Birla Century SIP plan! Investment plus Insurance

There is an offering from Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund called Birla Century SIP plan.
The Birla Century SIP plan claims to offer a unique combination of Investment through SIP or Systematic Investment Plan along with FREE insurance to the investor – FREE because the investor does not have to pay separately for the premium of insurance.

The benefits of Birla Century SIP plan are as follows:
• Wide Coverage: 18 years to 46 years for investor age group
• Cover continues till 55 years
• No medical check-up only a signed declaration of good health from investor
• The minimum investment monthly SIP amount is Rs. 1000 per month.
• Entry load of 2.25% and exit load of 2% upto 3 years and Nil from 3 year onwards.
• If SIP discontinues within 3 years of 1st installment: Life Cover ceases, If SIP discontinued after 3 years of 1st installment: Life Cover continues at fund value subject to maximum of 100 times monthly SIP value.

Insurance cover detail in Birla Century SIP plan are as follows
Year 1 – Insurance coverage till 10 times of Monthly SIP Installment
Year 2 – Insurance coverage till 50 times of Monthly SIP Installment
Year 3 onwards – Insurance coverage till 100 times of Monthly SIP Installment, that's why the name “Century SIP”. However, the maximum insurance value is capped at 20 Lakh Rs., irrespective of your SIP amount and investment horizon.

There are a few exceptions in which the insurance cover will not be available:
• Death due to suicide
• Death within 45 days of SIP start except when the death is due to accident
• Death due to pre existing diseases – this is the biggest and most ambiguous exception – in case someone dies of a disease like heart attack, there are always issues in proving that the disease was or was not pre-existing.

Its a very good option for investors who are looking for investment as well as insurance. Much better then your traditional insurance products or ULIP products.

Reliance SIP Insurance ! Secure your Financial Goals

Reliance SIP Insure facility is an add on feature of life insurance cover under Group Term Insurance to individual investors opting for SIP in the designated schemes. Reliance SIP Insure provides free life insurance cover to investors at no extra cost. In the unfortunate event of the demise of an investor during the tenure of the SIP, the insurance company will pay remaining unpaid SIP installments.

Reliance SIP Insure- Benefits to the Investor
* Inculcates Savings Habit
* Rupee Cost Averaging & Eliminates the need to time the market
* Free Life Insurance Cover
* Helps to complete the planned investments
* Maturity Proceeds at NAV based prices
* Flexibility Auto Debit from 4 banks namely ICICI bank, HDFC bank, AXIS bank & HSBC

Designated Schemes in which Reliance SIP Insure will be offered
1) Reliance Growth Fund - Retail Plan
2) Reliance Vision Fund - Retail Plan
3) Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund - Retail Plan
4) Reliance Equity Fund - Retail Plan
5) Reliance Equity Advantage Fund- Retail Plan
6) Reliance Regular Savings Fund – Equity option /Balanced option
7) Reliance Banking Fund
8) Reliance Pharma Fund
9) Reliance Media & Entertainment Fund
10) Reliance Diversified Power Sector Fund – Retail Plan

Eligibility: All individual investors enrolling for investments via SIP & opting for ‘Reliance SIP Insure’ Only individual investors whose completed age is greater than 20 years and less than 46 years at the time of investment. In case of multiple holders in the any scheme, only the first unit holder will be eligible for the insurance cover. Investment Details Minimum Investment per installment: Rs.2000 per month & in multiples of Re 1 thereafter. There is no upper limit however Rs. 5556 for 15 years will give you maximum cover of Rs. 10,00,000) Minimum Period of Contribution: 3 years and in multiples of 1 year thereafter. Maximum Period of Contribution: 15 years OR till attaining 55 years of age, whichever is earlier (e.g., a person can register an SIP of maximum 10 yrs at the age of 45 yrs.) The insurance cover ceases when the investor attains 55 years of age. Mode of payment of SIP installments is only through Direct Debit & ECS ( Post Dated Cheques shall not be accepted )

Reliance SIP Insure – How does this work? An investor does a monthly SIP of Rs. 5,000 for 15 years in Reliance Growth Fund If he dies after a period of 5 yrs, then his Sum Assured= Unpaid SIP installments = 10 yrs (ie 10*12 months) X 5, 000 = Rs 6, 00,000 This amount will be paid by life insurance company to SIP investor’s nominee account* with Reliance Mutual Fund and will be invested in Reliance Growth Fund (in the same scheme in which the deceased has earlier invested)

Load Structure : The Entry Load under Reliance SIP Insure shall be same as applicable to normal purchase /additional purchase transactions in the respective designated schemes However, there will an Exit Load of 2%, if the accumulated units acquired or allotted under Reliance SIP Insure are redeemed or switched out to another scheme before the maturity of SIP tenure as opted in the respective scheme either by the SIP-Insure unitholder or by the nominee*, as the case may be.

UTI - Unit Linked Insurance Plan goes SIP way.

UTI-ULIP is an open-end tax saving cum insurance scheme. The investment objective of the scheme is primarily to provide returns through growth in NAV or through income distribution and reinvestment thereof. It is a unique product, which provides multiple benefits to its investors viz. Life Insurance Cover without any medical examination, Accident Cover up to Rs 50,000, tax benefits under Sec 80C of Income Tax Act, 1961, easy liquidity and ability to time investments for payment of renewal contribution.

To provide additional benefits to investors, UTI Mutual Fund has further enhanced the features of UTI-ULIP namely:

• Target amount increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.
• Flexibility to invest higher than the maximum target amount.
• Higher Insurance cover upto Rs 15 lakh.
• Fixed Term Cover introduced under the scheme.
• Choice given to investors for Fixed or Declining Term Cover.

Membership to continue even in the event of non-receipt of installment. Premium will be paid to Life Insurance Corporation of India by redeeming existing units.
To provide greater flexibility and easy convenience to investors, UTI Mutual Fund has introduced Monthly Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) under UTI ULIP.

The features of ULIP-SIP are as under:
Minimum SIP Installment :Rs 500 and in multiples of Rs 100

Minimum Target amount under 10 year Plan
Rs 60,000 and in multiples of Rs 12000

Minimum Target amount under 15 year Plan
Rs 90,000 and in multiple of Rs 18000

Eligibility
a. Under 10 year Plan: Between the age group 12 years-48½ years
b. Under 15 year Plan:Between the age group 12 years-42½ years
Entry Load : 2.25% ; Exit Load : 2% for premature withdrawal

Tax savings schemes which have performed in bear as well as bull market

Following are the few of the good Top performing ELSS mutual Funds.

1) SBI Magnum Taxgain
2) Sundaram Tax saver
3) Principal Personal Taxsaver
4) ICICI Pru Tax plan

All of the above funds has given an annualized return of between 30% to 50% compounded annually as on 30th june 2008 for previous 5 years.

Note: To find out the actual returns as of today you can click on the following link. http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/mutualfunds/gainerloser/10/14/snapshot/op1/an/option/eqt/sort/yr5