should we cut and run or hold on in there?
Bit of background, OH and I took out a mortgage in 1988 and were persuaded to take out an endowment policy to, and I quote 'repay the mortgage, see any children through university and probably have the holiday of a lifetime'. As we all know, that wasn't quite accurate and although we had looked at changing it over the years were never financially in a position to do so and decided we would have to see where we were when it matured and re-arrange our finances accordingly to repay the remainder of our mortgage (which has increased since the original loan as we moved then had an extension). The original policy was taken out with Regency Life, who sold out to Windsor Life and our policy is now owned by Re-assure.
Roll forward 24 years and 7 months and I telephoned Re-assure today to get some idea of what happens in September and how far out the payment will be from the £73k it was supposed to cover. The lady on the phone told me if we cashed the policy in today it would be worth £78.5k :T:T:T
Obviously I was delighted as we have spent the past 10 years getting 'red alert letters however I am now in a quandry as I don't know whether to cut our losses and take the money or hold out until September. She was unable to advise me if there was an early redemption policy or if there was a bonus that would not be paid if we don't stay in to the end but said she would find out and come back to me. She also said she will get a forecast figure sent to me as it wasn't available on her screen due to it being less than 6 months to the end of the policy.
I know no-one will be able to tell me if the policy will go up or down in the next 5 months (and if they could they would be a very rich man ;)) but would be interested in opinions as to what you would do. I don't want to lose out on any potential increase but equally be gutted if it goes down before maturity.
Bit of background, OH and I took out a mortgage in 1988 and were persuaded to take out an endowment policy to, and I quote 'repay the mortgage, see any children through university and probably have the holiday of a lifetime'. As we all know, that wasn't quite accurate and although we had looked at changing it over the years were never financially in a position to do so and decided we would have to see where we were when it matured and re-arrange our finances accordingly to repay the remainder of our mortgage (which has increased since the original loan as we moved then had an extension). The original policy was taken out with Regency Life, who sold out to Windsor Life and our policy is now owned by Re-assure.
Roll forward 24 years and 7 months and I telephoned Re-assure today to get some idea of what happens in September and how far out the payment will be from the £73k it was supposed to cover. The lady on the phone told me if we cashed the policy in today it would be worth £78.5k :T:T:T
Obviously I was delighted as we have spent the past 10 years getting 'red alert letters however I am now in a quandry as I don't know whether to cut our losses and take the money or hold out until September. She was unable to advise me if there was an early redemption policy or if there was a bonus that would not be paid if we don't stay in to the end but said she would find out and come back to me. She also said she will get a forecast figure sent to me as it wasn't available on her screen due to it being less than 6 months to the end of the policy.
I know no-one will be able to tell me if the policy will go up or down in the next 5 months (and if they could they would be a very rich man ;)) but would be interested in opinions as to what you would do. I don't want to lose out on any potential increase but equally be gutted if it goes down before maturity.