Saturday, November 24, 2007

What are the different charges of a ULIP?

Unit linked Insurance Plans (ULIP) provide the twin benefit of providing the benefits of investing in the stock market and covering your risks. It is important to understand that a Unit Linked Life Insurance product is different from the traditional insurance products and are subject to the risk factors.

The premium paid in Unit Linked Life Insurance policies are subject to investment risks associated with capital markets and the NAVs of the units may go up or down based on the performance of fund and factors influencing the capital market and the insured is responsible for his/her decisions.

Other than the fact that the investment risk in investment portfolio is borne by the policyholder, let us take a look at the different charges in a ULIP.

Particulars

LIC

ICICI Pru

HDFC Standard

Bajaj Allianz

Plan name

Profit Plus

Lifetime Gold

HDFC Unit link

UnitGain Plus Gold

Premium allocation

24%

20%

70%

25%

Mortality Charges (/1000 )

1.80 for age 35

1.46 for age 30

NA

1.74 for age 30

Fund Management Charges

0.75% for Bond

1.50% for growth

0.75 % for preserver to 2.25% for multiplier

0.80%

0.95% for Bond, 1.75 % for growth

Policy Charges

Rs 60 per month in first year, Rs 20 after that.

No other charges, but FMC can be raised to 3.5%

Rs 20 per month for administration

Rs 600 per annum inflating at 5% per annum

Switching charges

4 free, Rs 100 after four

4 free, Rs 100 after four

24 in a year free, Rs 100 after that.

3 free, Rs 100 after that

Miscellaneous charges

Rs 50 for alteration

Switching can increase to Rs 200

Charges for revival, withdrawal, etc at Rs 250 per request.

Rs 100 per transaction for revival, etc

There are a few parameters like the flexibility of premium paying term, the amount of cover available for disability, illness and accident which has a wider variation among the Insurers.

I dislike the heavy premium allocation being charged. Out of the Rs 100 you pay to your Insurer, only Rs 70 odd goes to your investments (Rs30 in case of HDFC!!)


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4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Ranjan,

The information you mentioned about HDFC is wrong. I recently bought ULIP from HDFC. They invest only 40% as investment, rest 60% is charged as commission.
So if you invest Rs.100 - Rs.40 is invested & rest Rs.60 is charged as their commission.
The second year the commission charged by HDFC is 50%, the year after - Nil. From the 4th year the cycle starts again.

Unknown said...

Thanks Alex for poiting it out. HDFC might have made some improvements from 70% to 60%. But it's still too large!!

Insurers have the habit of bringing out similar products with new names & slight modifications.

Sharath Tenkila Krishna said...

Hi Ranja,

I took ICICI Prudential ULIP(Multiplier fund), and paid 4 years premium (40000 for 10 Lac), but the return is less (Just 180000 after four year), So I'm thinking to do one of the following,

1. Switch - Switch from Multiplier to Balanced fund which has good NAV history

2. Stop ICICI ULIP and withdraw money and invest in good MF and take term insurance.

I'm really confused, request you to give your opinion..

Sharath Tenkila Krishna said...

Hi Ranja,

I took ICICI Prudential ULIP(Multiplier fund), and paid 4 years premium (40000 for 10 Lac), but the return is less (Just 180000 after four year), So I'm thinking to do one of the following,

1. Switch - Switch from Multiplier to Balanced fund which has good NAV history

2. Stop ICICI ULIP and withdraw money and invest in good MF and take term insurance.

I'm really confused, request you to give your opinion..