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'Beware the ‘Over 50 Sun Life Axa Plan’... blog discussion

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This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.
Read Martin's "Beware the 'Over 50s Sun Life Axa Plan.' It often pays out less than you put in" Blog.
Please click 'post reply' to discuss below.
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So, the old adage is "Only those that want life insurance can't buy it". The plan's no good if you are in ill health because of the two year "moritorium" on payouts and no good if you are in good health because of the low sum assured.
Michael Parkinson should be ashamed of himself! :mad:
Steve.
Forget that for a laugh.
They will pay the sum assured after 2 years. Before that it's only "return of premiums paid". This to cover them against mortally ill people effecting a policy without medical evidence. They obviously reckon that, if you can live 2 years or more, you're a good bet.
Other companies in the business probably do better than Sun Life AXA.
But the deal is a lot better if you start young, i.e. 50 rather than 65. Distinctly misleading of the adverts to use celebrities who are well past pension age.
Not sure it's fair to quote official life expectancies, because the policy-holders are a self-selected sample. A man who takes out life insurance at 65 has probably had a few twinges. People who expect to see 90 don't take out the policy, and this skews the customer base.
Nice graph but minor inaccuracy - die within the first two years, you do get a 50% uplift on what you've paid in so there is a slight upside then.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Yet they pay out based on something that is guaranteed to happen eventually. So if all policyholders pay their premiums until the day they die, the average policyholder HAS to be making a loss in order to create that profit for the assurance provider.
However, of course, some people with Martin's help will realise that they're getting ripped off, write off previous premiums as a sunk cost and stop paying into their plan, providing a nice little boost to Sun Life Axa's coffers that could go into underwriting a fairer payout for the smaller number that plug away paying their premiums. Or, alternatively, it could go towards paying Michael Parkinson, buying hours of TV advertising and giving away what must be thousands of free Parker pens. Or, alternatively, to bigger profits.
The trick for Sun Life Axa is to get as many people as possible paying premiums in the first place who then later discontinue their plans and thereby renounce their right to the payout upon inevitable death that those previous premiums were supposed to be buying them. Can't imagine then they'll be too worried about Martin denigrating their plans and helping a few people to with the surprisingly difficult task of rationalising the sunk costs involved.
Not necessarily - it could take your money and put it in more complex savings and investments to generate an income on it. So with the income on the money paid in - assuming its done right, you could afford to generate a payout beyond even the average life expectancy.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.