Endowment Policies

[mudskipper]

Yes, easy when we're older and wiser.

The point was that we were young and naive (stupid) when we took it out, and believed what the FA told us. We'd gone along wanting a repayment mortgage - he'd told us we were crazy, we'd pay it off 8 years earlier with an endowment and shown us three projections, the lowest of which we'd still be better of than with a repayment. We'd never heard of an endowment before we met him. I genuinely believe we were mis-sold - along with many other homebuyers in the late 80s.

[Lockhouse]

Yes, easy when we're older and wiser.

The point was that we were young and naive (stupid) when we took it out, and believed what the FA told us. We'd gone along wanting a repayment mortgage - he'd told us we were crazy, we'd pay it off 8 years earlier with an endowment and shown us three projections, the lowest of which we'd still be better of than with a repayment. We'd never heard of an endowment before we met him. I genuinely believe we were mis-sold - along with many other homebuyers in the late 80s.

I too was young and naive when I took mine out 21 years ago - they are due to mature in four years time. I really didn't understand how these things worked at the time and everyone else was doing the same thing. I'll be lucky to get back what I put in but it's too late to cash them.

[Troll]

Yep - we got 'compensation' for a missold endowment - the compensation was the money back + interest at an agreed rate (not sure who agreed it) but it was around 5 - 7 % a year. About 20K more than the endowment was worth (a lot less than we'd put in).

Did taking that mean you lost the life protection element?

[DimPrawn]

Did taking that mean you lost the life protection element?

You can buy straight forward life assurance policy for peanuts. Even £1M+ payout costs less than a Sky+ subscription.

[mudskipper]

Did taking that mean you lost the life protection element?

Yes - basically the policy ended.

[Troll]

You can buy straight forward life assurance policy for peanuts. Even £1M+ payout costs less than a Sky+ subscription.

I got caught out by that as well.... I was after 100k life only policy to provide for the family if anything happened to me - My financial advisor suggested a policy written in trust which would cover until age 65... I thought that meant 100k cover until 65.... missed the small print which gave them the right to review cover against premiums after every 10 years.... 100k cover is now 65k & another review in 5 years ho fookin hum

[DimPrawn]

I got caught out by that as well.... I was after 100k life only policy to provide for the family if anything happened to me - My financial advisor suggested a policy written in trust which would cover until age 65... I thought that meant 100k cover until 65.... missed the small print which gave them the right to review cover against premiums after every 10 years.... 100k cover is now 65k & another review in 5 years ho fookin hum

The clue is in the phrase "My financial advisor".

This is the 21st century with the Internet. You don't need a "financial advisor" any more than you need a lawnmower consultant to cut the grass, infact it's the quickest way to lose money.

[Shimano105]

I never trusted endowments when they were the in thing, just seemed very dodgy to me.

I never trusted a financial adviser - how could they be doing anything other than gaining commission on what they sell?

I fell for the pension lark, but parked that after a few years.

I did pay off the mortgage asap though.

Simpleton economics, not made me much but saved me a flippin fortune.

[DimPrawn]

I never trusted endowments when they were the in thing, just seemed very dodgy to me.

I never trusted a financial adviser - how could they be doing anything other than gaining commission on what they sell?

I fell for the pension lark, but parked that after a few years.

I did pay off the mortgage asap though.

Simpleton economics, not made me much but saved me a flippin fortune.

WHS. Avoid anything that involves middle men such as "financial advisers". Avoid high debt, complicated financial products and anything where it's impossible to get your money back in a reasonable timeframe.

Buy low, sell high and no.1 rule, never lose money.

HTH BIDI

[Fred Bloggs]

My 25 year mortgage endowment matured 18 months ago and failed to repay the mortgage by about £3k. I think we just about got back what we'd paid in but we had to find £3k to clear the mortgage. I had 2 x 20 year policies as savings that I surrendered after about 10 years of paying in and made small profits on, it seems that was a good move now.