Investment Objective:
BNP Paribas Income and Gold Fund is an open ended debt scheme with a tinge of gold in it.  It is an ideal option for investment for a minimum 3 years.

Asset Allocation:
65% to 90% in debt instruments and 10 to 35% in gold ETFs.

There will be no entry load but an exit load of 1% is levied if redeemed within 1 year.

Benchmark:
CRISIL Short Term Bond Fund Index and Price of Gold.

Minimum Investment:
Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Rs. 1 thereafter.  For SIP option the minimum investment is Rs. 500.  There are both growth and dividend option available which we can choose accordingly.

This is an excellent option for those looking for the best of both debt and gold as the return might be slightly above the debt and follows the gold rate which is seeing only north these days.  If you are looking for both option, go ahead and try this fund from BNP Paribas.

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New SBI Interest Rates

Up 179 days – 8% p.a.

180 days – 7%

181 days to 1 year – 8% p.a

1 year to 10 years – 9.25%

For the senior citizens the interest rate remains the same as above for fixed deposits up to 1 year and while for 1 year and up to 10 years the interest rate is being fixed at 9.75% p.a.

The above mentioned interest rates are for the deposits made below Rs. 15 lakhs.  While the deposits of up to 1 crore the interest rate remains the same except for the short term deposits of up 180 days where you can earn 9% p.a. unlike the 8% p.a. for the regular deposits.

Penalty for Premature Withdrawal

While there are penalty imposed for deposits up to 180 days but there is 0.50% penalty applicable for the other duration of deposits.

With this revised term deposit interest rates from SBI, we can expect more such similar revised rates from other public and private sector banks in India soon.

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Benefits of Jeevan Vriddhi

Maturity Benefit – Guaranteed maturity amount and loyalty addition

Death Benefit – Sum assured (5 times that of the premium paid)

Loyalty Addition – It will be declared by LIC from time to time

Policy Details

• Minimum and maximum entry age is 8 years and 50 years respectively
• Minimum sum assured is Rs. 1.5 lakhs
• Minimum premium is Rs. 30,000 and in multiples
• The policy term will be 10 years

Incentive

This is the new feature that LIC has introduced for Jeevan Vriddhi wherein you get additional coverage in the name of incentive for the higher premium that you pay once.  There is no incentive applicable for premium paid for below Rs. 50,000 and for premium worth Rs. 50,000 and above you get 1.25% incentive and while for all the premium paid worth Rs. 1 lakh and above you get 3% incentive.  You can also avail loan with Jeevan Vriddhi plan that you buy, later.

This plan is an ULIP plan but a regular endowment assurance type scheme which means that you can be rest assured that your money will not be lost due to stock market crash, etc. but the returns may also not be as lucrative as ULIP promises.  There is nothing new with this plan aside from the incentive part.  My personal suggestion would be that you ignore this plan as it is not as beneficial or useful as it is being promoted.

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Ratings

This Muthoot NCD issue comes with CRISIL AA -/Stable and ICRA AA -/Stable ratings meaning high degree of safety for obligations relating to servicing of the financial obligations for your investments.

Double Your Investment

With this issue one can double your investment amount if you opt for the Option IV NCDs to put your money on.

Allotment and NCD Details

The allotment for the NCD will be done on a first come first served basis.  The minimum application size would be for 5 NCDs or Rs. 5000.  The date of maturity for the NCD will start from 24 months to around 66 months.

Interest Rates

The interest rate will start from 13% to 13.43% p.a. and your money actually doubles if you choose the option IV for your investment needs.

If you have missed all the previous NCDs of Muthoot Finance then use this opportunity to invest in this public issue as it may well be the last issue for this financial year and make use of the higher interest which you can enjoy with them.

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Overview

For those who don’t know Express Publications (Madurai) Limited is the group which owns various newspapers like Indian Express, Dinamani, Cinema Express and Malayalam Varika.  They are one of the leading publishers in South India especially in Tamil Nadu.

Fixed Deposit Details

Indian Express is currently offering two schemes in their FD Deposits namely Scheme A – which is a non-cumulative deposit Scheme and Scheme B which is a cumulative deposit Scheme.  The minimum deposit for both the scheme is Rs. 21,000.  The minimum period of deposit is 2 years and maximum period is 3 years for both the schemes.  In the non-cumulative deposit scheme the interest will be paid every quarter while for the cumulative scheme it will be paid on maturity of the deposit but the interest will be calculated on a quarterly basis.

Interest Rates

Scheme A – Non-Cumulative Deposit Scheme

2 years – 10.25%

3 years – 10.50%

Scheme B – Cumulative Deposit Scheme

2 years – 10.75%

3 years – 11.00%

Add 0.25% extra for the senior citizens.

There will be TDS deducted in case of the interest earned in a year crosses Rs. 5000 and above and hence PAN number is mandatory when buying these Indian Express FD Schemes as well.

You can contact Indian Express Fixed Deposit Division at their Chennai office and your respective city offices if you are interested to buy their deposit schemes and they will send you the application for the same.

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Online Term Vs. Regular Term Plans

The major difference between this HDFC Life Click 2 Protect plan and a regular term plan is that it is much cheaper comparatively since you are buying it directly from the company and there are no agents involved.

Plan Details

• Minimum sum assured is Rs. 10 lakhs
• Maximum sum assured is Rs. 10 crore
• Minimum premium – Rs. 2000
• Only Annual premium payment option is available
• Policy terms ranges from 10 years to 30 years
• Minimum entry age – 18, maximum – 55
• Maximum maturity age – 65

Benefits

Death Benefit – The nominee will get the sum assured in case of death of the policy holder

Surrender and Maturity Benefits – This online term plan does not have any maturity or surrender benefits

Tax Benefits – This premium paid for this plan is eligible for tax benefits under section 80C

How to Buy HDFC Click 2 Protect

You can just buy this Click2Protect online in just 3 simple steps,

1. Choose sum assured and policy term
2. Calculate your regular annual premium
3. Fill the form and make the payment

Approximate Premium

For a 1 crore sum assured  a non-smoking individual of 30 years of age just need to pay an annual premium of Rs. 10,600.

Things to Know

• After buying this HDFC Life Click 2 Protect plan online they have given you an adequate free look-in period of 30 days within which you can cancel your policy and you will get the refund minus charges
• There is also a 30 days grace period for paying premium annually
• If no premium is paid the plan gets lapsed but it can be revived provided you have paid the pending premiums

There are various other online term plans like the Aviva i-Life, Met Protect and Kotak e-term, ICICI iProtect and many more plans like the good old and the first online term insurance plan from Aegon Religare iTerm, etc., which you can compare effectively before deciding to buy any one of the plans.  But it is mandatory that you buy at least one term plan for yourselves without fail which is the pure insurance plan that you should have rather than the money back, endowment or ULIP plans which actually combines life insurance with the investments which is totally not advisable for any individual looking to cover their family even during their absence.

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Jeevan Ankur Plan Details

Entry Age – 18 years to 50 years

Entry Age for kids – 0 to 17 years

Term – 18 minus age of kid, maximum 25 minus age of kid

Sum assured – minimum Rs. 1 lakh while there is no maximum limit

Features

• Parents are the life assured (not kids)
• Maturity benefit:  Sum assured + loyalty bonus
• Death Benefit:  Sum assured + maturity benefit +income benefit
• Various riders to choose from including accident benefit rider
• Critical illness benefit rider including premium waiver
• Cannot take loan with this policy

Benefits

• Death benefit ensures that immediate payment to meet the financial requirement for kids.
• 10% SA on policy anniversaries to help meet the financial requirements regularly till the end of policy
• Monetary benefit helps reach the important goals in your child’s life at the time of maturity
• Customization of plan with accidental riders, critical illness rider for more security

Although comes loaded with various benefits and features, as the experts advice just think twice in taking such traditional endowment or children’s plans as the actual yield at the end of the term would much lesser comparatively in terms of inflation as well as liquidity factors, etc.

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