Do you have a guarantee?

If you have a with profits policy of any type the first thing to find out is this: are there any guarantees anywhere in the terms and conditions. One of the little gems of with-profits is that they were commonly constructed and set up in a different era. This means that the companies often built in harmless (or so they thought) guarantees. Even if you joined the with-profit fund more recently such guarantees may apply.

For example, bonuses applied to funds a few years back could be guaranteed at a future date, known as a spot date and the guarantee as a spot guarantee. That means the company cannot reduce the value on that date (so they may reduce it now but have to pay the full value at the future date).

Alternatively some pensions have guaranteed minimum pension incomes payable, which could be far higher than any income obtainable in today’s market.

Guarantees may be in the small print, not obvious – it is always the first question you should answer (or get answered) when you open your with-profits investment and start to investigate it.

Even if you have a guarantee which you have missed – where a date has passed - it may be possible to explore if this was communicated to you in a way that was fair. There may be grounds for seeking out utilising the guarantee terms in this instance.

In respect of guarantees there are questions you need to ask:

1. Do I have a guarantee?

2. If yes to the first, what is it worth, when can I use it and how does it benefit me?

We can help! Our team is geared up to helping you get these questions answered and then analysing how this affects things for you going forward and what your options are. Get in touch here.