ULIP vs Term Insurance + Mutual Fund Comparator
An honest, transparent comparison of ULIP returns vs buying term insurance and investing separately.
Both paths provide the same life cover — this compares only the investment component. ULIP charges modeled: ~4% premium allocation, mortality charge on sum-at-risk, and 1.35% fund management charge. Term plan modeled at a representative ₹150/lakh of cover per year.
Term + MF final value
₹58,27,731
ULIP final value
₹46,00,762
Buying a term plan (₹7,500/year) and investing the rest in a mutual fund grows to ₹58,27,731 — ₹12,26,970 more than the same premium in a ULIP (₹46,00,762), for the same life cover.
Year-wise fund value comparison
| Year | ULIP | Term + MF |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ₹90,723 | ₹1,01,750 |
| 2 | ₹1,89,539 | ₹2,13,675 |
| 3 | ₹2,97,172 | ₹3,36,793 |
| 4 | ₹4,14,408 | ₹4,72,222 |
| 5 | ₹5,42,102 | ₹6,21,194 |
| 6 | ₹6,81,189 | ₹7,85,063 |
| 7 | ₹8,32,685 | ₹9,65,320 |
| 8 | ₹9,97,697 | ₹11,63,602 |
| 9 | ₹11,77,430 | ₹13,81,712 |
| 10 | ₹13,73,199 | ₹16,21,633 |
| 11 | ₹15,86,434 | ₹18,85,546 |
| 12 | ₹18,18,692 | ₹21,75,851 |
| 13 | ₹20,71,672 | ₹24,95,186 |
| 14 | ₹23,47,221 | ₹28,46,455 |
| 15 | ₹26,47,354 | ₹32,32,850 |
| 16 | ₹29,74,264 | ₹36,57,885 |
| 17 | ₹33,30,339 | ₹41,25,424 |
| 18 | ₹37,18,182 | ₹46,39,716 |
| 19 | ₹41,40,628 | ₹52,05,437 |
| 20 | ₹46,00,762 | ₹58,27,731 |
How this calculator works
Both a ULIP and a Term Insurance + Mutual Fund combination can provide the same life cover — the real question is which leaves you with a larger investment corpus for the same total premium. This calculator models the charges of each honestly, side by side.
Worked example: with a ₹1,00,000 annual premium budget and ₹50 lakh life cover over 20 years at an assumed 10% fund return, buying term insurance (~₹7,500/year) and investing the rest grows to approximately ₹58.3 lakh — about ₹12.3 lakh more than the same premium in a ULIP (~₹46 lakh), for the identical life cover.