The research shows a staggering 64% of investors in with-profits investments are unhappy with their current performance, and more than one in four (28%) are very unhappy. Despite this, 65% still plan to carry on investing in them, but 25% - some 2.4 million people – intend to stop.
A comparison with research carried out a year ago shows that aversion to with profits among investors is increasing. The proportion of investors who are ‘fairly happy’ with their policies has fallen to 30% from 37% a year ago, while those who are ‘not very happy’ has risen to 36% from 33% a year ago. Those “Not at all” happy has risen to 28% from 24% a year ago.
Jeremy Leach, managing director of MPL, said: “Another year of volatile stock markets is making it difficult for with profits to deliver decent returns. Investors are leaving with-profits in their droves, especially those who are seeing their endowments fall short of repaying investors’ mortgages. But this doesn’t mean investors have lost their appetite for the steady, predictable returns that with profits once offered, it is just that with profits has failed to deliver. It is no surprise that only 3% of those people with these products are very happy with their performance.”
