Police Mutual - Regular Savings

blizeH

Hi all,

Just looking at the Police Mutual site (since they're always talking about how they are looking out for us, and give us the best deals/accounts etc, heh) :

http://www.policemutual.co.uk/savings

Under the 'interest rate' FAQ it says:

There's no interest rate with the Regular Savings plan. Any growth in your savings is based on the performance of our Life Fund.

But remember that every plan will have a guaranteed minimum payout. So no matter what happens in the financial markets, you know the very minimum you'll get back at the end of the term.

We aim to add a regular bonus each year into your plan and a final bonus when it matures at the end of the term. These could increase your guaranteed minimum cash payout.

But as we can't predict how the financial markets will perform in the future, the value of these bonuses will depend of how our Life Fund performs.

Seems very much like a gamble. Are these accounts ever worth it?

Thanks

dunstonh

since they're always talking about how they are looking out for us, and give us the best deals/accounts etc, heh

Dont fall for that rubbish. A friend of mine is a copper and every now and then he has asked me about some of their mailshots and the products on offer a woefully obsolete and damned expensive.

This one has a reduction in yield due to charge of 2.35% p.a. on a 10 year term. It is also not as tax efficient as an ISA or unwrapped unit trust as it has corporation tax paid on the gains within the fund.

Seems very much like a gamble. Are these accounts ever worth it?

About 15 years out of date. You may also know these plans under their generic name "endowment".

A S&S ISA trumps it.

blizeH

Huge thanks for that, where did you see the 2.35% p.a. charge by the way? It could be useful to use to hopefully deter other people from falling for their marketing spiel!

I also don't have an S&S ISA actually (nor any ISA right now come to think of it, just a Lloyds TSB Vantage current account and an NS&I Index Linked savings account) so will look into it, thank you!

calypso_rhapsody

I feel it is somewhat misleading to describe this as 'savings' when it is clearly an equity-linked investment .... albeit with a safety net! Take Dunstonh's "advice"

dunstonh

Huge thanks for that, where did you see the 2.35% p.a. charge by the way?

They had an illustration example in the key features document on the site.