Scottish Friendly Managed Growth Fund

For a while now I had been looking to put a small amount of money away each month. I found out that the Government lets you invest up to £25 a month with a friendly society and that this can be done without paying any tax, even when you get the final payout there is not tax to pay. Having searched the internet I came across 'Scottish Friendly' an assurance company. They offer a saving plan called the Scottish Bond, which makes the most of your personal tax free allowance; obviously you can only save up to £25 a month. It runs for a 10 year term and also provides some life cover for my monthly ... more

I've just had three of these come to maturity - one Scottish Bond and two Child Bonds. Each policy had £3,000 invested over a period of ten years: £25 per month for ten years. The two Child Bonds realised little over £2,900 and the Scottish Bond £2,850. And before you start comparing Scottish Friendly's Investment Analysts to a team of half-trained monkeys, you must realise that they probably have a team of very good investment people: what the poor punter gets is simply tied to the FTSE100 which has, of course, been very poor in recent years. So: Win:Win for Scottish Friendly - and I would ... more

In 1999 Both my wife and I decided to put just a small sum £10.00 each month with Scottish Friendly. So thats £1200.00 each over ten years. The Bonds just matured and guess what ,? we did not even get our full money back. Lost about £200.00 each. Would have done better putting it in the drawer every month. FULLY appreciate economic cycles etc., but these firms trade on "old fashioned" image safe as houses etc. They don't give you any warning as time proceeds that you will NOT be getting any positive returns and NO hint of actually "doing money" with them. Chief Exec. doing ok however , pension ... more