Investing Investment Funds
Hi, I am a former financial planner in AIA, one of the larger insurance companies the world. A financial planner is in substance a salesman according to my experiences. And today I would like to tell you some facts about investing in mutual funds products. These kinds of products are getting more and more popular over the last few years. But in my opinion, many of these customers do not really need such a product. I'll explain the basic structures to you now.
The first thing you need to know is the operating structure and the coordination between insurance companies and fund managers. When you pay your monthly installment to the insurance company, the company sends the money to the fund managers. Some of these mutual funds platforms offer multiple funds for you to switch from, from 10 to over 300 funds. You can allocate your payment to several different funds, and buy specific unit of funds. Then if the fund did well increase their prices, your existing units become more valuable and you become better off.
But for me I don't prefer this kind of products due to its high cost. You may not notice that when you look at the brochures or listen to the presentations, because they deliberately play it down. The cost structures are complicated and carefully calculated by actuaries to ensure the gain of the insurance company. The sales man is so good at presenting the numbers; it would sound like the product is a cash generating unit and the cost is so low its negligible. Nothing could be further from truth. In fact, one of the main costs of the product goes to the salesperson. Because the product usually needs fixed annuity payments and the insurance companies have tactics to ensure the continuity of the policy, they are confident to pay out as much as half of all the premiums they receive in the first year.
On your monthly statement may find that the account value is not exactly the amount of money you own. There is another value called the surrender value usually printed in little text. That's the real amount you own which is the amount you get when you stop the account and get back your money. The fee for the insurance company is calculated as a percentage of your account value. Therefore, they would want a higher account value and a lower surrender value. The cost percentage is usually not high apparently. But if you try to do a spreadsheet simulation, you will see how much of the money generated from your capital goes to the insurance company. It may surprise you.
The final main fee you'll be paying with your installments is the management fee for the fund managers. They manage your money, try to give a competitive growth rate and they take a percentage of you capital, hopefully covered by the value increase.
So now you know. You can go ahead and decide whether to answer the call from your 'personal financial planner' next time. God bless. - 23167
The first thing you need to know is the operating structure and the coordination between insurance companies and fund managers. When you pay your monthly installment to the insurance company, the company sends the money to the fund managers. Some of these mutual funds platforms offer multiple funds for you to switch from, from 10 to over 300 funds. You can allocate your payment to several different funds, and buy specific unit of funds. Then if the fund did well increase their prices, your existing units become more valuable and you become better off.
But for me I don't prefer this kind of products due to its high cost. You may not notice that when you look at the brochures or listen to the presentations, because they deliberately play it down. The cost structures are complicated and carefully calculated by actuaries to ensure the gain of the insurance company. The sales man is so good at presenting the numbers; it would sound like the product is a cash generating unit and the cost is so low its negligible. Nothing could be further from truth. In fact, one of the main costs of the product goes to the salesperson. Because the product usually needs fixed annuity payments and the insurance companies have tactics to ensure the continuity of the policy, they are confident to pay out as much as half of all the premiums they receive in the first year.
On your monthly statement may find that the account value is not exactly the amount of money you own. There is another value called the surrender value usually printed in little text. That's the real amount you own which is the amount you get when you stop the account and get back your money. The fee for the insurance company is calculated as a percentage of your account value. Therefore, they would want a higher account value and a lower surrender value. The cost percentage is usually not high apparently. But if you try to do a spreadsheet simulation, you will see how much of the money generated from your capital goes to the insurance company. It may surprise you.
The final main fee you'll be paying with your installments is the management fee for the fund managers. They manage your money, try to give a competitive growth rate and they take a percentage of you capital, hopefully covered by the value increase.
So now you know. You can go ahead and decide whether to answer the call from your 'personal financial planner' next time. God bless. - 23167
posted by X - Men @ 5:45 AM
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