Guaranteed Equity Bonds - which is best?

fozzy

Guaranteed Equity Bonds - which is currently the best please - can you help

ReportInvestor

Hi fozzy,

We'd rather not. We think they're all a waste of money.

The costs of structuring them, the caps on maximum growth, the loss of reinvested dividends plus the forced withdrawal date are all minuses for any serious investor.

If you want to reduce stock market risk, but access all the benefits, you might consider a regular saver savings plan into an OIEC, Unit Trust or Investment Trust.

Link to previous MSE thread on GEBs
And there's a further link within that link.

Money Week - Guaranteed Equity Bonds are no guarantee

What attracted you to the idea of GEBs? There might be other, better alternatives depending on your goals and attitude to risk.

dunstonh

Here is another thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2728519#post2728519

They are an awful product designed to be sold easily. They are perfect for the tied adviser (tied advisers are not allowed to make investment fund recommendations so a GEB removes that problem). They have a couple of points the marketing men love (guarantee being the key one) and they make the providers a lot of money as it isnt really direct exposure to the stockmarket but to a particulary under performing index (the FTSE100) whilst they can invest you money themselves properly and make a lot more.

So, the product is aimed with the low quality adviser in mind, the low experienced investor who wouldnt know a good product from a bad one and companies who are going to make a mint out of you.