Anand Desai’s story

Anand Desai (40) a dashing engineer from Surat, was gung-ho about his life. He had all the reasons to be ecstatic as he was a self-made man. He believed in living life king size! When he bought a posh 4 bed-room apartment in a newly developed residential apartment with all the amenities, he said in the language of the developers, ‘I am not buying just the apartment but I am buying the lifestyle that comes with it’. He bought Skoda Octavia for himself and Honda Brio for his wife as he felt he could make a statement about his taste with the choice of the cars he bought.

Anand started as apprentice in one of the start-up who made capital equipment for the growing Pharma Sector in India. Anand worked as technical sales executive. He used to travel extensively, visit major pharma companies all over the country. He would understand the requirement of the clients and help his company custom design the products. He catered to a niche market whose pulse he knew well. Anand and his company grew together over the last decade. His salary, sales incentives and ESOPs made a good annual package for him.

There was no looking back. The life was on a roll. Flaunting branded products that ranged from smart phones to watches and handbags to shoes became his normal consumption pattern. He was constantly planning for the next adrenal rush; 3-nights four-days five star holidays in India to 7-nights 8-days foreign holidays.

Anand also thought about saving and investment. His first big saving was in form of gold as he thought it was a necessity as he had two daughters (12 and 10). He had invested in the apartment on mortgage for which he was paying the EMIs. He was tempted to invest in a farm house which was the next life style statement in his friend circle. He had some shares especially of Pharma companies as he thought he knew them well. He had some tax saving bonds and fixed deposits. He gave the last priority to insurance as he thought LIC was paying very low return and it was an unnecessary expense.

Last month Anand met with an accident. He was on ventilator and life support system for 10 days but could not survive. The hospital bill for this period was 25 Lakh but his medical insurance covered only half the amount. Devastated by the untimely death when the family took stock of the things they were in for a larger shock.

· Did he leave enough money for the family to lead a decent life?

· Did he make the right investments?

· Did he take the sufficient medical and the life insurance cover?

· What is sufficient life insurance cover? How do you determine that?