Insurance policies that also invest — ULIPs, endowments and guaranteed-return plans. We place them, and we will tell you honestly that for most people a term plan plus an index fund gives more cover and better returns. Buy these for the guaranteed-return or tax-structuring reasons, not as your main life cover.

Premiums and claim-settlement ratios are illustrative until sourced from the insurer of record.

Read this before you buy.

• Returns in market-linked plans are not guaranteed, whatever the illustration shows
• Charges are deducted before returns — the 8% illustration is not 8% in your hand
• No liquidity at all during the five-year lock-in
• Tax-free maturity is lost above the premium thresholds

There is no claim on these — there is a maturity, a partial withdrawal, or a surrender. Surrendering early is where people lose the most money, so the rules matter more than the returns.

1. 01

   Lock-in period

   · years 1–5

   You cannot withdraw. Stopping premiums here moves the money to a discontinuance fund earning about 4%, and you lose the life cover.

2. 02

   Partial withdrawal allowed

   · after year 5

   Usually up to 20% of the fund, tax-free, without ending the policy. Use this rather than surrendering if you need cash.

3. 03

   Maturity payout

   · at maturity

   Tax-free under 10(10D) if the annual premium stayed under ₹2.5 L for ULIPs and ₹5 L for traditional plans. Above that, it is taxable.

4. 04

   Death benefit instead

   · on death

   The nominee gets the higher of the sum assured or the fund value. This is why a filed, current nominee matters just as much here as on a term plan.