HDFC Life Retirement/Pension Plans

Planning for your retirement is an important financial goal that everyone should focus on. While government and quasi-government employees are guaranteed an income through pension from the state or central government, most private employees have no such guarantee and have to depend on their savings. This is why it is important for an average employee to get an annuity plan.

Retirement plans are a type of insurance policy which offer the policyholder a certain amount as pension each month once they have retired from work. Retirement insurance schemes offer returns on investment and life insurance cover in a single product. Investing in retirement plans helps individuals combat the ill-effects of inflation and also helps them receive the much-needed monthly income to carry on with their lives. At the same time, if you meet with an untimely death, your nominee will be able to reap benefits of your prudence and get money to take the family through the difficult times. HDFC Life offers several retirement plans for individuals, including basic pension and annuity plans as well as Unit Linked Insurance Plans.

Benefits of HDFC Life Retirement/Pension Plans

There are several benefits of getting an HDFC Life Retirement or Pension Plan. Some of the important advantages are:

• You get life insurance cover along with guaranteed pension in your retirement years. This means that even if you die an untimely death, your family will be able to tide through the difficult times with the help of the money you leave behind for them.
• You can meet any of your retirement goals with structured savings – whether it is to have a regular income after you stop working, or if you want a large amount to go on a world tour in your retirement years.
• HDFC Life pension schemes are not very expensive and have a comprehensive package of benefits.
• HDFC Life offers plans that can be started as early as age 18, and you can choose a retirement age as low as 45 years.
• There is flexibility in choosing the sum assured and pension amount as per your affordability and future financial requirements.
• You can choose to pay premiums in whichever mode you want – for a limited number of years, for the whole policy period, or in a single lump sum payment.
• You can decide the frequency of payments from monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly payment options.
• You can make insurance transactions such as purchase of a new policy, decision on fund choices, and payment of premiums both online and offline.
• If you feel like you don’t need a pension plan or cannot afford it any longer, you can surrender a policy.
• You can claim tax benefits on premium payments (under Section 80C of Income Tax Act), death claim payout (under Section 10(10D) and lump sum maturity payout (Section 10(10A) for all the policies.

Retirement/Pension Plans offered by HDFC Life

HDFC Life has a good portfolio of retirement plans, which are available to be bought in two ways: online and offline. Below is a list of their plans segregated on the basis of their availability:

Plan Name	Entry Age	Maturity Age	Minimum Premium
HDFC Life Personal Pension Plus	18 to 65 years	55 to 75 years	Rs.24,000 p.a.
HDFC Life Click 2 Retire	18 to 65 years	45 to 75 years	Rs.24,000 p.a.
HDFC Life New Immediate Annuity Plan	30 to 85 years	NA	NA
HDFC Life Guaranteed Pension Plan	35 to 65 years	55 to 75 years	Rs.24,000 p.a.
HDFC Life Single Premium Pension Super Plan	40 to 75 years	50 to 85 years	Rs.25,000 p.a.
HDFC Life Pension Super Plus	35 to 65 years	55 to 75 years	Rs.24,000 p.a.
HDFC Life Assured Pension Plan	18 to 65 years	45 to 75 years	Rs.24,000 p.a.

Of these plans in the table, the first four are available online as well as offline, while the other three are available only at HDFC Life offices or with authorised insurance agents. Let us now look at the important information about each plan in detail:

HDFC Life Personal Pension Plus:

This is a participating retirement solution that allows you to convert your savings into a fixed pension amount after you stop working. You can select a policy tenure between 10 and 40 years, and a retirement age between 55 and 75 years. You receive simple reversionary bonus, interim bonus and terminal bonus on this policy. These will add to the premium amounts paid by you and create a corpus of funds that can be converted into an annuity plan or claimed as vesting benefit at the end of policy tenure. Vesting age is the age at which you plan to retire, which is also equivalent to the maturity time of the policy.

• Entry age: 18 to 65 years
• Age at policy maturity: 55 to 75 years
• Policy tenure: 10 to 40 years
• Premium payment: As long as the policy is active
• Minimum premium amount: Rs.2,000 for monthly payment, Rs.6,000 for quarterly, Rs.12,000 for semi-annual and Rs.24,000 for annual payment
• Minimum sum assured: Rs.2,04,841
• Premium payment frequency: Annual, semi-annual, quarterly or monthly
• Riders available: None

HDFC Life Click 2 Retire:

This is a Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) that invests a part of your premiums in the stock market/funds and gives you higher returns than an endowment or deferred payment policy. The policy duration can be 10 years and between 15 and 35 years. You can pay premiums for limited periods of 8, 10 or 15 years or make a single lump sum premium payment. You are eligible for both vesting benefits and death benefits.

• Entry age: 18 to 65 years
• Age at policy maturity: 45 to 75 years
• Policy tenure: 10 years, 15 to 35 years
• Premium payment: Single Pay, or Limited payment for 8, 10 or 15 years
• Minimum premium amount: Rs.50,000 for Single Pay scheme; Rs.2,000 for monthly payment, Rs.6,000 for quarterly, Rs.12,000 for semi-annual and Rs.24,000 for annual payment
• Minimum sum assured: Fund value or 105% of premiums paid, whichever is higher
• Premium payment frequency: Once a year, once in 6 months, once in 3 months or every month
• Riders available: None

HDFC Life New Immediate Annuity Plan:

This is a conventional unlinked annuity plan which works slightly differently from a typical endowment plan. You need to pay a certain amount to buy the plan and that amount, plus benefits, will be returned to you during your retirement years as regular pension. There are 11 variants of the scheme, which includes life annuity only, life annuity with return of purchase price, life annuity with a guarantee period, joint life annuity, etc.

• Entry age: 30 to 85 years
• Age at policy maturity: Not applicable
• Policy tenure: Not applicable
• Premium payment: One-time purchase price needs to be paid
• Minimum premium amount: Not applicable
• Minimum sum assured: As per purchase price
• Annuity payment frequency: Yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly
• Riders available: None

HDFC Life Guaranteed Pension Plan:

This is a non-participating pension scheme that gives you both death benefits and vesting benefits. At maturity, you get an assured addition of 3% of the sum assured per policy year as well as a vesting bonus plus the sum assured.

• Entry age: 35 to 65 years
• Age at policy maturity: 55 to 75 years
• Policy tenure: 10 to 20 years
• Premium payment: Limited Pay – 5, 7 and 10 years
• Minimum premium amount: Rs.2,000 for monthly payment, Rs.6,000 for quarterly, Rs.12,000 for semi-annual and Rs.24,000 for annual payment
• Minimum sum assured: Rs.81,145
• Premium payment frequency: Yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly
• Riders available: None

HDFC Life Single Premium Pension Super Plan:

This is a ULIP scheme for which you need to pay premium only once. The policy is invested in a special pension fund. Both death benefits and maturity benefits are paid by the company. The amount you get at policy maturity can be invested in an annuity plan to ensure a regular retirement income.

• Entry age: 40 to 75 years
• Age at policy maturity: 50 to 85 years
• Policy tenure: 10 years
• Premium payment: Single payment
• Minimum premium amount: Rs.25,000, and top-up premium of Rs.10,000
• Minimum sum assured: Depends on fund value and top-up premiums paid
• Premium payment frequency: Not applicable
• Riders available: None

HDFC Life Pension Super Plus:

This is another ULIP-based pension scheme that allows you to decide when to retire, and save as per your future monetary requirements. You get a guaranteed maturity amount as well as death benefits. You can take one-third of the maturity benefits without any tax cuts and buy an annuity plan with the rest. You can also use the entire maturity corpus to buy an annuity plan to ensure a regular pension income for your post-retirement years.

• Entry age: 35 to 65 years
• Age at policy maturity: 55 to 75 years
• Policy tenure: 10 years, 15 years, 20 years
• Premium payment: As long as the policy is active
• Minimum premium amount: Rs.2,000 for monthly payment, Rs.6,000 for quarterly, Rs.12,000 for semi-annual, Rs.24,000 for annual payment, and Rs.10,000 as top-up premium
• Minimum sum assured: Depends on fund value and total premiums paid
• Premium payment frequency: Annual, half-yearly, once in 3 months, or monthly
• Riders available: None

HDFC Life Assured Pension Plan:

This is yet another unit-linked pension plan that gives you guaranteed maturity benefits, loyalty bonus, and pension multipliers. The death benefit is the higher of 105% of total premiums paid or the value of the pension fund you are invested in. You can change the vesting age any number of times while the policy is in force.

• Entry age: 18 to 65 years
• Age at policy maturity: 45 to 75 years
• Policy tenure: 10 years, 15 to 35 years
• Premium payment: Single Premium, or Limited Pay – 8 or 10 years for 10-year policy and 15 to 35-year policy, or 15 years for 15 to 35-year policy
• Minimum premium amount: Rs.50,000 for single premium, Rs.2,000 for monthly payment, Rs.6,000 for quarterly, Rs.12,000 for semi-annual, Rs.24,000 for annual payment
• Minimum sum assured: Depends on fund value and total premiums paid
• Premium payment frequency: Yearly, half-yearly, quarterly or monthly
• Riders available: None

Why you need an HDFC Life Retirement/Pension Plan?

HDFC Life Pension and Annuity Plans will ensure that you receive a fixed income or a large corpus at the time of your retirement, while at the same time ensuring that your family’s financial needs are taken care of after your death. Here are some reasons why an HDFC Life Retirement Plan is good for you:

• Variety of products: HDFC Life has a large portfolio of conventional as well as innovative retirement solutions. Whether you need an annuity plan or a regular income pension plan, you can find one that suits you in the HDFC Life products range.
• Tax benefits: Retirement plans are eligible for tax exemptions for premium payments under Section 80C, and the nominee can claim tax exemption on the death benefits received after your demise under Section 10(10D). Benefits can also be claimed for annuity benefits under Section 10(10A). This will ensure that the money you save is fully available to your family.
• Easy application process: Buying an HDFC Life policy is very easy as there are simple documentation and processes. You can apply for most plans online and upload the required documents without having to deal with agents. Premium payments can also be done online.
• Easy claims process: HDFC Life’s claim settlement ratio at the end of 2016 was 95.02%, which means that 95 out of 100 claims made were cleared by the company. The procedure to make a death claim or maturity/vesting claim is very easy and can be done online as well.