Investors Trust Platinum Review

Investors Trust Platinum is The Lowest Entry - Lump Sum Investment Plan in the market.

The Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan is a lump sum investment platform, designed for the investors who have at least USD 10,000 to invest, and those who don't want any commitment to invest money in a contractual savings plan, even for 5 years.

Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan Offers the Following Benefits:

• Wide range of investment options
• Online account access
• Security through the safe and private custody of assets
• Liquidity
• Ability to change investment strategies online
• Facility to receive regular income from portfolio
• Different plans to choose from
• (To keep things simple, I am reviewing the different plans separately).

Minimum Contributions & Surrender Charges (How long your money is locked-in)

Minimum Contribution - USD/EUR/GBP 10,000 one-time.

Additional Contributions - USD/EUR/GBP 2,500 (whenever required)

Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan has a surrender charge of -

• End of year 1 - 6.4%
• End of year 2 - 4.8%
• End of year 3 - 3.2%
• End of year 4 - 1.6%
• End of year 5 - 0%

While surrender charges are not desirable, if you hold the plan for at least 5 years (which you should with any investment), the Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan offers good value for money at the USD 10,000 entry point.

Capital Protection

• Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan is not ‘Capital Protected’ regardless of the version selected. While this is true, other mutual fund based investment plans in the market are not capital protected as well.
• Investors Trust offers a ‘Capital Protected’ Investment plan called the S&P500 Index 7Y Lumpum which invest in the S&P500 index.

Investment Options (Where the money can be invested)

• The Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan offers around 150 investment funds including 17 Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), apart from mutual funds to choose from.
• Some of the fund managers include - Alliance Bernstein, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, GAM, Henderson, Investec, iShares, Invesco, Man Investments, MFS International, Morgan Stanley, Pictet International, PIMCO, Schroders, etc…
• Warren Buffet recommends investing in low cost index-funds. The Investors Trust Platinum Investment Plan offers 17 low-cost iShares ETFs which allow you to invest in various index funds with very low costs.

Some of the ETFs offered have annual charges as low as 0.1% per annum.

Charges

• Annual Administration Charge - 1.6% p.a. (taken monthly at 0.13% p.m. years 1 - 5 only)
• Bid/Offer Spread - Nil
• Policy Fee - USD/EUR 7.00 (GBP 4.5) Monthly
• Asset Management Fee - 0.125% monthly (1.25% p.a.) of fund balance as long as money stays invested.
• Free Partial Withdrawals - Free partial withdrawals available, but subject to maintaining the Minimum Cash Surrender Value of USD/EUR/GBP 2,500.

What you would end up with if:

• You invest - USD 10,000, and withdraw after 10 years for example,
• You get at the end of the 10 years - USD 18,918 with an assumed growth rate of 8% (net of charges).

What an actual quote looks like:

Click on the images below to magnify them. 

Jurisdiction - (Where your money is held)

Investors Trust Assurance SPC (“ITA”) is an international insurance company licensed and regulated by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority.

The Cayman Islands is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom recognized as the world’s sixth largest international banking centre and one of the top 10 international financial centres in the world, with over 40 of the top 50 banks holding licenses here. 

Regulated banks in the Cayman Islands represent some 45 countries from around the world. This global representation proves that the Cayman Islands is widely acknowledged as one of the leading offshore financial centres.

While the financial services chapter of the Cayman Islands dates back 40 years, the seeds of it were sown as early as the 1700s. Two important legacies of history remain from that era – English common law and tax neutrality (The Cayman Islands has never had a system of direct taxation and instead employs an indirect, consumption-based taxation system). The Cayman Islands has always been an open, free market economy, and from the 1960s onwards, successfully invested its “historic capital” to the benefit of the financial services sector.

Cayman Islands is a British Offshore Territory, just like the Isle of Man and Guernsey, which are the base for Zurich International Life, Friends Provident International, Generali International, etc…

Investors Trust uses Merrill Lynch Bank of America as its custodian, and keeps client’s money in a ‘Trust’ account that is isolated from the liabilities of the Bank, or Investors Trust itself.

Which means - even if both the bank and Investors Trust were to go bankrupt, the client’s money is safe.

Disclaimer: This article is assumed to be accurate at the time of publishing, and represents the personal opinion of the author. If you wish to correct/contest any of the following, please do so in the comments below. I am open to correcting errors if any.

All opinions are welcome.