Sun Life exec cites need for financial plan

MANILA, Philippines - Life, so goes an old adage, is what happens while we’re busy dreaming about it. Indeed, life passes by so fast that before we know it, the years are already way behind us. It is therefore necessary to plan ahead – whether for emergencies or to simply achieve one’s dreams.

Sun Life Financial Group of Companies, a leading international financial services organization, provides a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individual and corporate customers.

In an interview with The STAR, Sun Life Financial president Rizalina Manta-ring shared tips on how best to prepare for emergencies as well as to have enough money for investment.

Quoting famed billionaire Warren Buffet, Mantaring said: “If you want to play a game, don’t look at the score in the middle of the game.”

Mantaring was referring to the value one’s investments may be when markets are volatile such as what is happening now. She said that although markets are down at the moment, it doesn’t mean one should pull out one’s investments or not set aside money for insurance.

The key is to have a financial plan.

 â€œFirst of all you have to have a financial plan in place. What’s your investment for? Is it for a house or for retirement? And then you invest accordingly. Set aside an amount for emergency. If you keep it long enough, there’s a high probability, (your investments) will go up. And it will be higher. If you need your money in three years you should stay in relatively less risky investments such as bond funds. Again, don’t look at the score in the middle of the game,” Mantaring said.

In the case of life insurance, Mantaring said this could be considered long term investments.

 â€œThere’s no bad time to buy insurance because we need protection all the time. We are still heavily underinsured. So first be sure you have to be protected for emergencies by having money in savings deposits. And then next be protected by being insured. After that, invest some on your money to build your wealth for either a house or retirement. It depends on your needs,” Mantaring said.

Sun Life offers a wealth of opportunities to help individuals plan for a brighter future with its many insurance products. At the same time Sun Life is a world-renowned insurance company, it also has a wide array of mutual funds to cater to investors’ varying needs through SLAMCI.

One such insurance product is the Sun Safer Life, which is a five-year term life insurance product that provides maximum protection at acost that fits your budget.

 â€œWith its convertibility and automatic renewability features, you can enjoy the benefit of keeping yourself and your loved ones’ future secured for a longer period,” Sun Life said in the product profile.

Another insurance product is a protection and savings in one that provides guaranteed cash benefits at specific periods throughout the duration of the policy, plus a lump sum maturity benefit at the end of 20 years.

 â€œBoth the guaranteed cash benefits and the life insurance coverage increase to address inflation,” Sun Life said.

Yet another insurance product is the Sun Dream Achiever, also a life insurance product and savings in one with guaranteed education benefits paid in four annual installments starting on the year chosen by the insured, regardless of school and course.

Another product is the Sun Smarter Life, which is a protection product that provides double life insurance coverage starting Day 1 until Age 100. One can choose between the Classic variant which provides basic life insurance coverage; or the Elite variant which also provides lifetime guaranteed cash payouts equal to 8 percent of the Face Amount given at the end of the 6th year and every other year onwards.

There is also the Sun First Aid, which is an affordable hospital income plan that helps defray the cost of hospitalization. Its money back feature gives you the unique benefit of receiving cash whether you get hospitalized or not.

In the case of mutual funds, Mantaring said Sunlife offers a wide array of mutual funds for every need.

“Depending on your need, there are different types of mutual funds that you can use. It’s very versatile because it provides you a variety of options and it’s also very liquid because anytime you want, you can pool out the money so what we’re saying is that there’s one that will match with your need,” she said.

In financial community parlance, a mutual fund is an investment vehicle comprising of funds pooled from many investors to put in either securities, fixed-income assets or other investment options.

At present, Sun Life has seven prosperity mutual funds - The Philippine Equity Fund, Balanced Fund, Bond Fund, Dollar Abundance, Dollar Advantage, GS and the Money Market Funds.

Typically, for long-term needs, the key is to beat inflation, the rate by which prices of consumer goods rise.

“You need to be earning more than inflation. Otherwise, it’s not savings anymore. If you put your money in something that is less than inflation, it loses value so in order to match those needs, you look for other instruments and mutual funds are very good instruments for a person to put his money in because first of all, the amount required is small,” Mantaring said.

Generally, investors can invest in a mutual fund for as little as P5,000 as a minimum investment.

In contrast, if an investor would put his or her own money directly in stocks, he or she would need a large amount of money even as an initial investments.

She also said that if one were to invest directly in stocks one would need a large amount of money but if it’s a mutual fund, it’s a professionally managed fund.

 â€œSo if you invest in a mutual fund, immediately you’re diversified because you’re buying a share of a fund and that fund can be invested in basket of funds,” Mantaring said.

Furthermore, Mantaring said mutual funds complement insurance investments.

 â€œInsurance is a very basic need it’s the only financial instrument where you put a certain amount of money today and something happens to you, your family is insured. They get the full benefit. Insurance really protects. It protects your family against the unexpected but when you’re already insured, you already have enough insurance you can’t be over insured,” she said.

In these instances, investors can diversify and set aside their extra income for mutual funds to complement their insurance investments.

 â€œAn insurance company will not insure you for more than you’re worth but now you have money to invest and you want to set aside money for your kids education in the future or maybe a house, you can put it in a mutual fund,” she said.

Investors with short-term needs may opt to put their money in bond funds because it’s less volatile although the returns are lower.

On the other hand, investors with long-term outlook can put their money in an equity fund.

For assets and needs that are for something in between the bond and the equity funds, investors can go for the balanced fund.

Mantaring attests that Sun Life can be trusted with one’s hard-earned money because it’s been around a long time and therefore backed by decades of experience.

She herself is a regular investor, with premiums and mutual fund contributions deducted from her salary.

Attesting on the integrity of Sun Life as a company, she said the it’s a company that’s been around a long, long time.

 â€œThe asset management has been around since 2000. Insurance is already 118 years already. It’s older than the Philippine Republic. It’s a very trusted name. We have the best service. It’s very convenient to deal with us. You can check your balances online. Our financial advisors are the best trained in the industry. They can really help you,” she said.

And despite market volatility, she said generally, mutual funds grow over time.

Again, she said, the key is not to look at the score in the middle of the game but the one when the game has ended.

And with Sun Life, one is sure to win big, with enough patience and determination.