Analysis Of Matured Minimum Cost Life Endowment With Profits Policy

[carpedeum]

As a naive and optimistic youth, I took out a Minimum Cost Life Endowment With Profits mortgage, partly as a result of falling for unregulated and good sales techniques of the time!

Rather than increasing the premium on the advice of the insurance company (and giving them more commission!) when the policy failed to perform, I remortgaged through an annuity mortgage after 10 years.

I retained my policy as an investment as I wouldn't have had the discipline to save the monthly premium by other means as I was by then married with three kids etc.

This policy has now matured (the figures are rounded up). Over the 20 years I paid in €32,000 in Premiums. The maturity amount is €45,000, giving a gain of €13,000. The tax relief on the premiums was mimimal as this relief was abolished soon after I started the policy. As an aside, the original mortgage was c. €66,000!

I would be curious to know the real return on my investment taking into account the average deposit/investment rates over the 20 years and the consumer price index etc.

Thank you in advance.

 

[GSheehy]

I don't have up-to-date figures to hand but in August 2009 the annualised rate of return on a 20 year endowment was around 4.8%. Even bearing in mind that the Sum Insured on your policy would have been higher (more of premium paying for life cover), the 3.25% that you are getting would appear poor.

Then again, the markets would have improved since August 2009 so one would assume that the maturity value (via annual return) would have increased.

'Minimum Cost' sounds like an old NU policy (?). If it is, the asset mix (to over 84% in Bonds) changed dramatically in June/July 2009. This might also account for the poor result.

GS