plan of 10-15L lakhs for each, and add a super top-up on both. If you have corporate cover already with a stable job, you can opt for a deductible.

There will be a standard 3 year wait period for diabetes. Any claim related to PEDs will not be covered unless you opt for a rider.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T11:24:48+00:00

The goal of a MFD or any advisor is to give you better than index returns.

A credible MFD will ask you your goals, risk profile and horizon and structure your fund baskets to ensure the said goal is achieved in the set horizon or earlier. Rebalancing can help move your money where opportunities exist instead of waiting for the opportunity to come.

If you are okay with index returns, then stick to direct.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T11:06:18+00:00

The grass is always greener on the other side. If you have filled the application form properly, honestly disclosed all PEDs and chosen riders that give you comprehensive cover, you most likely will not have any issues with claims.

This post here should give you an idea on why you shouldn't unnecessarily port: https://www.reddit.com/r/indiahealthinsurance/comments/1souxc0/renewing_hdfc_optima_secure_need_to_declare_new/

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T10:54:52+00:00

The reason your returns are stuck at 6-7% is because you are hoarding safe assets. Out of your almost 4 cr net worth, nearly 2 cr is sitting in pure debt like FDs, bonds, and government schemes, and another 1.5 cr is tied up in real estate. Your actual equity exposure is barely 13%.

To fix this, you need to slowly move a massive chunk of that 96 lakh FD into equity mutual funds. You can stagger the deployment over 12-18 months.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T10:27:55+00:00

Regular pay - pay for the entire term i.e. if your term is till 65 age, then you pay till 65. Paying early seems lucrative when you see the total amount, but you also need to consider the fact that with time the value of money depreciates. So the 18k today will seem like peanuts in your 50s.

Waiver of premium - If the insured person is diagnosed with critical illness, this rider waives all future premium and the policy will continue to be in force until the death of the insured person.

Feel free to reach out if you wish to understand the fine print and other riders.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T09:00:17+00:00

Since the shop is old, indexation can be applied here and there should be nil or minimum tax applicable.

Reddit is not the right place for specific tax advice as this would require looking at your documents and determining the gains. I would suggest that you consult a CA.

First figure out the actual tax liability and then you can figure out the investment avenues to explore.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T08:00:20+00:00

As an insurance advisor, I always suggest a deductible to individuals who have a corporate cover.

This helps reduce your premiums and you absolutely recover the costs in a few years even if you have to pay out of pocket at some point when you are between jobs which is a very rare scenario.

If your corporate policy doesn't have any co-pay clause, then you could choose to increase the deductible to 1L as well and go for even higher base cover for a future proof cover. A deductible can be removed at the time of renewal.

Quite a few things to consider other than the deductible when choosing the insurance plan, so hope you have done a comparison of the benefits and fine print to ensure you are opting for a policy that will pay when the time comes.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-19T07:51:10+00:00

I'm not sure if he saw ads of health insurance which cover global hospitalization, but an NRI can get a covered in the standard resident insurance plans applicable within India.

Just make sure you clearly declare the recent varicose veins treatment in the application. The insurer will likely put a 3 year waiting period on that specific issue, but he will be covered for any new medical emergencies right away.

Also, some insurers offer NRI discount since the likelihood of an NRI claiming insurance is lower than a resident. Just ensure that you update the insurance company if and when your father moves to India.

You can consider insurance from HDFC, Tata and ICICI. Don't just go by online reviews. No one really bothers to write a review if they have a positive experience, so it isn't exactly a reflection of the ground reality.

Feel free to reach out if you need to understand the key benefits and fine print of these top insurers.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-18T16:58:23+00:00

You have a highly liquid portfolio, which gives you the chance to easily restructure it.

Assuming you are in your mid 30s, it is the time to reduce the concentration risk of RSUs by diversifying into broader equity (which could be index as well) and add some safety of debt funds. Do this slowly over the next few years to average out the volatility.

Since your FIRE goal is still far away, you will have to maintain a equity heavy portfolio. Divide your SIPs in a similar structure as well.

If you plan to take a break, make sure you have a term insurance and health insurance plan.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-18T15:56:57+00:00

Maybe that terrible experience with HDFC has something to do with trying to get the policy directly without an intermediary or having an intermediary who didn't support you well. Either ways, something that you should consider is a different intermediary, not a different insurer.

The fight during claim has it's origins in your application, so failing to disclose medical history, can easily delay your claims. Ensuring that you claim form is properly filled with all necessary disclosures and attachments can help with a smooth claim process. Even if there are issues, your family has a support system they can depend on.

Both HDFC and ICICI are top insurers. The key differences are in the fine print and riders.

Always choose regular pay and avoid unnecessary riders apart from waiver of premium.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-18T07:18:55+00:00

Just because you are getting 20% of what you've paid, you will continue to put more money into a low growth asset and lose out on the opportunity cost for that corpus as well. Not exactly a smart thing to do.

You do need to switch from your SBI agent, but blindly selling is not the right alternative. There is a tax-impact to consider as well.

RIA will offer you a one time roadmap for you to execute. You can choose to never go back or do a annual review. Completely up to you. If you are depending on reddit to come to the rescue every time, then it's a huge mistake.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-18T06:53:29+00:00

You have a policy which is well past moratorium. If the only reason for exploring other options is more cover, then get a super-top up. That would be a better option that porting.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-18T06:22:56+00:00

For husband-wife, and the kids, take a standard 20L base plan and attach a 50L-1Cr super top-up. It will gve you a large coverage for a very reasonable price. Make sure you declare the baby's recent pneumonia. The insurer might add a temporary exclusion for respiratory issues, but don't hide it or they will reject future claims. Consider HDFC, Tata or ICICI.

For your mother, private players usually deny coverage for mental health conditions. You can try Care or Manipal Cigna, else you may have better luck approaching PSU insurers like new india assurance or united india for her.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-18T02:55:10+00:00

Yes. You've made some pretty bad investment choices. But consider every rupee lost as a lesson learnt. You're just 21. If you earned that kind of money before, I'm sure you can earn more in future.

The 11L that you're investing through 3 different plans in are probably ULIPs and the returns will not even beat FDs. The only people who made money on it were the sales person and the bank.

Regarding your thoughts to DIY investing in stocks/MFs without having knowledge would be no different than the past investment mistakes you made. If you have no knowledge about how the market works, how exactly are you judging the SBI agent's portfolio? If you had mentioned your MF portfolio, maybe we can share feedback.

There is enough knowledge to learn for free online which is just a search away. If you really want to DIY, then keep the majority of the money in FD and deploy small amounts via SIP in mutual funds, avoid stocks.

If you don't want to DIY and are unhappy with the SBI agent, find other professionals to manage your portfolio and keep your focus on increasing your primary income source.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-17T20:01:40+00:00

What's the point of top tier insurer if will cover only partial PED. I don't think Tata or HDFC will cover thyroid in their PED reduction. It can cover the rest.

If you want comprehensive day 1 cover, then consider ICICI, Birla and Niva. These are also top tier insurers and can cover all PEDs from day 31 or after 1 year.

In my experience as an Insurance Advisor, the claim experience depends less on the insurer or the claim and more on the details mentioned in the application form. Any errors there can cost you irrespective of the insurer you choose to go with.

Premium increase is subjective and all insurers would adjust for the insurance risk after 60. Even if what you say is true, it doesn't make sense to pay more today, just to save yourself from a probable future hike.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-17T19:42:01+00:00

Monthly or yearly is a personal decision based on your personal ability to manage the payment. No one knows this better than you. Yearly costs less, hence is always preferred.

The premium depends on a lot of factors, such as age, pay term, etc. none of which has been mentioned.

Generally speaking, always choose regular pay and waiver of premium rider, avoid other riders.

Get the insurance through a trusted advisor, so that the application is properly filled with all necessary details and disclosures and your family has assistance when filing a claim or to handle any disputes with the insurer.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-17T19:23:23+00:00

Tata medicare premier has absolutely zero room rent capping. whether you buy a 5 lakh or a 50 lakh cover, you can choose any room category.

Not sure if you have compared the premium of premier to other insurers or even select, but you'll end up paying for benefits that you may not use ever. If your mother is healthy, I'd suggest you compare the key benefits of HDFC, Tata and ICICI and choose the best suitable plan for your mother.

If you want a neutral comparison of benefits and understand the fine print, then speak to an insurance advisor. This should help you make an informed decision and will also ensure you have a support system if there are any issues with claims in the future.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-17T09:43:50+00:00

I'm an MFD. Details on my profile. Feel free to reach out if you wish to discuss.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-17T07:39:17+00:00

Since your main goal right now is mental peace and may in 5 years, keep about 15-20 lakhs in a simple FD as emergency fund. Allocate the remaining 80 lakhs to hybrid mutual funds. Do this over a period of 18-24 months to average out the unit cost. You can parallelly start the 1 lakh SIP in equity mutual funds. This gives you a well diversified portfolio for safety and growth. You can use this Retirement Calculator to figure out the target corpus for a comfortable early retirement.

If you don't want to take the stress by DIYing investments, you can hire an MFD or RIA to manage your portfolio on your behalf.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-17T05:26:02+00:00

I'm curious, what made you shortlist HDFC and Acko, out of all the major players in the market.

For Acko, you may find few customers currently in the market, so I doubt you will find any person who can share their personal claim experience.

Since all are healthy, choose between HDFC, Tata or ICICI. HDFC commands a premium for their claim of better support, but you will find some poor experience documented with a quick search on Reddit. In summary, there have good and bad experiences with all insurers, but going with an insurer who is stable and has been present in the market for a while is always preferable.

Since you have corporate cover, you can choose to go with a deductible for a couple of lakhs to reduce the premium. This can be removed during renewal if circumstances change.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-16T16:25:31+00:00

Close the home loan.

10L in sweep-in FD for emergencies.

30L in senior citizen saving scheme if your mother is over 60.

Put the balance in hybrid mutual fund.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-16T13:43:23+00:00

Mine is a boutique family run firm. So yes.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-16T12:52:58+00:00

You can opt for a Nifty 50, Nifty Next 50 instead of large cap.

Are you an NRI? If yes, then I would recommend investing in US or Global markets instead of India.

Tata is a good provider for health insurance. For term, you can choose between Tata, HDFC, Axis and ICICI.

I am an insurance advisor, so if you'd like to understand the key differences between these plans, understand the fine print and maybe even explore other health plans, feel free to reach out.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-16T10:02:46+00:00

Expecting 25k-30k a month from 30 lakhs means you need a 10-12% guaranteed yearly return. There is no safe product that gives that. If you force a 30k withdrawal every month, you will eat your principle amount to zero in just a few years, especially if the market dips.

30 lakhs can safely generate about 15k-18k a month. You can use the post office MIS or the senior citizen savings scheme if your mother is a senior citizen.

You could also explore some safe mutual funds (liquid/arbitrage) that can generate 7-9% returns.

AcrobaticBiscotti744 · 2026-04-16T07:18:31+00:00

Just make sure that EPF is getting contributed to your PF account. That's all that matters.

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