The inevitability and the finality of death is something which no one needs to be taught. The knowledge about the finiteness of time that each one of us has been bestowed with is ingrained. But talking about death with your loved ones is never an easy task – no amount of preparation or recipes from self-help books make it an experience that doesn’t get adulterated with unpleasant emotions.

However, talking about death is imperative when it comes to drafting a long term plan for the security and well-being of your loved ones. No amount of crystal ball gazing can predict the timeline of your life and falling in to the trap that there is always a tomorrow to plan for these events can prove to be a costly mistake.

Procrastination and chances

Talking to your spouse about his or her mortality is not the stuff that you would ever look forward to but the sooner you have that conversation, the better prepared your partner will be in the event of your death. For Tapashi Chatterjee (name changed), a sudden shift in her husband’s health and the domino effect it had on the family’s finances, pushed her to sidestep her inhibitions and have the conversation with her husband. She says, “I have a daughter who is a special needs child. I had to give up my career completely after she was born. Ours has been a single income household since then. Two years ago, my husband fell seriously ill and as crude as it may sound, that was a time when I realized I wasn’t prepared to deal with the situation where I would have to be alone.”

Since then Bannerjee and her husband have made it a ritual to discuss plans and prepare strategies that involve ample considerations of the possibility of the sudden demise of either of them. “Before my husband fell ill, he had tried to broach the subject multiple times but I would shush him because there was no way I was willing to even consider that possibility. Things changed after his illness and when he brought the topic after that I was more than willing to talk about it. But it is unwise to wait for that jolt to have that conversation with your spouse because not everyone is fortunate enough to keep getting chances,” she narrates.

Pushing emotions into the background

Given that the subject of death can be emotionally taxing, exercising tactfulness can go a long way in making the process easier for couples. Preparing for the possibility of the death of a partner isn’t cakewalk and for couples to have a fruitful discussion, it is important to be in the right mindset and not feel overwhelmingly anxious.

Bhumika Rathore, an entrepreneur based in Kolkata, says, “Between my husband and me, I am the one who is more involved with financial planning but as a rule, my husband and I always discuss our finances regularly. When I first tried to talk to him about what we would do if one of us met with death or became terminally ill or handicapped it was tricky because he was very uncomfortable. After a few failed attempts, I brainstormed on what was making him so averse to conversing about the matter and so the next time when I floated the issue, I asked him why he was so hesitant. The conversation that followed gave me a lot of clarity about his thought processes and I was also able to gauge as to how we could approach it as a couple without him feeling disturbed.”

‘Can’t not talk about term insurance’

Rathore asserts that addressing the elephant in the room should not only be limited to keeping your partner updated about all the money matters so that in the event of an emergency, he/she is equipped to deal with it in the best possible way. “Conversations around death and finances have to include term insurance especially if you have children or other people dependant on you. The term insurance policy that you pick in your lifetime will have a strong bearing on the quality of lives of your loved ones in your absence.”

With HDFC Life Click to Protect Life, you can be assured that your loved ones will be protected in the unfortunate circumstance of the death knell ringing. While no amount of planning can help assuage the grief of losing a loved one, appropriate insurance coverage ensures that your loved ones do not have to grapple with financial uncertainties or be compelled to compromise on their standards of living in your absence.

HDFC Life Click to Protect Life is a great term plan that provides benefits in accordance with the changes in your lifestyle and life stages so that you and your loved ones have comprehensive financial protection at all times. You have the option to choose a cover which fits your needs from three plan options. Unlike regular plans, the Click to Protect Life gives you the benefit of auto balancing death and critical illness with age and you can also opt various add-on benefits like return of premium option, accidental death benefit option and many more.

Discussing death with your spouse, no matter how discomforting it may seem is akin to a milestone in itself but putting up with that discomfort now can save your loved ones from numerous predicaments later on.