Switching Funds

Cleothecat

I hope someone can help. I've got an endowment policy and it has units in 3 funds. I've just found out that they have another fund which is called the money fund. This is meant to be a very safe one. I'm sure, years back, I was told that I could transfer between funds (the 3 funds) by calling and the prices would be those of the previous close of business. I've lost some money so was thinking of transferring what's left into the 'money fund'. But they're saying I need to write in. How do they work out the date they use? Knowing them (the bank), they would sit on the letter and wait until there was a crash or something and then buy units. Can someone advise, please?

tacpot12

They cannot sit on your instruction, they must act on it 'immediately', however there might be a day delay to get from the post room to the switching team, and there might be few days delay before the switching team write back to you, plus time in the post, so if the whole process takes longer than a couple of weeks, write a letter of complaint.

However, I would not recommend you change to the Money fund unless you understand what the fund invests in. It should be invested in "Money Market Instruments". If you don't know what these are, are you sure you want to be investing in it?

A money market instrument is supposed to be like cash, but they are not cash and they have risks that cash does not have. One of the larger risks is that the return on them is very low, so that they provide no protection against inflation. Do you want an investment that grows at less than the rate of inflation?

Cleothecat

Hi Tacpot 12, thanks for your reply. I've got 16 months left on it and it's the brexit stuff thats giving me the jitters. The uncertainty of what's happening is making me want to hold onto what's left. Do you have any thoughts on brexit and endowments?