Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIP)

A policy, which provides for life insurance where the policy value at any time varies according to the value of the underlying assets at the time. ULIP is life insurance solution that provides for the benefits of protection and flexibility in investment. The investment is denoted as units and is represented by the value that it has attained called as Net Asset Value (NAV).

ULIP came into play in the 1960s and became very popular in Western Europe and Americas. The reason that is attributed to the wide spread popularity of ULIP is because of the transparency and the flexibility which it offers.

As times progressed the plans were also successfully mapped along with life insurance need to retirement planning. In today's times, ULIP provides solutions for insurance planning, financial needs, financial planning for children's future and retirement planning.

ULIP distinguishes itself through the multiple benefits that it provides to the consumer. The plan is a one-stop solution providing:

• Life protection
• Investment and Savings
• Flexibility
• Adjustable Life Cover
• Investment Options
• Transparency
• Options to take additional cover against
• Death due to accident
• Disability
• Critical Illness
• Surgeries
• Liquidity
• Tax planning

This is just a general definition of an ULIP. But there are so many parameters which contributes to a decision about choosing the BEST ULIP in the market.

I have one of my best friend who is financial planner(Not an AGENT) from MNYL(Max New York Life), with the help of whom, I have invested Rs.50K(approx) in ULIP which i felt the best investment i have ever made. He does NOT charge you for consultation. If you need his help in understanding the how much to invest and where, Let me know your contact details. If you are interested to go ahead and take info, I can ask him to give a call you...

When we say ULIP or any Insurance related products, there will be IRDA guidelines for minimum locking period of 3 years. I dont know much about comparative analysys of various ULIP products from different players in the market, but surely i can talk about the ULIP i took from Max New York Life.

This ULIP has yielded 34% annualized profit returns in last 22 months. Fund Manager is Franklin Templeton, which is one of the MAJOR deciding factor when you think of MFs or ULIPs. As compared to shares( where you need to keep track ups and downs of share value on a daily basis) MFs and ULIPs are considered to be the safer ones as our funds will be managed by someone who is knowledgeable(e.g Franklin Templeton, Fidelity..etc)... You need to also look at the administrative charges which ULIP gets tagged with. Its just 20% for the 1st year and 3% flat for rest of the tenure..

If you want to know more about how much to invest and where, you need to sit with your financial planner and discuss your current savings and insurance policies and then decide how much do you need to keep aside for such investments.

As i mentioned in my last post, a friend of mine is a financial planner who can help you out with answers for your questions. He wont charge you for consultation... But before you speak to him you need to be ready with certain data... Let me know if you need any help.

Not my orginal post but took from a post of my friend's forum post