What are the pros of getting a 101 ILP (purely investment with no protection) over investing in similarly available funds yourself?

Hello Anon,

disclaimer: not a financial advisor or anything, just sharing my personal opinion

I was, and still is a noob to investment myself but I knew that investing is necessary so that our money doesn't get eaten up by inflation. I seeked the advice of my FA and took a leap of faith to investing through a pure investment ILP, setting aside $300 monthly.

I "DIY-ed" my ILP funds (reading and comparing fundfactsheets) with reference to the guided portfolio and I have to say I am pretty happy with the performance so far. I was lucky to have started around mid-March, catching the lows of the market and my portfolio is now up ~27%!

Yes, fees are higher than Robo-Advisors in the market, much higher as compared to doing DIY investing BUT I didn't know about investing at all! This ILP was the stepping stone for me. It opened up my eyes to a new world. I never understood the differences between Unit Trusts / ETFs (I was that bad). But through getting my ILP, I had a better understanding of how unit trusts works and moving on, understanding what ETFs were. Now, while my ILP is working in the background, I am slowly trying to understand how to do fundamental analysis of stocks.

Another thing to note is the commitment period. For the ILP I've gotten, I would need to commit at least 12 years. No harm starting small at $200 monthly if you can afford. Treat is as a forced savings I would say!

If you have decided to go for an ILP, do go with an advisor you can trust and can freely share your financial situation with, an advisor who is honest** **about costs and will patiently_ _explain details to you. Don't be afraid to keep asking questions.. I find these factors very important to me, giving me the confidence to commit a 12 years ILP despite the higher fees.

Hope this is helpful for you :)

The insurer has to structure at least 101% death/TPD coverage to categorise it under "insurance" product.

The funds offered in the ILP could be proprietary to the insurer and not available as a standalone unit trust. There could be additional riders to enhance the coverage.

I personally will avoid any investment linked insurance products as it comes with many layers of fees.