ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan – Review (2024) – Is it worth buying?

Everyone wants to secure their financial future.

We want to properly channel our hard-earned money by investing in various asset classes to help us grow wealth.

ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan claims to give your family peace of mind by allowing your money to grow steadily.

Will this plan really help to fulfill your dreams at different stages of life?

Let’s look into the features & working of this policy.

Table of Contents:

1.) What is the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan?

2.)Features of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

3.)Eligibility Criteria of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

4.)ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan Options

5.)Benefits of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

• • Death Benefit
  • Waiver of Premium on Critical Illness or Total and Permanent Disability (TPD)
  • Maturity Benefit)

6.) Investment Options in ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

7.) Other Benefits of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

8.) Various Charges in ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

9.)The grace period, Discontinuance & Revival

10.)Surrendering the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

11.) Advantages of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

12.) Disadvantages of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan

13.) Final Verdict

What is the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus plan?

ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus is a non-participating unit-linked life insurance plan (ULIP).  

It is a Type–II ULIP where the death benefit would include both the sum assured & fund value put together. It offers the dual benefit of life insurance protection and savings through a wide range of fund options.  

As this Insurance Plan invests in the market, it is subject to investment risk. Depending upon the fund chosen by the investor, the unit prices may go up or down reflecting the market value of the underlying assets.  

Features of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

• Dual benefit of Life insurance cover & wealth accumulation.
• Option to increase protection through a waiver of premium in case of critical illness or total permanent disability.
• Partial withdrawals are allowed to meet any emergency fund requirement.
• 2 plan options to suit your aspirations – Classic or Assured.
• 4 Investment options to choose from – ‘Smart’ Investment, ‘Systematic Transfer’ Investment, ‘Self-managed’ Investment, or ‘Return Optimiser’ Investment.
• Top-up premium can be added whenever you have additional savings.

ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan at a glance:

Let us look at the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan’s Eligibility Criteria, Policy Term, Premium Paying Term, and its Premium Band at a glance below.  

	Classic	Assured
Entry Age (age last birthday)	30 days to 55 years	18 to 50 years
Maturity Age	18 to 75 years	33 to 65 years
Basic Premium	Minimum 24,000 p.a.
Basic Sum Assured	Minimum 240,000 p.a.
Top-up Premium	Minimum 5,000
Pay Mode	Annual, Semi-annual, Quarterly & Monthly

Policy Term (PT)	Premium Paying Term (PPT)
15	10	15	–
20/25/30/35	10	15	20

Premium Band	Band 1	Band 2
Basic Premium	24,000 – 99,999	1,00,000+

Plan options of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

There are two options in this plan, which the policyholder can choose from:  

Classic Plan Option: The Sum assured and additionally the fund value will be paid to the policyholder/nominee in the case of unfortunate death of the life insured during the Policy Term.

Assured Option: On the first occurrence of any Critical Illness or Total Permanent Disability, all the future installment premiums under the policy shall be paid by the company in the Policy fund value on each of the premium due dates till the end of the Policy Term or death, if earlier.

Death benefits of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

Higher of Benefits:

• Basic Fund Value as on date of intimation of death;
• Basic Sum Assured

In addition, you will receive a greater of

• Top-up Fund Value as on date of intimation of death, if any;
• Top-up Sum Assured

At all times, the Death benefit shall never be less than 105% of the total basic premiums and top-up premiums paid up to the date of death reduced to the extent of partial withdrawals.

Waiver of premium on Critical Illness or Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

The premium waiver on TPD or CI is applicable only if the policyholder has chosen the Assured Option.

In case of the life insured suffering from any of the specified Critical Illnesses or Total and Permanent Disability during the Policy Term, all future premiums, if any, shall be paid by the Company when due to be paid. All the other benefits from this policy will remain unaffected.

Maturity benefit of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

Basic Fund Value plus the Top-Up Fund Value is as of that date at the end of the Policy Term.

Investment Options in ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

There are 4 investment options available in the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan.

The policyholder is allowed to switch from one option to other after the completion of one year.

Switching to Smart, return optimiser & Self-managed option is allowed any time during your policy year.

However, switching to the Systematic transfer option is allowed only on your policy anniversary.

Smart option:

Your Basic premium will be invested between the two segregated funds;

• Maximiser (equity fund)
• Income Advantage (debt fund)

It will be invested in a predetermined proportion based on the selected maturity date and risk profile.

Conservative, moderate & aggressive – based on the age & time to maturity, the allocation is gradually shifted to lesser riskier fund (debt) when the policy approaches maturity.

Systematic Transfer Option:

Your premium shall be first allocated to the Liquid Plus fund option and thereafter monthly 1/12th or weekly 1/48th of the allocated amount shall be transferred to a segregated fund(s) of your choice.

You can choose up to a maximum of four segregated funds out of;

• Income Advantage
• Enhancer
• Creator
• Maximiser
• Multiplier
• Super 20, Value
• Momentum and MNC
• Capped Nifty Index.

This option is available only for the premium payable in annual mode.

Return Optimiser Option:

Basic premiums are invested in the Maximiser fund and it will be tracked every day for any gains.

The gain from the Maximiser fund reaches 10% or more of the net invested amount, the amount equal to the appreciation will be transferred to the Income Advantage fund.

Thus, the gains are protected from future market volatility.

Self-Managed Option:

The policyholder has the full freedom to control & switch from one segregated fund to another among 16 segregated funds. The only condition is, that allocation to a particular fund must be in 5% or multiples thereof.

16 Fund options of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

S.no	Fund Name	Risk Profile	Asset Allocation
			Debt	Money market	Equities
1	Liquid plus	Very low	20-100%	0-80%	–
2	Income Advantage	Very low	60-100%	0-40%	–
[3	Assure	Very low	20-100%	0-80%	–
4	Protector	Low	90-100%	0-40%	0-10%
5	Builder	Low	80-100%	0-40%	10-20%
6	Enhancer	Medium	25-80%	0-40%	20-35%
7	Creator	Medium	50-70%	0-40%	30-50%
8	Asset Allocator	High	10-80%	0-40%	10-80%
9	Magnifier	High	10-50%	0-40%	50-90%
10	Maximiser	High	0-20%	0-20%	80-100%
11	Multiplier	High	0-20%	0-20%	80-100%
12	Super 20	High	0-20%	0-20%	80-100%
13	Pure equity	High	0-20%	0-20%	80-100%
14	Value & Momentum	High	0-20%	0-20%	80-100%
15	Capped Nifty index	High	0-10%	0-10%	90-100%
16	MNC	High	0-20%	0-20%	80-100%
			Govt Sec	Money market	Equities
	Linked discontinued policy fund	Very low	60-100%	0-40%	–

Other Benefits of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

Guaranteed Additions (GA):

In the form of additional units will be added to your policy.

Band 1: GA as a percentage of Basic premium is added to the fund value at the end of the 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, and 35th policy year. It varies from 10% to 50% depending upon the policy term you have chosen.

Band 2: GA will be enhanced by 10% of Basic Premium on your policy maturity.

Riders:

ABSLI Accidental Death Benefit Rider Plus (UIN: 109C023V02)
ABSLI Waiver of Premium Rider (UIN: 109C017V03)

Partial Withdrawals:

Unlimited partial withdrawals are allowed any time after;

• (a) Five complete policy years or
• (b) Life insured attaining the age of 18 whichever is later.

The minimum amount of partial withdrawal is Rs. 5,000 and at the maximum, it shall not exceed 25% of the fund value at the beginning of the policy year.

Various Charges of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

Premium Allocation charges:

Year	% Of premium
Basic premium: Year 1 – 10	5%
Basic Premium Year 11 onwards	NIL
Top-up premium	2%

Fund Management charge:

• 1.00% p.a. for Liquid Plus, Income Advantage, Assure, Protector and Builder.
• 1.25% p.a. for Enhancer, Creator, Capped Nifty Index, Asset Allocation.
• 1.35% p.a. for MNC, Magnifier, Maximiser, Multiplier, Super 20, Pure Equity, and Value & Momentum.

Policy Administration charge:

For Policy Year 1-5	1.4 % p.a. of Basic Premium
For Policy Year 6-10	1.9% p.a. of Basic Premium
For Policy Year 11 onwards	NIL

The charge, as shown above, are subject to a maximum of 6,000 p.a.

Mortality Charge:

Charge per 1000 of Sum at risk;
For Band 1

Attained Age	Age 25	Age 35	Age 45	Age 55	Age 65
Male	0.890	1.188	2.732	7.394	15.962
Female	0.857	1.027	2.021	5.712	12.560

For Band 2

Attained Age	Age 25	Age 35	Age 45	Age 55	Age 65
Male	0.692	0.924	2.125	5.751	12.415
Female	0.666	0.799	1.572	4.443	9.769

Waiver of Premium (CI/TPD) Charge:

Charge per 1000 of Sum at Risk;

Attained Age	Age 25	Age 35	Age 45	Age 55	Age 65
Male	0.612	1.271	4.020	10.53	23.442
Female	0.758	1.694	4.105	8.341	16.011

Miscellaneous charges:

Rs. 50 will be charged per request for change in investment option, premium re-direction, fund switch, and partial withdrawal.

Discontinuance charges:

It applies to policy discontinuance & Surrender.

It varies depending upon the year of discontinuance and the annualised premium ranging from Rs.1000 to Rs.6000

The grace period, Discontinuance & Revival of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

GRACE PERIOD:

If the policyholder is not satisfied with the features of the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan, then the policyholder can cancel the policy by providing the written statement to the company.

The policyholder will get a refund of the premium after deducting the charges.

The Grace period given by the company is 15 days from the date of receipt of the policy document if the policyholder has opted for either Annual, Half-yearly & Quarterly mode.

It will be extended up to 30 days if the policyholder has opted for the monthly mode. .

DISCONTINUANCE:

If the premium is not paid within the grace period as mentioned above the policy is considered a discontinued policy.

Discontinuance during the first five policy years:

The Policy fund value after deducting the applicable discontinuance charges shall be credited to the discontinued policy fund and the risk cover, if any, shall cease.

At the end of the lock-in period, the policy fund in the discontinuance fund shall be paid to the policyholder and the policy shall terminate.

Discontinuance of the policy after completion of five policy years:

The policy shall be converted into a reduced paid-up policy with the paid-up sum assured i.e., the original sum assured multiplied by the total number of premiums paid to the original number of premiums payable.

REVIVAL:
All discontinued policies shall be provided a revival period of three years from the due date of the first unpaid premium.

Surrendering the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

Before the lock-in Period:

The Policy fund value is transferred to the discontinued policy fund and shall be payable at the end of the lock-in period or date of surrender whichever is later.

After the lock-in Period:

The policyholder has an option to surrender the policy anytime and then the policy fund value shall be payable.

Advantages of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

• Flexibility – Premium paying mode, premium paying term & policy term.
• Wide range of options to choose from – 2 life cover, 4 investment options & 11 fund options.
• Facility to change the investment option chosen at the time of inception. Some options can be changed any time during the year & some options can be changed on the policy anniversary.
• A top-up premium helps to increase the fund value.
• Guaranteed addition on policy anniversaries is added to the fund value.
• Income tax benefit as per Sec 80 C & Sec 10 (10D)

Disadvantages of ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan:

• After the deduction of various charges, the premium is invested in the chosen fund.
• The Lock-in period is five years. There is no liquidity in the first 5 years of your policy.
• The loan option is not available.
  
• Guaranteed additions start after the completion of 10 policy years.

You can read about the ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan in detail from its brochure.

Final Verdict:

ULIP products are tax saving instruments that acts as a disciplined investment for wealth accumulation along with a life insurance cover provided. These features might make it seem like a very appealing choice as it is marketed as an all-in-one product.

But the main drawback in investing in a ULIP product is the charges you might have to pay under various heads. Before the premium is invested in the fund, there are various charges like;.

• Premium allocation charge
• Fund management charge
• Policy administration charge
  
• Mortality charge

These charges bring down your overall returns. Capital appreciation is also not on par with any other market-related products. So, in the long run, you will fall short of the required corpus for your life goals.

Alternatively, if you opt for Pure Term Insurance for your life cover & invest the balance amount in Mutual funds which is similar to the investment approach under ULIP, it can gain you better returns compared to ABSLI Wealth Assure Plus Plan in the long run.

There is more transparency in the operation of Mutual funds.

The investor can choose either Equity funds or Debt funds or Hybrid funds depending on his risk appetite & time horizon of his financial goals.

If you have any comments or questions, write them in the comment box below.

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