Advice Regarding Company Savings Plans / Do I Cash In ?

*cassius*

Hi Forum

I have twelve regular savings plans which i have taken out once or twice a year for the past 7 years through a company scheme since i began working there. The total amount leaving my account each month for all 12 has built up to just over £300.

The first plan will mature in 3 years followed every 6 to 10 months after that with the average amount being paid out being £3000 to £4000 per plan as i selected to pay different amounts for the start of each plan when i set them up. If i continue to take out more plans each year i will have this amount paid for the rest of my career.

The interest on these plans is awful, having checked last week i have made £50 interest for the earliest plan in the last seven years, im not particularly bothered as i have only started saving seriously in the last year or so and without the money being taken from my wages for the plans i wouldnt have saved any of it in the last 7 years anyway.

I recently decided to check how much i had invested so far with the plans and realised i have just over £20000 saved so far.

The advice i suppose im looking for at this moment is would it be worth just cashing them all in due to the poor return and picking a savings account for this money (which wouldnt be difficult looking at the return on them so far)or do i stick it out and wait for them to start ending ?

Its only due to the fact that ive recently started looking at buying my first house depending on what position the market will be in for the next year or so and if i did cash them in and combined them with my house deposit i would have £50000 available. I also manage to deposit £1000 a month into various savings accounts for my house deposit so dont have a problem with continuing to pay them or to puchase more plans.

any advice would be appreciated

MoneySaverLog

Are these sharesave schemes, the reason I ask is that usually the maximum you can invest is £250 per month.

If it is a sharesave are the share options worth less than the saving element? If the shares are worth more then it would be worth hanging onto them, otherwise you could cash them in and invest someplace else. That would have to be your decision though.

*cassius*

hi, no they arent sharesave, looking at the details for them, my money is invested in stocks, bonds, property and cash by an investment company and the returns from this are paid back to me (which so far amounts to the paltry £50 ive so far received for the earliest savings plan i have and less for the rest)

they do have a guaranteed payout on them which amounts to the same amount as i have already paid in to the end of the 10 year term, however looking at the plans if i opt out i get penalised and looking at the amounts it works out to be £150 a plan for ending early.

it looks to be unlimited as to how many plans i want but with returns like this on the amounts already invested it does make me think i might be better off looking for better interest rates. Of course in 3 years time getting multiple cheques for these amounts wouldnt be bad even though im only getting back what i paid in