Endowment maturity value??

opinions4u

laurence4fun wrote: »

Thanks all for your responses...........and sympathies!

Actually, I am genuinely sympathetic.

I had one too.

dunstonh

Mmm, the so called regulator really have not covered themselves in glory in this fiasco.

I have some sympathy with the regulator but it does fly in the face of conventional wisdom. They forced companies to sell equities after the drop to buy low risk/low return assets to protect the solvency of the insurers to ensure there was no a failing. Problem was that when the recovery came (and we had 5 years of near continous growth where the markets doubled in value, the insurers were not there at the level to get the benefit. The regulator had a choice. Take the risk and if the risk didnt pay off then insurance companies would have been failing all over the place or force the companies to put solvency before returns. They chose the latter.

An impossible decision they had to take without the benefit of hindsight.

opinions4u

dunstonh wrote: »

An impossible decision they had to take without the benefit of hindsight.

But they did have the benefit of historic performance to look at.

You are keen on highlight the zigs and the zags.

There had been a zag. A zig was likely to happen sooner or later!

(Granted, if it didn't a load of insolvent with profit funds wouldn't have been good for anybody)

COLOURBOUNCE

I don't buy any of this. Does a pension fund pull out of the market, or any other fund, when things get choppy? Also, they had the benefit of 'smoothing',another false claim that they knew what they were doing. There's no reasoning that will convince me that this hasn't been a miss sold concept from the start, and people should be very wary of investment advice when someone is making a living out of giving it. Back to the OP, your payout is what they dream up as they have very little idea, or interest, in you now.

dunstonh

Does a pension fund pull out of the market, or any other fund, when things get choppy?

If it is within the remit of that fund then yes.
Or of the FSA require it to then yes.

and people should be very wary of investment advice when someone is making a living out of giving it.

Advisers earn the same irrespective of fund.

Back to the OP, your payout is what they dream up as they have very little idea, or interest, in you now.

Keep making the tin foil hats.

badger09

opinions4u wrote: »

Actually, I am genuinely sympathetic.

I had one too.

Me too.

Mine matures today :eek: Taken out in 1988 to cover my £30k half share of a mortgage.

I was prudent (don't hear that word very often these days) enough to take action and to pay off my remaining £50k share of a much larger mortgage in 2004. Can still remember the buzz that gave me :j

Not critical for me but if anyone's interested, I'll post the maturity value when received, which I'm hoping will be early next week.

zagfles

laurence4fun wrote: »

How do I know that?
How do I know whether or not they have mismanaged my policy, and the anticipated shortfall is down to the insurance company's incompetence and not the state of the markets as they are claiming.
This is why I was wondering whether or not there is some sort of benchmark to measure the performance against?
I did a rough calculation a couple of years ago, and the policies had performed no better than had I put my monthly premiums in a savings account paying the Bank of England base interest rate.
Aren't they supposed to be experts at investment?

They're experts at ripping you off. Typically the first 2 years' premiums goes in commission to the adviser or bank who sold you the endowment. That's why practically every mortgage provider and broker were pushing them in the 80's and 90's. They stopped about 10 years ago when they realised they'd be risking further mis-selling scandals if they didn't stop.

dunstonh

zagfles wrote: »

They're experts at ripping you off. Typically the first 2 years' premiums goes in commission to the adviser or bank who sold you the endowment. That's why practically every mortgage provider and broker were pushing them in the 80's and 90's. They stopped about 10 years ago when they realised they'd be risking further mis-selling scandals if they didn't stop.

You do realise that this site would have had a best buy endowment section. Which? had best buy endowments when they recommended them and the media did too. The product had failings but they were not predictable failings on the most part.

Remember that despite generations buying, they only first failed to hit target at the very end of the 90s. its easy to look back and criticise with the benefit of hindsight.

Februarycat

laurence4fun wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
It appears they can give me whatever they like then by way of a maturity value!
I do not have details as to how my endowment funds have been invested, so have no way of checking their value at maturity.
Good game!!

If you give them a ring they will tell you what you will be getting. I did this with mine which matured in May, it did better than I was expecting. They usually send you a letter about a month before they are due to mature.

zagfles

dunstonh wrote: »

You do realise that this site would have had a best buy endowment section. Which? had best buy endowments when they recommended them and the media did too. The product had failings but they were not predictable failings on the most part.

Remember that despite generations buying, they only first failed to hit target at the very end of the 90s. its easy to look back and criticise with the benefit of hindsight.

I must have amazing foresight then, as I recognised them as the rip-off investments they were in the 90's, when practically every bank, building society and broker was trying to persuade you to take one out with your mortgage.

Both times I got mortgages in the 90's I got the hard sell on endowments, both times I told them where to shove their rip-off policies. I took out interest only/repayment mortgages, with PEPs/ISAs as side investments which have way outperformed endowments, mainly because you don't get the first 2 years of payments getting creamed off by whoever sold you it.

I told everyone who would listen to avoid endowments too. Some of them listened. Others told me to take my tin foil hat off :rotfl:Guess who's laughing now!