They say, “It’s not what you earn; it’s what you save is what matters.” Investing is not a race. You are not in competition with anyone else. All you need to do to make more money is simply focus on becoming a better investor. If you focus on improving your experience and education as an investor, you will gain tremendous wealth. If all you want to do is to get rich quickly, or have more money than your friend, then the chances are you will be the big loser. It’s OK to compare and compete a little, but the real objective of this process is for you to become a better and more educated investor. Anything other than that is foolish and risky.
Usually nowadays agents are cheating the customers by showing wrong results about their respective funds to attract the customers and to make good commission out of it. Usually what mistake we do is, we start thinking about TAX and INVESTMENTS in the month of January or February. In order to save the tax, we will invest at the nth moment without knowing about mutual funds and their operations based on the agents recommendations.
So it’s a small effort from my side to educate and elucidate on basic idea regarding this. So lets start with ELSS first.
Equity linked saving scheme (ELSS) is a kind of mutual fund which is diversified in nature with Tax benefits. It is just like any other tax saving schemes such as NSC (National Savings Certificate) and PF (Public Provident Fund). Apart from ELSS scheme there is another scheme called ULIP.
ULIPs are nothing but unit-linked insurance policies. It works like a mutual fund with a life cover on it. They invest the premium in market-linked instruments like stocks, corporate bonds and government securities. Investments in ULIPs attract tax benefits under Section 80C.
People always get confused with these two. Agents can misguide when it comes to this topic so here I will try to explain how exactly ULIPS and ELSS works.
I hope by now you people have got the basic idea of ELSS and ULIPS. Always think about your requirements first and then choose the best instruments (investment).
If you go deeper into ULIPS there are 2 types in that and many not aware of it.
Type I: - A Type I Ulip pays the higher of sum assured or fund value as death benefit.
Type II: - While Type II pays the sum assured as well as the fund value.
Usually type II funds are very less in market. If you feel you need a higher cover, ask your insurer to increase the sum assured in your existing plan. However, it is subjected to certain limits and fresh medical tests.
As I mentioned earlier ULIP’s are typically long-term instruments, so you need to stay in the party for long. Your money will touch new highs only after 8th or 10th year, when the benefit of compounding really kicks in.
So what I suggest is, if you have bought an ULIP, do not surrender it even if you can do at zero or minimal cost after the third or the fifth year unless you are in a dire situation. If you really need cash, make a partial withdrawal.
ULIP’s also provide different schemes; one can go with that based on their Risk Profile. It also allows the investor to change the options from one to another at a later date.
Growth / Equity Oriented Scheme
The aim of growth fund is to provide capital appreciation over the medium to long- term. These schemes normally invest a major part of their corpus (amount) in equities. Such funds have high risks comparatively other schemes. These schemes provide different options to the investors like dividend option, capital appreciation, etc. this scheme is good if you are going for longer period of time.
Balanced Fund
The aim of balanced funds is to provide both growth and regular income by investing corpus into equities and in security funds in proportions which differs from company to company. These schemes are good for investors looking for moderate growth. They generally invest 40-60% in equity and debt instruments. When compare to growth fund NAVs of balanced funds are likely to be less volatile.
The aim of death funds is to provide steady income to investors. Such schemes generally invest in fixed income securities such as bonds, corporate debentures, and government securities funds and are less risky compared to equity schemes. These funds are not affected by fluctuations in equity markets.
Some people might argue that a ULIP is same as buying a term plan plus investing in a tax-saving fund i.e.
ULIPS = ELSS + Term Plan.
A point to be considered is before individuals plunge into tax-saving funds is that they invest 100% of their corpus in equities. Balanced or debt schemes are not available for availing the tax benefits under Section 80C. Therefore, people who do not want to take risk in equities could opt for a balanced ULIP, as tax-saving funds would be too risky for them. Also, a ULIP offers an individual the 'protect' his portfolio based on his risk profile. Based on your requirements you can tune your profile from high-risk equities to debt or go for a balanced portfolio which is not available in ELSS. Usually every ULIPS provides 4-8 switches per year as free then later on they used to charge 150-200 Rs (depends on companies).
ULIPS and ELSS (with Term plan) both will work exactly similar except few things which I had mentioned above. But what I suggest is when you are getting everything in single package why you want to look out at 2 options? And sometimes people end up with paying more premiums for term plans when it is available with fewer prices in ULIPS.
So where does all this talk lead to? People who have the stomach for taking risk can separate their investment and insurance. They can go for a term plan separately and investing in tax-saving funds. While investors who do not have an appetite for risks, but like to add equity to their portfolio they can go for balanced ULIP.
Advantages of ELSS/ULIPS over NSC and PPF
- Main advantage of ELSS/ULIPS is its short lock-in period when compare to NSC or PPF where you have to wait for 6 or 15 years for the maturity.
- Since the amount will be invested in an equity scheme earning potential is very high.
- Apart from ULIPS life cover. These days some ELSS schemes also offer personal accident death cover insurance.
- In short term it Provides 30 to 40% returns compared to 8% in NSC and PPF if the market performs very well.
- Irrespective of the market you will get around 15-18% per year in long term view.
- Investor can go for dividend option and get some gains at regular interval of time.
- Investor can go for Systematic Investment Plan. So that investing at peak time will be avoided. With SIP investor can take advantage of fluctuations in the stock market. So investor will get more units when the market is down and get less units when the market is up.
Disadvantages of ELSS/ULIPS
- Risk factor is very high as it is invested in equity compared to NSC and PPF
- Premature withdrawal is not allowed within the lock-in period of time.
Here I am giving you a sample snippet of tax calculation.
For example: - if your total annual income is Rs 4,00,000.
Case 1:- Without any investments
Up to 1,50,000 tax exempt so 4,00,000 -1,50,000 =2,50,000
So according to new Revised Tax Slabs for the FY 2008-09:
Upto Rs. 1,50,000 - Nil
Rs. 1,50,001 to Rs. 3,00,000 - 10%
Rs. 3,00,001 to Rs. 5,00,000 - 20%
Above Rs. 5,00,000 - 30%
Therefore the tax payable amount is: Rs.25,000( 10% tax on Rs. 2,50,000)
Case 2:- With investments
Up to 1,50,000 tax exempt so 4,00,000 -1,50,000 =2,50,000
Your savings 1,00,000 so 2,50,000-1,00,000= 1,50,000
Therefore the tax payable amount is: Rs.15,000( 10% tax on Rs. 1,50,000)
I would also like to add a few words on open ended scheme and close ended scheme.
Based on the maturity period mutual fund scheme can be classified into two types open-ended scheme or close-ended scheme.
Open-ended Fund
An open-ended Mutual fund is one which is available for purchasing the unit for continuous basis. Usually funds which come under these schemes don’t have fixed maturity period. Investors can conveniently buy and sell units at Net Asset Value (NAV) related prices which are declared on a daily basis.
Close-ended Fund
A close-ended Mutual fund has a maturity period e.g. 5-7 years. The fund is open for subscription only during a specified period of time. Investors can invest in the scheme at the time of the initial public issue and thereafter they can buy or sell the units of the scheme on the stock exchanges where the units are listed.
In both the schemes there will be an exit charges if you withdraw the amount within a particular period of time (Again it varies based on funds).
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