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Sanjiv Shankaran

A friend is in a dilemma. He is to get married shortly, and is grappling with the problem of where to direct his future savings. Should he stick to risky investments as he has a long career ahead, or should he create a financial cushion to help his family in the event of an unfortunate development?

The dilemma is one of finding a balance as his priorities begin to change.

Traditional avenues in the stock market, fixed deposits and public provident fund (PPF) are fine. Each comes with a unique dimension of associated risk and the attendant return. But none of them guarantees an immediate payment in case my friend — who can no longer afford to think only about himself — fails to survive the life of the investment (or till savings multiply in the stock market).

One suggestion he frequently receives is to buy a term assurance policy to supplement his regular investments.

The term assurance policy should provide the financial cushion that my friend is looking for.

But term assurance policies come with a condition that troubles my friend — they take effect only in the event of a development. If things are fine, the term policy would end at a pre-determined period, and the money paid out as premium would remain with the insurance company.

Faced with a bewildering number of options, but none that seemed a good-fit, he began to dig deeper and finally stumbled upon one investment that appeared to meet his key requirements. It is the market-linked insurance plan offered by life insurance companies.

The plan seeks to fuse a basic insurance policy (a pre-determined sum paid out in the event the policyholder fails to survive the policy period) with a portion of the premium money being directed to an investment portfolio that the policyholder can choose.

Simply put, we have an amalgam of an insurance policy with a mutual fund (insurance companies bristle at the mention of mutual fund in this context!).

Choose a policy, and the insurance company gives one the choice to divert a part of the premium into a limited number of investment options.

Each investment option has an attendant risk and reward equation.

Thus, a relatively young person, such as my friend, may choose to divert a part of the premium into a risky portfolio packed with equity shares of companies.

An older person may prefer to divert a part of the premium to a safe avenue such as a portfolio of government securities.

Having described the basic policy, the next problem has to be dealt with. Life insurance companies graft varying features to the basic concept of linking insurance policies to choice in investment portfolios. The features provide the required variation to meet different needs.

The coverage of market-linked plans spans two weeks. This week will cover the key features of ICICI Prudential's market-linked plan. Subsequently, we will cover a plan offered by LIC, Bima Plus, and provide an overview of the portfolio flexibility offered by companies such as Birla Sunlife and Aviva on traditional insurance products like endowment assurance.

Finally, an attempt will be made to match the different plans with appropriate requirements, and evaluate them in the context of mutual funds.

ICICI Prudential's Life Time policy

The key features of this policy are:

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