Calling The Finance Whizz-kids

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid

Senior Jockey
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
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Mrs Orchid and I have an endowment polcy, which we took out along with our first mortgage when it was a good idea, due to mature within the next few months.

When I spoke to the insurance firm they gave me a breakdown of the current status.

If we redeem now we'll get £29000 and a bit, which includes the terminal bonus. If we wait till it matures we'll get £30000+ but the terminal bonus is not guaranteed. If the terminal bonus is Zero, we'll get about £24000.

They say they can not guarantee the TB but they've never not paid it.

If you were in our shoes would you take the money and run or hold off till the maturity date?
 
A tricky one D O. I suppose it depends on if you need the money now or not. Also, if it has a few months to run, you could take the £29k and stick it in the highest interest account and you could find which could give you an additional £500 between now and when it should have matured.

I don't trust many of these endowment/insurance companies. I took one out when I purchased my first house and it is due to mature in about 6 years. They have already told me that it will not reach the original figure of £70k, more likely £55k if I am lucky. I have kept paying into it as it is now building up quite rapidly but I had been seriously tempted to cash it in on numerous occassions. After 12 years of paying into it, if I had cashed it in I would have got back less than I had paid into it.

If it were me, I probably would take the money and run.
 
On Monday I got a letter from one insurer saying they were now changing the way the calculate the with-profits side of their policies - "smoothing" I think they called it - presumably to minimise the roller-coaster effect.

Now, the cynic in me tells me they're trying to pay out less and it bugs me that despite my IQ of 142 (if that site is to be believed) I cannot make sense of their leaflet (which I don't have to hand).

Has anyone else had such a communication from L&G and if so were you able to decipher it?
 
Sell it and put the proceeds on the winner of the PP at 16/1.

I am in a very similar postion to you on a property and intend to await maturity.
 
You are being very wooly, which makes it difficult to answer.

When you say £29,000 and a bit, do you mean £29,100 approx?
Whan you ay £30,000+ do you mean £30,500 approx?
What does a few months mean three months?

There is no way that you could invest the £29,100 to get over 30 grand in a few months at current interest rates. I would hold onto the investment. If you tell me the name of the insurance firm, I will be able to know whether they are likely to renege on their bonus or not.

If you PM me the exact details, I'll be able to help you more.
 
Has anyone noticed the FTSE has been flying this week? Anyone with shares in certain companies could well be making a small fortune this week. I wonder if people are taking money out of property and sticking it into the stock market instead. I was pleased to see M&S making a profit again. They are one of my customers and I was quite worried for a while, it seems they have turned the corner, and long may that continue.
 
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