Friendly Societies

claire24_2

We have just received a leaflet promoting friendly societies as a good way to save tax free. I don't really know much about them, does anyone know where to look for information or have any opinions about whether they are a good idea or not.

Aegis

High charges, low returns. That summarises most friendly society plans...

Barneysmom

I don't know about them but I did a savings plan with Royal London. I paid £8 a month for 15 years and got £2,215 back for paying in £1440 overall.

I've another one on the go where I get the cheque next week, paid £8 a month for 10 years, so I'll see what the payout is and get back to you.
Not expecting it to be very high due to all this bank crash stuff, but you never know....

dunstonh

I don't know about them but I did a savings plan with Royal London

Royal London are an insurance company, not a Friendly Society.

I paid £8 a month for 15 years and got £2,215 back for paying in £1440 overall.

That sounds like an industrial branch endowment.

As aegis says, Friendly Society plans are usually no more tax free to most people than using a unit trust (income on equities is taxed virtually the same as non tax free funds and growth is not subject to CGT. However, you are not exactly likely to become liable to pay CGT on
£25pm). Whilst they are slightly more tax efficient, they are usually very much more expensive and that more than wipes out the tiny tax advantage.