The significance of putting life insurance at the top of the heap of your financial investments can be understood through a cricket test match.

A test match extends up to 5 days, and for each day, the playing strategy changes — similarly, your financial planning changes, too, as per your life stage and financial requirements. Let us see how life insurance is crucial for long-term financial sustenance.

Day 1: After winning the toss, you start the day’s play with caution, leaving or defending the good balls and punishing the bad deliveries for runs. Similarly, as soon as you start earning an income, the first thing that you need to do is to create a fool-proof strategy against life’s contingencies. This is where life insurance becomes a vital cog in your long term plans. With life insurance in your kitty, you can make sure that your loved ones do not have to depend on anyone else to support them, especially when you are no longer there to help them accomplish their dreams.

Day 2: Once you have the backing of a cautious yet emphatic start, and an imposing first day of cricket, you try to build upon your previous day score. In terms of financial planning, the next stage after purchasing life insurance is to build on your savings through a mix of traditional and market-linked investments. You can consider traditional savings instruments such as bank fixed deposits, recurring deposits, and provident funds while building up your tolerance for more aggressive market-linked investments.

Day 3: You invite the opposition to best your first inning total and create a game plan to put your opposition on the backfoot. In life too, you prepare your finances against emergency medical situations and other unplanned expenditures with the help of health insurance. Together with life insurance and a health plan in your back pocket, you equip yourself and your loved ones against any crisis.

Day 4: Often, you have to second inning on this day – dig in deep to fortify your first-innings lead and work towards building a high total for the final day showdown. When it comes to creating a financial portfolio, it is now time for you to look for investment opportunities to help maximize your savings into wealth, so that you can effectively support your family’s goals, be it your child’s higher education, marriage or your spouse’s financial wellbeing. It is only through efficient financial planning and long-term capital appreciation of your savings that you can prepare yourself for your retirement.

Day 5: On the last day of the match, it is now time for you to put your total match score to test so that you can beat your opposition and put the crown of victory on your head. In life, too, the last stage of your financial planning is about bringing your savings and investment returns to fruition. You look to diversify your investment portfolio by including different equity and debt market instruments so that you can achieve maximal capital appreciation while minimizing the investment risks and ensure long-term financial sustenance.