Unsay advantages and disadvantages sa Insular Life?

[b@r3f00t]

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I am planning unta to invest sa Insular Life pero before na mahitabo, mu-ask unta ko sa katong mga currently investing o currently enjoying sa ilang investment sa Insular.. Nakadungog na ba mo or naka experience na ba mo ug disadvantages o nakabati sa Insular aside from sa ilahang mga positives? Please enlighten not just me but uban istoryans as well regarding this matter. You're inputs are highly valuable para sa akong decision or otherwise mo move ko to other financial institutions. Thanks.

[honey2723]

I am planning unta to invest sa Insular Life pero before na mahitabo, mu-ask unta ko sa katong mga currently investing o currently enjoying sa ilang investment sa Insular.. Nakadungog na ba mo or naka experience na ba mo ug disadvantages o nakabati sa Insular aside from sa ilahang mga positives? Please enlighten not just me but uban istoryans as well regarding this matter. You're inputs are highly valuable para sa akong decision or otherwise mo move ko to other financial institutions. Thanks.

WOW! Straight to the point! I like it...

Since, murag ako ra ang taga-Insular nga active diri nga forum, i'll do this task then...

But before I do this... I have to put my son to bed first...

[honey2723]

Hello b@r3f00t.

You're question is more on the investment products of insular, right? So, let's tackle that...

1. First, share nako akong personal experience. The first investment plan I got was a regular deposit nga savings program called Wealth Secure. It's properly called a regular-pay VUL (Variable Unit Linked insurance). I would presume that you already have an idea on this kay nag-huna2x naman ka ug mu-invest or dili... I got my plan Dec of 2007. Basically the prices of our NAVPU at that time was @ P1.786092/unit sa equity fund (which is where I invested for the purpose of growing it to address my son's college fund). The lowest NAVPU I got to purchase was at P0.995045/unit, which was a year after my entry. Since regular-pay siya, I continued w/ my savings program. Now, Sept 2010, a year and 9 months after sa lowest point sa akong investment, our equity fund is now up by 165%. Now I cannot say that my savings program is now up by 165%. Due to the decline in 2008, cost averaging akong gigamit to compute kung pila na jud ang returns nako for this particular savings and investment program. For the past 2 years and 9months, my investment has grown by 59.48% overall or 23.8% per year...

As for my 2nd plan, the Wealth Builder, which is a one-pay VUL, I started it just this July 17, 2010. If I were to withdraw that plan today, it would have grown by 19% in just 2 and 1/2 months...

2. The first part is basically on the investment side of my investment... Now, I will share to you the protection or insurance feature of those savings and investment programs I took. For the first plan, ang Wealth Secure, it's actually under my hubby's name. He's the one insured for P1M, but the purpose of the investment is for our son's education. For his P1M insurance coverage, P220 is taken out of our investment per month to address the P1M term insurance. (If dili asthmatic akong bana, P170/month ra unta ang makuha sa among investment... ) But for his TERM INSURANCE nga P1M, total cost is P2,640/year.

For the Wealth Builder, under my name, if ever should something happen to me and down market, which in turn would decrease the fund value of my investment (half of the initial investment kung back in 2008 ), my family would get an equivalent amount to 125% of the initial investment. But if my pre-departure happens in a bullish market (or pasaka ang market), then my family will get the higher value, either the 125% or fund value.

to be continued...

[honey2723]

3. As for the charges, most of the charges are upon enrolment (kung MF pa ang terminology). So far, wala pa mi withdrawal charges or exit fees kung sa MF pa...

4. If you were to compare the VUL / investment plans of IL to other VUL plans of other top insurance companies, you will see that we have the lowest "enrolment" charges... Dili lang nato i-compare sa MF kay it will be like comparing apple to an orange... The charges of an MF maybe lower but the benefits are totally different... Naay similarities, yes... But daku gihapon ug difference especially if the investor of the MF has a premature departure in this world...

5. Our fund performance for the past 5 and 1/2 years, (our investment plans started at P1/unit last March 2005).

Absolute Return -------------Fixed Income Fund ----- Balanced Fund ----- Equity Fund
Since Inception -----------------------52.4%-------------88.27% -------------150.63%
Year to Date --------------------------6.23% -------------29.44% -------------54.21%
Year on Year / 1YR --------------------7.36%-------------34.94% --------------66.30%
Ave. for the past 5 years --------------9.50% ------------16.05% --------------27.39%

to be continued...

[honey2723]

6. As to the tax leverage, our VUL is not subjected to:

• 12% VAT
• 20% Withholding Tax
• Personal Income Tax
• Estate Tax (under the "irrevocable beneficiary" designation)

And due to the nature of the investment - w/ life insurance coverage, the benefits are not subject to garnishment... Pasabot ana, dili sya pwede mahilabtan sa mga creditors... One reason why bank accounts are frozen after the premature departure of the depositor kay it is one avenue that the creditors can get what is due to them... But w/ VUL, dili mahilabtan sa wala nakalista nga beneficiary...

7. The company offering this investment, Insular Life, has had 100 years of UNINTERRUPTED SERVICE. We are a stable, reputable and profitable INSURANCE company. (We do not belong to the PRE-NEED industry, this is for the sake sa mga nag-libog. Kung naglibog nga naa diay difference, naay laing post diri sa istorya addressing that concern.)

We are the only FILIPINO-owned insurance company among the top 5. (Naay Kano, Canadian ug uban pang foreign owned.) See link for reference =>http://www.insurance.gov.ph/_@dmin/u...ssets_2009.pdf

We are not owned by a corporation, but a mutual company... That means, all policyholders are part-owners of the company... And due to this structure also, we get certain tax incentives that's why we can afford lower premiums...

Due to being a local company, (some would see this as a disadvantage but I see it as an advantage) we do not answer to anybody else.. What you see is what you get... So, if you can see OUR building almost done next to Ayala Mall, that means we have enough resources to put that up in such a short period of time (compared to other buildings).


...

[honey2723]

8. A disadvantage I personally see for now sa among VUL is that naa sa Manila ang processing. 2 weeks ang lead time. It can be a disadvantage to some kay dili ka maka-dali2x ug withdraw... But w/ proper planning and forecasting, if you need to w/draw funds from your investment, it is something that we can work around.. For now sa Manila pa ang processing kay not a lot of Finance Advisers of IL know how to explain the product, so dili pa ingon ana ka-daghan ang namaligya sa VUL diri sa Cebu...

Management said nga if daghan2x na daw ang VUL applicatioins diri sa Visayas and Mindanao region, then they will allow Cebu underwriting personnel to handle the VUL (which would require training). But w/ the new brand of IL, a lot of efforts are put into training "old dogs new tricks" (ubay2x man ang karaan nga agents gud. Considered as the youngest ko when I joined in 4 years ago)... The company has been launching training programs on Financial Education and Financial Planning... So, pag-expect mo nga dili na purely insurance selling ang mahitabo but an educational approach na sa inyong investment... So, I foresee that the "old" finance advisers of IL will eventually learn on how to explain the VUL in a manner that is easily understood by the client...


Bottomline... Advantage of our VUL plans over other VUL plans of other top companies, kay ang charges upon entry... For the regular-pay VUL, the investor enjoys 15% of his investment on the first year but for the other companies, 0% goes to the investment... We put in lesser add-on benefits to minimize the charges so that the investor can experience more growth.. Other companies do have a lot of add-on benefits (or riders) but this will in turn, lessen the growth of your investment...

[honey2723]

oh! by the way, since we're celebrating our 100th year this Nov 25, 2010, we're currently having a Cashandog Raffle Promo... Major prize is P1M during the grand draw, Nov 25, 2010. And the only way for you to join is if client ka sa Insular...

[b@r3f00t]

Ok..as a soon to be investor, IL looks promising to me.
However, pardon me because I still have so many questions in mind (merely clarifications) since I'm not that knowledgeable in terms of finances (pareha sa imo giingon, I am just an ordinary client - I know staffs in lined with my field but when it comes to finance-related terms I'm totally a newb).
Questions:
1] What is NAVPU and the "@ P1.786092/unit sa equity fund" means?
2] You also mentioned that your equity fund is up by 165%, what does that mean? Also this one >> "For the past 2 years and 9months, my investment has grown by 59.48% overall or 23.8% per year..."??
3] What do you mean by NF?
4] How much will I get (interests)/benefits if I'll go with:
a] Wealth Secure?
b] Wealth Builder?
5] How much is the processing fee for Wealth Secure or Builder?
6] Where would my money go if I invested in Wealth Secure or Builder, am I assured with my investments?
7] Are our investments re-invested by IL to local companies only? Or is there a way to know where did our money go or to what companies IL invested our money both locally and internationally?
8] How did IL lived up to 100 years in the business despite the economy's ups and downs?

Again, pardon if some of these questions are kinda stupid...but I am "dying" to know all this stuffs! hehehehe

[ofw_cebu]

you may also include, how much you would charge for the transaction fee, in some VUL products, if you pay 100K, 94K goes to your investment while 6k goes to the transaction fee, 6% kung baga. Sa Insular, pila man?

[b@r3f00t]

nice add! up for this one!