Standard Life - Are they Right?

looceci

I hope that this post is in the correct forum!

The reason for this post is a personal one. Having contributed for the past ten years to a Standard Life Endowment Policy, the sum of £70 per month, which equates to £8,400 in total, I am a little disappointed to have only received the less than princely total of £9,400 in return - I was expecting a far more significant return.

Does this look right?
Does anybody now if Martin has covered such a scenario in the past?
Is there any regulatory body I can contact, that I may seek possible redress?

If anybody has any suggestions or advise, thanks in advance.

opinions4u

Does this look right?

Yes. It's been a pretty poor decade for investments.

Is there any regulatory body I can contact, that I may seek possible redress?

Not for disappointing investment performance, no.

I assume you still have Standard Life shares as a result of having this policy.

looceci

Thanks for your response.

I do still have the shares.

dunstonh

Having contributed for the past ten years to a Standard Life Endowment Policy

Endowments were obsolete from around 1995 with most stopping selling them by 1998/9. When you bought yours, you were way past the point of them being obsolete. Std Life were the last mainstream provider in the UK to withdraw.

So, part of the problem is that your regular investment contract was obsolete before you bought it. The other problem is that 10 years is short for a regular contribution contract. You could get away with 10 years in the 60s, 70s and 80s but the 90s onwards havent been able to. 90s suffered as there were no real stockmarket crashes or major corrections. These help with long term regular contribution plans. Then at the start of the 2000s you get a major crash that took a while to recover. Then just as it recovers, along comes the credit crunch and global recession which hits it again. Good news if you are still paying regular contributions and have over 5 years to go until you want the money. Bad news if you have a maturity.

So, there is no wrong doing. Just the wrong contract and bad luck on timing.

looceci

Thanks for the reply - oh well, at least its better than nothing.