Navigating volatile markets – Are you armed with a personal financial plan?

 

As the media and dailies flash all the news and noise around the downgrade of debt securities of some of the IL&FS group companies and the ‘so called blood bath’ on the dalal street triggered by the sale of certain DHFL bonds, the average investor is obviously concerned about their investments. Spooked by these recent events and the volatility of both equity and debt markets investors are now wondering whether to continue their SIPs in mutual funds, buy stocks or just exit and hold cash? So what should you do?

There is no one size fits all solution to this problem. The answer lies in your long and short term objectives and whether you have a detailed drawn out financial plan. Situations like these (market volatility and uncertainty) truly highlight the need of a good weapon – your financial plan- your investment road map. When investors invest without a goal and financial plan in sight they do not know how much to invest, how long they should continue their investments and how close they are to their goals; thus how much volatility their portfolio can withstand.

 

Should you turn conservative?

Let’s assume that you have been been saving for the last 8 years for your child’s higher education and you have about 3 years left until you need the money. Now irrespective of whether the market is volatile or not, it is imperative that you re-balance your portfolio by moving your money in to conservative debt investments. This strategy should anyways have been a part of the financial plan to protect the corpus from short term market fluctuations and should be used only when you start approaching your goal.

If applied sooner than needed then you may run into the risk of falling short of the target amount. Also remember, getting closer to your goal is not the time to get speculative and increase your aggressive equity exposure.

 

How to deal with the amygdala hijack (the emotions and the panic)?

Turning conservative in tough market conditions is easy, staying focused on your goals and continuing your investments as you see the market giants come crashing down requires a lot of courage, focus and some science, data and rationale. Investors are believed to be irrational when it comes to dealing with money. When the markets are rallying investors want to be a part of it and they willingly invest. However as soon as they experience turbulence they drop their investments like hot potatoes in fact hurting their investments and networth. Market fluctuations affects a part of your brain called amygdala which induces fear. The fear leads to panic and the sell off frenzy begins.

At this point you have to go back to your financial plan and remind yourself what your goals are and follow your financial plan to avoid any knee jerk reaction. If your next milestone is 8-10 years away then the current volatility does not need you to act and also your portfolio can withstand this short term fluctuations.

 

How following your financial plan helps?

Staying on track with your financial plan and road map pays off in more than one way. Once you know your milestones and risk appetite through your plan:

• You avoid taking unnecessary exits thereby saving unnecessary capital gain tax or any exit loads that may be applicable that could further reduce your profits.Money saved is money earned.
• You stay invested (example SIPs) through a down cycle of the market , which actually helps you get a better value for your money invested. This over the long term can improve your portfolio returns and catapult corpus generation.
• You may even get opportunities to start newer investments in good quality companies basis your risk profile and time horizon

An example to detail this : Sep 2008 is a period set in time; this is when the infamous Lehman brother crisis shook the global financial markets and sent the indices in India and across the world in a massive tailspin. It was a difficult time for investors, however the ones who persevered and continued their Sips reaped the benefits later.

Lets assume you had a plan and understood the corpus that you needed say in 2018 and started a simple SIP in a mutual fund. The chart below shows the trajectory of such an SIP of Rs 10,000 started in Oct 2008 in 3 different categories of funds.

	SIP amount	Total Amount invested in 10 yrs	Current Value (Rs.)	CAGR
Value Fund	10,000	12 lakhs	34.18 lakhs	18.26%
Multi Cap Fund	10,000	12 lakhs	28.80 lakhs	15.53%
Large Cap Fund	10,000	12 lakhs	28.43 lakhs	15.33%
Nifty 100	10,000	12 lakhs	25.98 lakhs	13.86%

 

Remember, in volatile times, people lose more money by fearing and holding back their investments and possibly denying themselves good opportunities that may present themselves in the form of a market downturn.

Markets will fluctuate and will be volatile, that is their inherent quality. Navigating these carefully is necessary for investors. A sound financial plan and the guidance of an independent and unbiased financial planner would help. In short, you need to stay on track and to follow your financial plan. This financial plan will be your guide and navigator during volatile markets.

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What are Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) and who should invest in them?

Fixed Maturity Plans are a category of debt mutual funds that are currently attracting the attention of Ultra HNI and retail investors alike. With the debt market looking fragile and the 10 year Gsec yield on a back breaking spree, are FMPs the next alternative investment solutions that can save the investors from interest rate risk? Are FMPs for you, read to find out.

Fixed Maturity Plan or FMPs are close ended debt mutual funds that have a fixed maturity period. The AMC launches a New Fund Offer (NFO) and inviting subscription to scheme. Unlike an open ended scheme which stays open for subscription all the time, a FMP remains open for a limited period. The NFO will have a launch date and a closing date till when an investor can subscribe to the fund and after it’s maturity the fund ceases to exist. In the interim, an investor can trade the FMP on the stock exchange.

Where do FMPs invest and what are the indicative returns?

Being a debt fund, FMPs invest in debt securities like corporate and government of India (GOI) bonds, Non Convertible Debentures (NCD), and liquid instruments like T-bills, Repo, Corporate Deposits (CD) and Commercial Papers (CP), based on the market yield and the scheme’s investment objective, an FMP could invest in AAA to A+ rated securities with varying credit risk.

With the 10 year G-sec yields having crossed 7.9% mark, the bond yields too have surged. Now a portfolio of high quality of AAA rated securities can easily give a return in the range of 7.7-8.4% thus making them very attractive.

What is the maturity of an FMP?

The maturity of an FMP is similar to the maturity of its underlying assets. Since the FMP exists for a fixed period which is defined during the subscription of the NFO, it invests in debt securities with similar maturities such that they mature on or before it’s maturity date.

Eg: If the Fund has the maturity period of 1110 days then it will pick instruments that will mature on or before 3 years.

The fund manager of a close ended FMP follows a passive investment strategy where in they buy and then hold securities until they mature. Therefore there is minimum churning unlike in a open ended fund where the fund manager churns the portfolio more regularly based on his strategy and market outlook.

This helps an FMP keep its expenses lower.

How are they taxed?

Most FMPs have a maturity of 3 or 5 years. Being a debt fund, the biggest advantage of investing in a FMP is the indexation benefit that an investor receives after completing 3 years.

Although it is similar to a Fixed Deposit, the tax benefit that an investor earns makes an FMP triumph over any FD or NCDs.

Assume you had invested Rs 10 lakhs in a FD and FMP with the maturity of 5 years. Even though return generated by an FMP is higher, to level the playing field lets consider both had generated a return of 8%.

As you can see from the table above, you can potentially save Rs 1 Lakh in taxes by investing in an FMP. Even for an investor in 20% tax bracket, the post tax corpus earned from an FD would be significantly higher than a bank FD.

What are the drawbacks of an FMP?

Being a close ended fund an investor can’t redeem the units until the FMP matures. However, the investor does have an option of early exit through a stock exchange. For this the SEBI has mandated the FMPs to be listed on the stock exchange. The problem is that there is little demand for them in the secondary market and even when there is a buyer the price offered is lower than its NAV.

So an investor must subscribe to an FMP with an intention to keep their money locked-in for the duration of the fund and with the knowledge that this money would not be needed in the interim.

Also the indexation benefit can be enjoyed only if the debt fund investment has been held for 3 years, so it would be ideal to pick FMP with a maturity of at least 1100 days which is just a few days over 3 years.

 

Who should invest in a FMP?

Unlike a debt fund, an FMP is insulated from the interest rate volatility since the fund manager buys and holds the securities until maturity. Thus the returns of the FMP are less impacted by the price fluctuations triggered by the swinging interest rates of the market.

Therefore, HNI, ultra HNI in the highest tax bracket, retail investors and even senior citizens can benefit from investing in an FMP as the yields offered are competitive and the capital gains are taxed with indexation benefit making FMPs a very attractive investment solution in the tumultuous and uncertain interest rate scenario.

 

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Power of SIP

Mutual Funds have surely caught the fancy of the Indian Investor community with net flows crossing one lakh crores in 2017! Unlike in the past years, almost everyone we speak with has probably heard of mutual funds. The strong rise in awareness of this investment vehicle has even prompted the Association of Mutual Funds India (AMFI) to cash in on it, with their recent on going advertisement campaign, “Mutual Funds Sahi Hai”.

But what caused this sudden optimism and acceptance of mutual funds as an investment option? It clearly is not a “new trendy option”, for mutual funds have been around for over two decades. While a lot of its features and advantages may contribute to its overall success, one key factor that really has drawn the Indian investor to mutual funds is its ability to create long term wealth, not only for those who invest big lump sums in it, but more decisively, for the salaried class.

The most commonly availed route to invest in mutual funds for the a salaried investor has been Systematic Investment Plan (SIP). It has become synonymous with mutual fund investing. So how does an SIP work? And how does it help in long term wealth creation?

A SIP is simply an investment process to invest systematically every week or month or quarter into a mutual fund scheme at a periodic chosen date. The intent behind this process is that by investing small amounts over a medium or long term tenure, you are sidestepping the issue of market timing. Market timing being the decision to invest based on your view of market movement. As investments will be done over a period of time, such installments would get both the highs and lows of the underlying market, thereby averaging out the purchase cost. This concept is called Rupee Cost Averaging. But for the salaried class a SIP has been looked as a convenient method of investing, as investing monthly from the salary income is a easily achievable goal.

And what about the question of wealth creation? How can a SIP help with wealth creation?

A SIP is a great example of the Compounding Effect, referred to as the Eight Wonder of the World by Albert Einstein. Compounding, or Compound Interest, is the phenomenon where alongside the principal, the interest earned is also reinvested at the same rate of return. So if in Year 1 the principal invested was Rs, 10,000 at 10% rate of interest, the interest to be received at the end of the year would be Rs, 1000. Now because of compounding, the interest is added to the principal in the second year, making principal amount to Rs 11,000 on which 10% returns are gained, resulting in Rs 1,100 as interest in second year and so on so forth. This interest reinvestment is crucial because with passage of time, the increase in principal results in disproportional returns during the latter periods of the investment tenure.

The following table shows how certain equity mutual funds have grown a modest SIP amount of Rs 10,000 per month in the past 10 years:

Fund Name	10 year CAGR (rolling returns)	Total SIP Amount	Market Value
A diversified equity fund	24.72%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs. 51 lakhs
A large cap fund	22.98%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 45 lakhs
A flexi cap fund	22.96%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 45 lakhs
A large cap fund	18.96%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 35 lakhs

(Source: Value Express as on 30^th Sept 2017) (Note: All fund data taken for regular plans with growth option)

The following chart shows the value of the investment accelerate due to compounding over time.

(Note: Fund data used is of Diversified Equity Fund from the above table)

Another factor to consider when thinking of compounding is time. The longer you invest and hold the investment, the better results it will provide. The following table is a clear example of the same. Taking the same funds as in the above table, if an investor started late and had to invest for the second half i.e. 5 years and even if he invested at double the SIP amount i.e. Rs 20,000 per month, he/she would not achieve the same end result:

Fund Name	5 year CAGR (rolling returns)	Total SIP Amount	Market Value
A diversified equity fund	19.36%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 36 lakhs
A large cap fund	16.07%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 29 lakhs
A flexi cap fund	19.05%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 35 lakhs
A large cap fund	18.92%	Rs. 12 lakhs	Rs 35 lakhs

(Source: Value Express as on 30^th Sept 2017)

(Note: All fund data taken for regular plans with growth option)

As you may have noticed, barring the last large cap equity fund, all other funds performed significantly better over 10 year tenures, resulting in higher gains, even though in both cases the principal invested was the same.

As an investor you may have noticed various advertisements where mutual Funds are showcasing how much an SIP into their best performing star fund may have grown into, in a certain number of years. While the growth story in many such funds has been substantial, the key note all investors must keep in mind is that this is the result of staying invested into the fund for the long haul, including the times when the fund may have under performed. Compounding and a SIP will only go hand in hand when the investor has the horizon and patience to continue the SIP for a long tenure.

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Are ETFs a worthy investment option

With the recent launch of the ICICI Bharat 22 ETF, a lot of buzz around Exchange Traded Funds or ETF’s has been doing the rounds. Most investors may be wondering whether it is worth investing in ETF’s?

So what is an Exchange Traded Fund?

An ETF is a passive investment instrument whose value is based on a particular index and such a scheme mirrors the index and invests in securities in the same proportion as the underlying index. For example, a Nifty ETF will invest in the 50 stocks compromising the Nifty index. ETF’s are freely marketable securities which are traded on the stock exchange.

Since ETF’s trade on the exchange, their value fluctuates all the time during the market trading hours. This is different from the working of a mutual fund scheme which has a single Net Asset Value (NAV) per day that is determined after the trading hours are over.

Theoretically, ETF’s are structured to provide a variety of advantages to investors. The most prominent among them are as follows:

• Diversification: ETF’s can provide a variety of diversification based on following themes:

1. Asset classes such as equities, gold, fixed income
2. Sectors such as financial services, consumption, infrastructure
3. Based on market cap i.e. large, mid and small cap

• Low Cost: One of the biggest attraction of ETF’s has been it’s very low cost structure, especially in comparison to Indian mutual funds. The low costs is primarily due to the fact that an ETF is a passive investment i.e. there is no active intervention in stock selection, re balancing based on a certain view. Therefore the costs associated with hiring professionals and the required infrastructure is avoided, resulting in a significantly cheaper product. Furthermore, most ETF’s have kept the expense ratios low to induce significant inflows from institutional investors. Following are examples of some commonly known ETF’s and their respective Expense Ratios

ETF	Expense Ratio
CPSE ETF	0.07%
Motilat Oswal MOSt Shares M100 ETF	1.50%
Kotak Banking ETF	0.20%
ICICI Prudential Nifty iWIN ETF Fund	0.05%
SBI – ETF Nifty 50	0.07%
Average	0.38%

(Source: Value Research, mutual fund websites)

• Suited to Efficient Markets: it is a global observation that passively managed funds have performed significantly better over actively managed funds where markets are more efficient. This is because in developed markets, all related information that should be priced into the equity market already happens, leaving very little space for the fund managers to beat their respective benchmarks.
• Reduced Risks: Due to its passive structure, the risk arising due to stock selections by a fund manager are reduced. Furthermore, as an ETF comprises the same stocks in the same allocation as in the underlying index, tracking error is significantly reduced to the point of it being almost negligible. Tracking Error is the standard deviation between the returns of the fund and the underlying index. A lower tracking error indicates the fund is that the ETF will mirror the index more closely and therefore its performance will be more consistent with the same index.

Despite many advantages that ETF’s can bring to the table, in India they so far have been primarily avoided for the following reasons:

• Liquidity: One of the major disadvantages plaguing ETF’s currently is liquidity. As ETF’s are traded on the exchange like any stock, its not always you will have to opportunity to either buy or sell at the desired quantity or price, depending on the type of ETF involved. However an alternative to this problem is the use of a market maker. A market maker is appointed by fund houses. They, on behalf of fund houses, provide quotes for buying or selling an ETF based on the current NAV of that ETF. This helps ensure liquidity for investors. Any investor can approach a market maker for transaction. The difference in their quote and the NAV of the ETF is called “spread”, is the cost for the services. –
• Lack of awareness: Distributors receive negligible commission for recommending and executing an investment into an ETF. Because of these low margins not much efforts have gone into promoting ETF’s. Thus, most investors are unaware of what an ETF is and how it can add value to their portfolio.
• Relative Underperformance over long term: While in theory ETF’s should out perform active managed funds in an efficient market, the point to note is that India is still some time from achieving that status. Hence actively managed equity funds, especially in the top quartile, are able to beat the underlying index, and ETF’s over long term horizons. This currently results in alpha creation which ETF’s may take time to match up to. The following table is a comparison between a random mix of actively managed equity funds and equity oriented ETF’s:

	1yr	3yr	5yr	10yr
Aditya Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity	26.62	10.21	16.89	10.61
Franklin Templeton Franklin India Prima Plus	24.86	11.17	18.22	10.87
HDFC Top 200	28.42	8.39	14.99	10.65
IDFC Premier Equity	30.35	11.72	18.68	14.08
ICICI Prudential Nifty 100 iWIN ETF	27.54	8.44
Kotak Sensex ETF	23.88	5.36	10.7
Reliance ETF Nifty BeES	26.78	6.7	11.91	5.75
S&P BSE Sensex	25.58	5.01	11.15	5.14
NSE Nifty 100	26.97	7.55	12.71	6.08
source: value express , date (07 Dec 17), returns data CAGR

As in the Indian economy continues its march towards being recognized as a developed nation, there is fair certainty that ETF’s will have a far larger role to play. However in current scenarios, practical hurdles continue to keep them out of favor among investors. We believe that assigning a small allocation towards ETF’s, after due diligence, is sufficient basis investor’s risk appetite and investment horizon. As Indian Equity markets evolve, so will the ETF space and this will increase investors interest towards them.

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What investors should know about the Indian Stock markets?

India is currently among the most watched Emerging Market nations. To top that, the Indian Equity Markets have witnessed unprecedented growth in the recent months. The YTD returns for Sensex alone has been 26% (data from BSE India). The euphoria and high confidence on the Indian Equities has continued to remain, especially from the institutional investors both foreign and domestic.

This is also leading to make many individual investors question whether they should invest in equities or sit on the sidelines. While individual risk appetite and time horizon would be some of the basic factors to understand before investing, there are many other fundamental factors to track. While the debate has been raging on as to which indicators should be looked at or ignored to make sense of the valuations of the Indian equity markets, the following factors can help bring some sense of clarity to the overall picture. Factors such as:

Current Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E Numbers): One of the most traditional tools used globally at gauging the valuations of an equity market of a country. In the last one year alone (based on data from Oct 16 to Oct 17), the P/E Ratio for S&P BSE Sensex has averaged close to 22 times in comparison to its historical average of approximately 17 on a trailing basis. For the BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap of the same period, the P/E valuations are at an average of 33.8 and 81.13 times.

Corporate Earnings: P/E Ratios are directly linked to the corporate earnings of the country. As per Kotak Institutional Equities Estimates, the Expected Earnings for companies representing the Nifty 50 Index are approximately 2% in FY 2018. A variety of reasons are attributed to these low earnings expectations, most famously discussed are the implementations and effects of Demonetization and Goods and Service Tax (GST).

Crude Oil Prices: Nearly 80% of India’s energy needs are import dependent. A direct consequence of this is the risk to the country’s inflation rate if the prices of crude oil are to rise. A rise in oil prices results in lower cashflows/profits for companies and higher prices for consumers. Brent crude oil prices are currently firming up at prices upwards of 60$ per barrel. This is a definite concern from an Indian economy perspective.

Exchange Rates: The Rupee is currently considered overvalued basis its 10 year average (Source: Kotak Research). This has a dual impact on the economy i.e. (A) it increases attractiveness of imported products, resulting in increased competition for domestic companies and lower profits; (B) it decreases the value of exported products and therefore hurts the margins of export based industries such as the IT sector. Both have resulted in muted growth prospects for these respective industries.

Bond Yields: In an growing economy like India, both equities and bonds compete for capital. In a equity bull rally, money is taken out from bond markets and pumped into equities, forgoing risk to capital for riskier investments. Currently bond yields are inching up to the mid 2017 high of 6.987% yield for the 10yr G-Sec. However there has only been net inflows into fixed income. Foreign Portfolio Investments into Government Securities have already reached 83.94% of their allotted limit (data dated as per 6^th Nov NSDL)

Inflation Rate: Inflation brings about it own risks to the stock markets. In the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, the RBI revised the inflation projections for the rest of FY 2018 upwards to 4% – 4.5%. This may indicate a stop to future rate cuts, freezing any possibilities of reduction in lending rates. Medium term consequences for companies could possibly mean dearer than expected debt to  service, resulting in subdued profits and revenue.

Role of FIIs: The way that Foreign Institutional Investors park monies in the market can give an indication to the current picture of that market. While FIIs were very bullish on Indian Equities for most part of the calendar year, starting June they slowly but surely tapered inflows in equity, finally resulting in net outflows in the month of September and October. (Source: moneycontrol)

Global Scenario: On a global scale, economies are starting to look up, with further growth expected. According to IMF Economic Outlook, average expected GDP growth for FY 2017 is 2.5%. Globally, equity markets have participated in this growth including India. What probably may need to be put in perspective is that the rally in Indian Equities may be partly due to the global rallies taking place. Therefore the Indian equities are associated with risks in terms of foreign external factors like outbreak of war in the Korean Peninsula. Such events are likely to have negative impacts on the domestic markets.

Keeping in mind the above mentioned factors, Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors has a definite view that current equity markets are over valued and investors should exercise caution. The not so positive indicators from these mentioned factors should mean a significant correction cannot be discounted, keeping us wary of diving too much into equities without first educating investors of the potential risks in the short to medium term horizon.

 

 

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What Data Points to consider when planning your finances

In a world where access to internet is becoming more and more widespread, information on almost anything is subsequently becoming easier to find, simply by “Googling” it. Furthermore, free information quite often results in self proclaimed experts of the field, sometimes resulting in unfavorable outcomes for anyone who follows their views/advice without understanding how such individuals arrived at those outlooks.

As such it is important to separate a few facts from myths in terms of what data an individual should consider when faced with some common financial planning aspects rather than what is most commonly/easily available of the internet.

Sending children abroad for higher education is no more a matter of consideration for the upper class families. Nowadays, more and more middle class families aspire to send their children outside India for their education. As such, planning for such an major event requires careful attention. The common misconception is to take simple average rise of Indian education costs and apply the same data for education in a foreign country. However, two critical data points get missed out in such an exercise, (A) the rise in education costs in that particular country to which you plan to send your child. It is inappropriate to consider the inflation numbers would be identical or even similar to that of India. (B) the rise/fall in the currency exchange rate for the two countries in consideration. The following illustration should help clear this concept:

Particulars	% Change
Rise in average education cost of  universities in the U.S. in last 10 years	5%
Rise in Currency Exchange rate in last 5 years	4%
Total Inflation to Consider	9%

Now In comparison the inflation rate for the Indian colleges is approximately 10%-11% p.a.

Talking about inflation, another topic of debate is if the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data is an adequate inflation benchmark, especially for higher middle class/ HNI families. To put things in perspective, following is a snapshot of items considered in the CPI basket and their respective weight-age:

Sr. No	Particulars	Weightage
1	Food and Beverages	45.86%
2	Pan, Tobacco and Intoxicants	2.38%
3	Clothing and Footwear	6.53%
4	Housing	10.07%
5	Fuel and Light	6.84%
6	Miscellaneous	28.32%

(Source: Ministry of Statistics Programme Implementation Circular Dated 14^th March,2017)

As you can see, the weight age of expenses, while more suitable for the lower strata of income generating families, might not be appropriate for the higher end. Something like expenses on food/groceries would certainly not be half the expenses. As such, while current CPI numbers are around 3.5%, indicating that going forward inflation is to be expected around that range, it would be right to assume that a middle class family living in Mumbai would face the same inflation rates. A more appropriate method would be to calculate the individual inflation of major expense heads i.e. food, rent, education, lifestyle expenses and find the average of the same. You would more likely discover a very different inflation rate compared to the CPI.

Past returns is a favorite filter for most investors when choosing products of an asset class, especially stocks and mutual funds. However almost all online data provided by various service providers show Trailing Returns.. Trailing returns show how a fund has performed from date A to date B, by simply seeing the difference in NAV of those dates. But it does not show how consistently it performed in that period. A recent upswing in its performance can skew the average of say a 3 or 5 year performance. To adjust for this, Rolling Returns is considered. It does not take only one block of a 3year period but several blocks of such periods. Thus it allows you to see a range of performances across blocks of time. They therefore capture performance of funds over different market periods, giving a more reliable view of the fund’s performance

Similarly, another topic of debate is usage of Total Return Index v/s Simple Price Index as a benchmark when selecting a mutual fund. A Simple Price Index only captures the capital gains due to stock movements in the fund. But the Total Return Index considers the capital gains and dividend paid by the companies to the investors. Hence it shows a truer picture of the returns. Almost all mutual funds today benchmark their returns against the Simple Price Index. This can result in showing higher alpha generation by the fund which may not give the right picture to the investor. For example, Nifty 50 Price Index over past one year (as on 27^th October 2017) was 18.63 percent and Nifty Total Return Index for the same period showed 19.75 percent. Hence a mutual fund will show different alpha based on the benchmark used.

Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors believes that Rolling Returns and the Total Price Index are the correct data points to consider.

Finally, the widespread use of the general rule of thumb when it comes purchasing a Term Insurance Plan i.e. the sum assured is to be 15-20 times the annual income. Procuring a term plan should be about covering financial risks that may befall on the dependants in case of an unfortunate event. Financial risk does not only include loss of income but also other factors such as pending liabilities, future financial goals, current assets that can be redeemed shortly to meet any obligations. Such factors also play a significant role in determining how much cover needs to be taken.

Using the right data is critical during the financial planning process. As you can see, wrong data can lead to significant errors/assumptions which can have detrimental impacts.

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