How well one saves and invests today, will make all the difference tomorrow between having to work and choosing to work. There is no better time than the present, to plan for what should be the best years of one’s life – retirement. Retirement planning makes the difference between being dependent or independent, financially.

By the time one retires, costs of living would have increased substantially, making even the most basic commodities costlier, even medical costs would have doubled or more.

Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited presents Tahaffuz, an ideal whole of life retirement plan, underwritten by EFU Life Assurance Ltd.

Tahaffuz offers complete flexibility and peace of mind, not only while saving for retirement but also after retirement.

Tahaffuz offers an added sense of security through this option. At the start of the plan, customer may opt for a retirement age between the age of 60 and 70 years. But there may be an emergency that requires one to dip into the retirement accumulation and hence the “early retirement” option is available. This option starts from age 45 years and is available upto age 60 years.

At “Early Retirement” the customer may withdraw 25% of the retirement fund in lump sum and use the remaining 75% to buy a pension stream of his choice. This option can be availed five years after the policy inception.

Every contribution in Tahaffuz is invested in an internal investment fund of EFU Life called the “EFU Managed Growth Fund”. The contributions are utilized to buy units of the fund at the prevailing offer price. The objective of the fund is to maximize capital growth by investing in a balanced portfolio, spread across a wide range of shares, government and other fixed interest securities and cash. The fund is managed by investment experts, who adjust the mix of the underlying investments in light of economic conditions and investment opportunities.

Tahaffuz takes into account the fact that the income of the assured customer will increase with time due to career progression as well as inflationary factors. Thus one can plan by starting the Retirement Plan with a lower annual contribution and increase it over the term of the plan.

The plan gives an option to the customer to increase his annual contribution every 3 years by 25%.

The increasing contribution will ensure that the fund value accumulates at a faster pace and the fund available at retirement is sufficient to provide a higher monthly pension.The increasing premium will not affect the sum assured.

The moment one starts saving with Tahaffuz, one will enjoy a guaranteed level of life assurance protection. This cover means that in case of death the dependents will receive:

The greater of the sum assured or the cash value of the plan at the date of death, AND Any cash value of the FAP payments.

Depending on the current stage of one’s life, and the need for life assurance protection, the plan offers the facility of selecting a low to high level of sum assured at the inception, with the flexibility to alter this level as one’s circumstances change.

Tahaffuz offers generous loyalty bonuses in the form of extra units in the fund, if it is continued without any breaks beyond a period of 10 years. The bonus is allocated to the plan every 5 years and will increase the underlying accumulated fund value rapidly.

Tahaffuz is a regular contribution plan, but also gives the flexibility to top-up the savings by depositing surplus funds as lump sum contributions in the plan. These lump sum contributions, called “Fund Acceleration Premium” (FAP) payments, can be made at any policy anniversary. The FAP payments will increase the cash value of the plan, but will not affect the sum assured.

Tahaffuz provides complete access to the accumulated fund value at all times. After the contributions have been paid for two full years, the fund can be withdrawn for its full or partial value.

The minimum annual regular contribution for Basic Plan is Rs 15,000.

The minimum and maximum ages at entry are 18 and 60 years respectively.

Tahaffuz is an open ended, whole of life plan, giving the flexibility of selecting the retirement age according to one’s needs. Generally the fund value can be withdrawn between ages 60 and 70, to provide the necessary retirement funds and pension.

Various additional benefit riders are available, which may be attached to the basic plan to enhance the coverage level. These riders are:

Accidental Death and Disability Benefits

The assured customer’s age is 30 years, and he decides to contribute Rs 100,000 per annum, with a Protection Multiple of 20, giving a Sum Assured of Rs 2,000,000 in Tahaffuz.

The first table below gives details of the fund value, while the second table gives details of the expected annual pension amount payable to the customer in lieu of the fund value at ages 60, 65 and 70 years.