MARKET regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), will help the mutual fund industry in its efforts to increase financial literacy, a senior Sebi official said. "Sebi is keen on focusing on investor education. It will help the mutual fund industry in its efforts to increase financial literacy," Sebi chairman, C B Bhave, said here. "Our big challenge is investor education and financial literacy. Investors should get the scheme information document in regional languages," Mr Bhave said. He said that the mutual fund industry was at the crossroads and should not expect results in six months. "It is always difficult to accept change but if you are confident that the change is good for the consumer you accept it eventually," Mr Bhave said. On the issue of financial literacy, he said that it is a big challenge due to the vastness and diversity of the country. The importance of having the messages (of financial literacy) in regional languages cannot be emphasised enough, he said.
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...
