Unit linked endowment - how long to hang on to?

BlondeHeadOn

I have posted on this forum (timed just about at the beginning of the credit crunch!) about whether to surrender a unit linked HSBC endowment policy. I took the advice to wait, as the units became cheaper as the stock market plummeted - so hopefully the value has improved somewhat by now.

I am quite happy to continue not do anything with this endowment at the moment, but I am wondering how I will know when it might be worth surrendering (or even keeping)?

I guess I really want some idea of how the recent stock market events might have affected the surrender value and long term prospects of an average unit-linked endowment policy.

I know this is probably a 'how long is a piece of string' question, so sorry for that - this is from a financial numpty, please forgive me if this is a really daft question!

EdInvestor

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

I am quite happy to continue not do anything with this endowment at the moment, but I am wondering how I will know when it might be worth surrendering (or even keeping)?

I guess I really want some idea of how the recent stock market events might have affected the surrender value...

Ring them up and ask.

BlondeHeadOn

EdInvestor wrote: »

Ring them up and ask.

Will do!

There's no magic formula then?

Debt_Free_Chick

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

Will do!

There's no magic formula then?

If you know the number of units you have and the funds in which it's invested, you should be able to calculate the surrender value. Unless there's a penalty, it will simply be today's unit price (for the particular fund) multiplied by the number of units you have.

Unit prices are generally published on the fund managers' website.