Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has announced the launch of a unit-linked plan that offers a minimum guarantee of 170% at maturity. This Ulip with guaranteed returns will be available for customers from January 11. This is a single-premium life insurance policy, known as Shield Plus, and the term is fixed at 10 years and the minimum premium requirement is Rs 25,000. The returns, which work to around 5.45% on this product, could be compared to that of a bank or a post office deposit. But since the product has an equity exposure, there is a strong possibility of outperformance over the long term, say experts. The sum assured could be equal to 1.1 times or five times of the single premium paid, which takes care of the protection element of the Ulip. However, the insurer has capped the maximum sum assured at 1.1 times the single premium for individuals in the age group of 56-65 years. The product offers a choice of six funds but only Shield Plus Fund offers minimum guaranteed unit price at maturity.
What are derivatives? Derivatives are financial instruments, which as the name suggests, derive their value from another asset — called the underlying. What are the typical underlying assets? Any asset, whose price is dynamic, probably has a derivative contract today. The most popular ones being stocks, indices, precious metals, commodities, agro products, currencies, etc. Why were they invented? In an increasingly dynamic world, prices of virtually all assets keep changing, thereby exposing participants to price risks. Hence, derivatives were invented to negate these price fluctuations. For example, a wheat farmer expects to sell his crop at the current price of Rs 10/kg and make profits of Rs 2/kg. But, by the time his crop is ready, the price of wheat may have gone down to Rs 5/kg, making him sell his crop at a loss of Rs 3/kg. In order to avoid this, he may enter into a forward contract, agreeing to sell wheat at Rs 10/ kg, right at the outset. So, even if the price of wheat falls ...
