LiveMint has an article by Monika Halan and Deepthi Bhaskaran talking about how investors lost Rs. 1.5 trillion (150,000 crore) rupees due to mis-selling. I’m however not convinced by their number argument, that investors lost 1.5 trillion rupees. The way they arrive by the numbers is: Take all regular premium policy premium (first year, plus [...]
Entries Categorized as 'ULIP'
Insurance Profits from Surrenders, But Not *That* Much
February 6, 2013
New Business for Insurers Continues Decline in 2012
December 25, 2012
Insurers seem to be getting lesser new business, as new premiums (single premium policies + new regular premium policies) drop 4.2% in the first half of the year. Last year, new policy premiums had fallen over 20% . (Source: IRDA and individual insurer disclosures) Some of the top insurers (HDFC, ICICI, Bajaj) have picked up [...]
ULIP Underperformance: Stunted By Guarantees
June 11, 2012
Unit Linked Insurance Policies tend to be very complex and highly loaded with costs. But some policies have looked good in theory, but they turn out to be dud performers anyhow. In an email conversation I was referred to an excellent analysis of ULIP costs by RRK which talked about how ULIP costs could actually [...]
ULIPs: No More “Cover Continuance”?
January 20, 2011
It turns out(*) that the new guidelines for ULIPs in 2010 have claimed another victim: Cover Continuance. The concept, prior to September 2010: if you bought a ULIP and stopped paying premiums after say 5 years, you could choose to continue to have …
At Yahoo: ULIPs or Mutual Funds?
January 7, 2011
A small story at Yahoo on the choice: Ulips or Mutual Funds. (Posted in entirety) It was the day they’d talked about 9 years ago. The first day of 2011. “I’m on my way.” Ganesh Raghupathi sighed. He had known Arnold would be late. But then…
Reader Query: Should I exit this ULIP?
December 29, 2010
Reader S writes in: Hey Deepak, I am invested in 2 ULIPS. 1) Birla Sun Life SaralWealth : 35800 anually since Feb 2010 ( paid 1 premiums) current fund value is 25629. 2) Birla sun life Dream Plan: 12000 anually since Jan 2009 ( pai…
The New ULIP Regime
September 27, 2010
(This is an article I wrote recently, so here you go!) The new ULIP regime is here, and insurers must be balking in fear. The changes? Spread commissions over the lock-in period of the scheme, the minimum of which is now five years from the earlier th…
IRDA: Limit ULIP Surrender Charges to Rs. 6,000
July 13, 2010
IRDA, the regulator I have torn into over ULIPs, has started to get investor friendly. And how! The latest piece is a notification for early surrender. If you stop payment on your policy – regardless of when you do so – your policy will be conside…
Will you pay for ULIP or Investment Advice?
July 13, 2010
I’m just working through my inbox and at least 200 emails are still pending, with people asking me what I suggest they do about their policies. The requests come with a varying degree of detail, some with details of how much has been invested and wha…
On Yahoo: The ULIP War
June 23, 2010
My latest at Yahoo!: The ULIP war on the topic of the week, ULIPs. The turf war between the Insurance Regulator (IRDA) and the Securities Regulator (SEBI) is finally over. The government, on June 19th, passed an ordinance that granted full regulato…
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