On the relevance of premium payment schemes for the performance of mutual funds with investment guarantees

Purpose – In financial planning, customers are typically confronted with choosing a premium payment scheme when investing in a mutual fund, which is often equipped with an investment guarantee to provide downside protection. Guarantee costs may thereby also be charged differently depending on the provider. The paper aims to investigate the impact of the premium payment method on different performance measures for a mutual fund with an investment guarantee. Design/methodology/approach – The paper compares a fund with annual and upfront premiums as well as constant guarantee costs versus the guarantee price as an annual percentage fee of the fund value, always ensuring that the present value of premium payments is the same for all product variants. The paper further studies the relevance of the guarantee level and the contract term. Findings – The results emphasize that even though the present value of premiums paid into the contract is the same, the type of premium (upfront versus annual) as well as the type of guarantee cost (upfront versus annual fee) has a considerable impact on the performance. Practical implications – Providers can thus make a product more attractive for consumers by individually adjusting the premium scheme depending on their preferences and by making the resulting risk-return-profile transparent, while keeping the other contract characteristics unchanged (e.g. extent of the guarantee). Originality/value – To date, there has been no comprehensive analysis with specific focus on the impact of different premium payment schemes (in particular with respect to savings premiums and guarantee costs) on risk and return of a mutual fund with otherwise given contract characteristics such as the underlying fund strategy and the investment guarantee, even though the premium scheme itself can already have a considerable impact on the terminal payoff distribution and thus risk-return profiles. In addition, such an analysis can provide important information for consumers and providers in designing and choosing attractive products by simply adjusting the premium scheme (if possible) instead of or in addition to changing other product features.