The Gold ETF fund will purchase a large amount of gold, maintaining the physical metal in storage. It will then issue shares in baskets, the idea here being that the value of the shares will increase with the price of gold bullion. If the price of gold goes up by 10 per cent then individual shares would increase in value by the same 10 per cent. Essentially, a gold ETF trades like a stock and its worth is meant to track a percentage of an ounce of gold. For example, a unit of a Gold ETF may be fixed at a value of 1/10th an ounce of gold. These units can be bought and sold on the stock exchange.
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...
