Metlife or Prodence Bond

daisysam

We have had a Prudence Bond for the last 12 years and it has, in that time, increased by 50%, but of course, as with all stocks and shares it can go up as well as down.

We are now retired and are trying to plan for what will happen when one of us dies - as this will then mean the surviving spouse will be £10K poorer p.a.

The advice last week from our financial adviser is put the Prudence Bond money into a new Metlife income bond, which guarantees between 3-10% growth per year. However, there seem to be some quite heavy annual charges and it will give an income of about £4K pa. per £100,000 invested. Any thoughts?

dunstonh

Personally not a fan of metlife. Too many hassles and I think their product is expensive. The prudence bond may be old but it actually may well be the better option. You dont do many nowadays but Pru have a track record of delivering in good and bad times and you may well find the costs and the terms of what you have is good enough to keep. Whilst I have not arranged a Pru bond for many many years, I do still have some that we have kept in place as they have done so well.

Apart from that there are too many variables for us to be specific. Plus, we dont know your circumstances as well as not being able to be more specific and we really cant be as that would cross the line. Discussion and comment only.

martinwh

Metlife also double count the income on some of their products. Lots of very confusing terms and conditions. They have the ability to increase the cost of the guarantee if things get too hot for them. Eye watering charges of about 4% A great deal for the Metlife sales reps (who can earn very high commissions), but not a great deal for the consumer.

MichaelRoberts

Pru Bond gets my vote, any day of the week. MetLife charges seem high.