The biggest confusion I see is generally in Bonus by LIC. One thing which investors in these policies don’t know and don’t care for to find out is that there are different kinds of bonuses in LIC policies and they are calculated differently. Let’s see them one by one.
- Simple Reversionary Bonuses : Generally when we say “Bonus”, it is this “Simple Reversionary Bonus”, which is declared per thousand of the Sum Assured on annual basis at the end of each financial year. This bonus is declared today, but is paid at the end of maturity period only or on death, whichever is earlier. So for example if you hold a policy of Rs 10,00,000 Sum assured and the bonus for this year is Rs 60 per thousand sum assured, then your bonus amount is Rs 60,000 for this year, but you will only get it at maturity (after many many years) or on death, but by then it’s worth would be much lesser than today (this 60,000 today and 60,000 after 20 yrs).
A very important point to note here is that, if you surrender the policy, you don’t get the actual accrued bonus because it’s the future value, you will only get its reduced amount in today’s term and its very less. Also note that you are eligible to get reduced Accrued Bonus only if your policy has completed 5 premium paying terms. (This thread on our forum discusses Jeevan Anand in good detail) - Final Additional Bonus (FAB) : There is another kind of bonus in LIC which is generally called as “FAB” or Final Additional Bonus and it’s paid to those policies which are of a longer duration and has run for more than 15 yrs (The premiums are paid for all 15 yrs). This is generally a token of appreciation for being with the policy for long duration. The FAB is generally not paid for policies which have “Guaranteed Additions” (explained below). Here is an indicative list of FAB.
- Loyalty Additions : This is again a bonus which is declared for being loyal to the LIC and completing a longer tenure. Generally it’s declared at the end of the policy, but for some policies it might be applicable after completion of 5 or 10 yrs. For example – In Jeevan Saral, the policy holders will earn such additions after a minimum of ten policy years have been completed. This is usually an amount declared per thousand of sum assured depending on the corporation’s performance. Loyalty additions are totally non-guaranteed.
- Guaranteed Additions : For a lot of LIC policies there is a term mentioned like “Guaranteed Additions”. These are assured sums which are given to policyholders for a specific period at start or end of some event along with the sum assured at the end of the term. Like for example, , Jeevan Shree-1 policy provides for the Guaranteed Additions at the rate of Rs. 50/- per thousand Sum Assured for each completed year for first five years of the policy. The Guaranteed Additions are payable along with the Basic Sum Assured at the time of claim.