IT may be lagging its arch rival where equity and equity derivative volumes are concerned. But there is some comfort for Bombay Stock Exchange as far as the mutual fund platform is concerned. BSE's mutual fund platform 'Star MF' is having an upper hand over National Stock Exchange's 'NEAT-MFSS' for the time being. If sources are to be believed, BSE has transacted fund units worth Rs 21 crore since December 4, when this facility was opened on the exchange, more than twice than that transacted on the NSE. Though both the exchanges have 10 fund houses listed with them, BSE has more schemes (over 130 schemes) that are eligible to be transacted through the exchange, say brokers. Moreover, BSE has gathered support from several financial advisors, who have been requested to advise their clients to trade through BSE. According to industry sources, the exchange has received confirmed participation from 15 other fund houses who are expected list their funds on the exchange over the next few days.
ICICI Pru LifeTime and ICICI Pru Lifestage are Unit Linked Pension Plans. Such insurance linked retirement plans are neither good investments nor do they offer sufficient insurance cover. As you can see, these have turned out to be bad deals. In the Lifetime plan, the fund value is not even equal to the total premiums that you have paid and in the Lifestage plan your return is just about 6% which is quite low. The mortality charges are as per your age which is why they have increased. Moreover, once these plans matures, you will have to compulsorily opt for annuity (regular income) and the annuity rates are generally modest. Assuming these plans mature in the next one year, it will be wise to surrender the plan now and curb your future commitments. Before you choose to buy a term plan, you have to consider a few points. You need to insure yourself, only during the time you are working and your family is financially dependent on you. At the age of 59, not all insurance companies w...
