Hello, I was recently introduced to AIA Pro Achiever and am aware it is an ILP. However, my understanding is that the full premium allocation would be toward investments. Any advice?

Hi anon,

Yes AIA Pro Achiever is an ILP. And yes, protection should always be separated from investments. In this climate, there are definitely pockets of investment opportunity.

If your primary objective was investments, then I would strongly suggest that you open an investment account such as POEMS, so that you can gain access to various asset classes and markets. You don't have to do it via an insurance policy where you will likely be bound by their T&Cs.

If you don't have time to monitor, a financial advisor can be engaged to manage your investments. There are various ways to do this, for example, WRAP accounts, or discretionary managed portfolios, none of which will involve insurance policies.

Either way, as you can tell, you won't need to go through an insurance policy in order to invest.

It's good that you have insurance for H&S and PA, but you will want to look at critical illness cover for income protection in the event you are unable to work due to such illnesses. Your endowment is best kept till maturity, and the suitability of OCBC BCIP does depend on your investment amount (as the charges may eat into your returns) as well as the counter you are investing in.

Hey there!

Every ILP product is as good as the funds that you invest in, generally speaking. Choose a poor-performing fund and the results will be disastrous. You will have to be very clear as to what is the portfolio allocation ie. What are the funds allocation you are investing in. AIA Pro Achiever allows you the option of choosing a Portfolio crafted by institutional investor Mercer or deciding on your own. The selling point of this ILP is that it focuses heavily on wealth-accumulation, meaning that there isn't a mortality cost thats associated with this plan compared to an ILP that is protection-needs based.

To a lay-person who has little or no time to read up on investments, much of the heavy-lifting is left to the Financial Advisor to craft and monitor your portfolio. Feel free to reach out if in need, will love to help in any way. Make sure you look for someone trusted who can update you regularly on how your portfolio is doing.

By the way, you might want to look into coverage for Critical Illness as well before the change of definitions in August.

Financial planning is an integral part of life. You can reach me here to find out more.​​​