Categories: Insurance

SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan: Is It a Smart Investment Choice?

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Taking Smart Decisions will ensure that you always stay one step ahead in life.

One such Smart Decision is in choosing the Right Investment Product.

SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan assures a Guaranteed Return while providing a Life Insurance Cover.

This detailed review will help you decide whether investing in the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan is a Smart Decision or not.

Table of Contents:

What is SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan?

It is an Individual, Non-Linked, Non-Participating Life Endowment Assurance Savings Product.

It provides life cover for your family and helps to achieve your desired Financial Goals in life. It assures guaranteed returns with the advantage of paying a premium for a limited term.

Features of the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

  • Get Life Cover along with Assured Return.
  • Premium payment frequency could be monthly or yearly, as per convenience.
  • Pay for just 7 or 10 years and enjoy the benefit throughout the policy term of 15 or 20 years respectively.
  • Guaranteed Additions of 4.55% or 5.05% at the end of each policy year.
  • Tax benefit as per Sec 80 C & Sec 10 (10D)

Eligibility Criteria for the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

The basic workings of the plan are given at a glance below;

Age at Entry

Min :3 year
Max :60 years

Maximum
Age at Maturity

75 years

Policy Term

15 & 20 years

Premium
Payment Term (PPT)

7 years for a policy term of 15 years
10 years for a policy term of 20 years

Premium
Frequency

Yearly/
Monthly

Annualized
Premium
(in multiples of 1,000)

Minimum:50,000
Maximum: No Limit

Basic
Sum Assured (BSA)

Minimum:
3,15,000
Maximum: No Limit

Benefits under the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan
Guaranteed Additions

The SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan offers a Rate of Guaranteed Additions based on the two premium slabs as per the below table, provided all due premiums are paid.

Annualized
Premium

Slabs
Less than 1,00,000

Greater
than or equal to 1,00,000

Rate
of Guaranteed Additions

4.55%
p.a.

5.05%
p.a.

Maturity Benefit (For In-force policies)

Guaranteed Sum Assured on maturity (i.e., Basic Sum Assured) Plus accrued Guaranteed Additions.

Death Benefit (For In-force policies)

In the unfortunate event of death of the Life Assured, ‘Sum Assured on Death’ along with accrued Guaranteed Additions, if any, will be payable to the beneficiary.

Where Sum Assured on Death is higher of

  • 10 times the Annualized Premium OR
  • 105% of total premiums paid up to the date of death.

The Grace Period, Reduced Paid-Up & Revival of the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

Grace period

The plan offers a grace period of 30 days for payment of yearly premiums and 15 days for monthly premiums from the premium due date.

Reduced paid-up

After completion of the first policy year, the policy acquires reduced paid-up value if at least first full policy year’s premiums has been paid and any subsequent premiums have not been paid.

All the benefits are reduced proportionately by the ratio of the number of premiums paid to the actual number of premiums payable under the policy.

Revival

A lapsed policy may be revived, within 5 years from the date of the first unpaid premium.

On revival, the policy will be eligible for future Guaranteed Additions.

Free Look-Up Period of the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

In case you disagree with the terms and conditions of the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan, you have the option to return the policy to the corporation, within 30 days beginning from the date of receipt of the policy document, whether received electronically or otherwise.

Surrendering the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

The policy acquires Guaranteed Surrender Value only if at least first 2 full policy years’ premiums have been paid. The policy acquires Special Surrender Value after completion of first policy year only if at least first full policy year’s premium(s) has been paid.

On surrender, the higher of the Non-Guaranteed Special Surrender Value (SSV) or the Guaranteed Surrender Value (GSV) will be paid.

Advantages of the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

  • With the payment of Limited Premium, you enjoy Life Cover for the Whole Policy Term.
  • All the benefits under the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan are guaranteed. It is a Non-Linked & Non-Participating Policy.
  • Guaranteed Additions will boost your Maturity Value.
  • Loan facility is available to a maximum of 80% of the Surrender Value.

Disadvantages of the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

  • The Maturity Benefit will not be sufficient to meet the inflated cost of your Financial Goals.
  • The Life cover is inadequate to meet your family’s future needs.

You can refer to the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Policy Brochure for more details.

Research Methodology

The above features & other details can’t help you in your Investment Decision Making. This plan offers Guaranteed Maturity Benefits.

So, we can easily calculate the return for the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Policy. By calculating the returns, you can decide whether to buy this plan or not. Also, this return can be compared with other investment returns.

SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan: IRR Analysis Let us assume that a 40-year-old male buys the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure  Plan for a sum assured of ₹ 10,00,000.

The policy term is 15 years & the premium paying term is 7 years.

The annualised premium is ₹ 1 lakh.

After paying a premium for 7 years, he would receive the maturity benefit at the end of 15 years.

We can calculate the internal rate of return for this cash flow below.

Age

40
years Male

Basic Sum Assured

₹ 10,00,000

Policy Term

15
years

Premium paying term

7 years

Annualised Premium

₹ 1,00,000

Since the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan is a Non-Linked & Non-Participating Insurance cum Savings Plan, he would receive a Guaranteed Maturity Benefit of ₹ 12,64,200 along with the Guaranteed Additions.

In case of the unfortunate event of the death of Mr. Malik, the nominee will get ₹ 10,00,000 + Accrued Guaranteed Additions, if any, as Death Benefit.

Age

Year

Annualised premium / Maturity benefit

Death benefit

40

1

-1,00,000

10,00,000

41

2

-1,00,000

10,00,000

42

3

-1,00,000

10,00,000

43

4

-1,00,000

10,00,000

44

5

-1,00,000

10,00,000

45

6

-1,00,000

10,00,000

46

7

-1,00,000

10,00,000

47

8

0

10,00,000

48

9

0

10,00,000

49

10

0

10,00,000

50

11

0

10,00,000

51

12

0

10,00,000

52

13

0

10,00,000

53

14

0

10,00,000

54

15

0

10,00,000

55

12,64,200

IRR

5.01%

The IRR for this cash flow is 5.01%. It is lower than a Bank’s FD rate.

Any Investment, in the long run should beat inflation.

But the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan fails to beat the inflation.

This Maturity value will not be sufficient to meet the inflated cost of the Financial Goals.

SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan Vs. Other Investment Products

SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan has both Life Cover & Investment Options.

We can compare the returns of this policy with other Investment Alternatives.

For comparison, we can assume Pure Term Insurance for Life Cover & Invest in an Investment Product separately for our Financial Goals.

SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan Vs. Pure Term Insurance + PPF / Equity Mutual Fund

We can assume Life Cover, Policy Terms & Premium Paying Terms similar to the Benefit Illustration. It is advisable to take adequate life cover for yourself before starting your Investment Journey.

Here, in the illustration, the life cover is inadequate (₹ 10 lakhs).

A Pure Term Insurance Policy for a sum assured of ₹ 10 lakhs would cost ₹ 18,500 for a Limited Premium Paying Term of 5 years. The Policy Term is 15 years.

In the earlier illustration, the Premium Paying Term is 7 years.

So, in the last 2 years, the entire amount of ₹ 1 lakh is available for Investment. Let us assume PPF & Equity Mutual Fund for Investment Purposes.

Pure Term Life Insurance Policy

Sum Assured

₹ 10,00,000

Policy Term

15 years

Premium Paying Term

5 years

Annualised Premium

₹ 18,500

Investment

₹ 81,500

Under PPF, the minimum term period (with contribution) is 15 years. But in the earlier illustration, the premium paying term is 7 years.

In order to make 15 years contribution, adjustments were made in the 7th year premium. So, in the last 8 years, a minimum contribution of ₹ 500 is deposited in the PPF account.

Under Equity mutual fund, in the first 5 years, the balance amount left after paying Pure Term Insurance Premium is utilized for investment.

In the next 2 years, the entire ₹ 1 lakh is utilized for your Equity mutual fund investment.

The fund grows as such in the last 8 years.

The final Maturity Value is subject to Capital Gain Tax. The Tax Calculation is given below.

Term Insurance + PPF

Term insurance + Equity Mutual Fund

Age

Year

Term Insurance premium + PPF

Death benefit

Term Insurance premium + Equity Mutual Fund

Death benefit

40

1

-1,00,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

41

2

-1,00,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

42

3

-1,00,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

43

4

-1,00,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

44

5

-1,00,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

45

6

-1,00,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

46

7

-96,000

10,00,000

-1,00,000

10,00,000

47

8

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

48

9

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

49

10

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

50

11

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

51

12

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

52

13

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

53

14

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

54

15

-500

10,00,000

0

10,00,000

55

13,80,750

21,81,882

IRR

5.78%

9.78%

Equity Mutual Fund Tax Calculation

Maturity value after 15 years

23,88,937

Purchase price

6,07,500

Long-Term Capital Gains

17,81,437

Exemption limit

1,25,000

Taxable LTCG

16,56,437

Tax paid on LTCG

2,07,055

Maturity value after tax

21,81,882

The IRR under PPF & Pure Term Insurance Combo is 5.78% & the IRR for the Pure Term Insurance + Equity Mutual Fund combo is 9.78% (Post-Tax Equity Mutual Fund IRR).

The returns from the Equity Mutual Fund are higher than the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan. The Equity Mutual Fund investment can beat inflation comfortably in the long run. This helps you in accumulating corpus.

Final verdict on the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan

SBI Smart Platina Assure Plan is a Guaranteed Return Savings Plan that provides life cover for your family. It inculcates the habit of savings. But the main point here is that the savings should aid you in fulfilling your Life’s Financial Goals.

But this Endowment Plan fails to do so. Down the lane, the cost of your Financial Goal increases due to inflation.

Though the maturity benefit under this policy is guaranteed, it won’t be sufficient to meet your Financial Goals. Also, the sum assured in the SBI Life Smart Platina Assure Plan is inadequate.

You can consider a Pure Term Life Insurance Policy for an adequate sum assured. The sum assured offered by the Pure Term Insurance Plan is high, and at the same time, it is available at convenient premium costs.

List your Financial Goals & invest in a Diversified Portfolio based on your risk appetite & time horizon. Never mix your savings with Insurance.

Always Consult with your Financial Planner to customize your Investment Plan best suited to your Financial Needs in order to attain better results.

Holistic

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