There are charges involved in both investing and getting insurance coverage. Purchasing stocks incurs a brokerage fee, and investing in unit trusts involves annual management fees and sales charges. Bulk of the first few years of premiums of an insurance policy goes to “distribution costs” (mainly commissions to the agent). Typically, distribution costs are highest in the first year and steps down over the next few years of a policy. Regular-premium investment-linked policies (ILP) are touted by many agents to be for both insurance and investments, but do you know that many such policies charge the policyholder distribution costs (on top of investment charges) on his investments, and investment charges (on top of insurance charges) on his insurance? The following diagram shows how various charges are imposed in the first year when a person buys a term policy for insurance, and then invests the remaining amount with a set budget: ......