Guaranteed Returns ULIPs - Topping Up

If your pulse rate goes up when the market moves up and your pulse rate starts slowing down when the market plummets, then investing in equities is quite a risky proposition for you. Yet, you may still wish to put your money into equities to take advantage of the high returns which equities offer as compared to other asset classes. How you wish you could take the risk out of investing in equities and benefit from the attractive returns. Well, now your wish is about to be granted – you can go for the guaranteed returns ULIP products offered by some of the insurance companies. These products offer maturity value based on the highest net asset value (NAV) recorded during the policy term irrespective of the market conditions during the period. After Birla Sun Life Insurance launched Platinum Plus,, Tata AIG and SBI Life have also joined the fray and launched their own products. To understand how these policies work and whether there is any catch, let’s take a closer look at all three products.

The ULIP plans

 There are three guaranteed return ULIPs on offer in the market, viz. Birla Sun Life Insurance’s Platinum Plus II, Tata AIG’s Invest Assure APEX and SBI Life’s SMART ULIP. These ULIPs offer maturity value at the highest NAV reached during the policy period, with death benefit being the higher of the fund value or sum assured. Tata AIG Invest Assure: The plan offers 100 reset dates on 10th of every month, thereby  covering a period of 8 years and four months. It offers three riders – critical illness, accidental death benefit and accidental death and dismemberment.

Birla Sun Life Platinum Plus: The plan offers 88 reset dates on 15th of every month, thereby recording the highest NAV from seven years and 4 months. The plan doesn’t charge any fee for partial withdrawals and levies no surrender penalty after three years.

SBI Life Smart ULIP: The plan offers two reset dates in a month and a total of 168 reset dates on 8th and 23rd of each month. It also offers the facility of two premium payment terms – three and five years. The premium allocation charge is a bit higher in the five-year premium payment (PPT) term compared with the three-year PPT.