Any opinions on AXA Wealth Accelerate Plan?

AXA Wealth Accelerate isn't your typical ILP as it's not heavily focused on the insurance component.

Upsides:

• Your premiums go 100% towards buying ILP sub-fund units from the get-go. The benefit of this is that your investment starts right away.

• Also, you get various bonuses at the start and along the way.

• AXA's underlying ILP sub-funds not bad, some reputable fund houses - Fundsmith, Franklin Templeton, Blackrock, etc.

• Access to some AI funds (which may not entirely be suitable for retail investors anyway)

• Potential for outperformance.

Downsides:

• Low liquidity. The charges of this ILP (a back-end loaded ILP) come later on in the premium payment term. Let's say you wanna cash out at 25 years (for premium payment term of 30 years) - you will need to pay an early encashment charge (a % of the overall account value). Partial withdrawals are also likely to be subject to withdrawal charges. All these mean that your money is locked up for a long time.

• Other fees on ILP: account maintenance fee to AXA, investment management fee to AXA, fund management fee to fund house/manager, there might be others too.

• It's not very insurance-oriented, meaning that you can potentially be under-covered. I note that you have emergency funds but made no mention of insurance coverage. You may wanna look into this.

• The bonuses come with T&Cs. Your agent is probably recommending you a 30 year premium payment term because (1) it maxes out your start-up bonus and (2) probably also maxes out his commission.

• Potential for serious underperformance. Fees are guaranteed, but performance is not guaranteed. In the year that your performance = fees, your return on your portfolio that year will be 0%.

Be cognisant of why your agent is recommending you the terms he/she recommended you. Ask him/her how their commissioned is earned on this product. You have a right to know. There is a fundamental conflict of interest. (Your premium higher, he earn more, but you also cannot afford.)

When your income is low, focus on upskilling, commanding a higher salary. This will have a larger influence on your investments than the specific type of investment product you choose right now.

I wrote an opinion on another ILP Q&A thread here, you might find it useful: https://seedly.sg/questions/is-axa-ilp-pulsar-g...

Disclaimer: I actually own an AXA product so I'm not just anyhow-ly sh*tting on ILPs but speaking from my experience. Your risk profile and life circumstances may differ so take this as what it is: opinion and not advice.​​​

Hi Anonymous,

Your financial advisor should have his/her own justifications on the plan recommendation based on the Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) of you. Do raise your concerns to your financial advisor about saving up for a house if you have not done so, and he/she should be able to advise further.

Disclaimer: PolicyWoke is a 2nd-hand endowment policies broker