UR TV CAST

This is subject to some conditions, particularly that the policy was taken out before 1996, with no demand for more recent policies. But it is unwise to sell any Standard Life policy at present, as you will lose your windfall from the company’s impending demutualisation.
Q. Q I recently retired and paid off my mortgage. I am considering cashing my Standard Life endowment policy as the proceeds will be of more use now than in 10 years. Can I expect to get a better price from a specialist firm buying up endowment policies? NF, by e-mail

A.

David Arnold, director of traded endowment intermediary AAP, says: “There has been a huge surge in business with demand for endowments from mainland Europe, so prices are getting higher for people selling policies.” He adds that 12 to 18 months ago, sellers could expect to obtain 5 to 10 per cent above surrender value if they sold a Standard Life endowment, but now the figure is 15 to 20 per cent. It is here that the regulators and the Government should now be putting their efforts. Many of the necessary resources are already available online, but not only do they need promoting, but many people need to be given some new motivation to take an interest. Not only is financial literacy generally poor, but many people’s financial expectations in terms of investment and retirement are unrealistic. Making people understand just how much they need to save for a decent retirement is often a very effective way to focus minds.In the meantime, however, the responsibility lies with us each individually.. Although numerous initiatives have recently been concocted to help today’s school children, real progress has been slow.

The personal-finance qualifications that are now available are currently only offered in a few dozen schools. But at least the situation here look set to improve.For today’s adults, on the other hand, there is a much bigger problem. And while the parents of today’s baby-boomer generation were relatively thrifty, and much better at teaching their children the value of money, finance has not played such a big part in children’s upbringing in the years since.Furthermore, the financial marketplace has changed hugely in the last few decades. One-in-three people with a mortgage pays their lender’s standard variable rate (typically, some 50 per cent higher than the market-leading deals) simply because they forgot to switch when the last offer came to an end. And millions of us are also paying unnecessary charges for going overdrawn or not making payments on time, only because we don’t keep a close enough eye on our bank balances.A new survey published this week revealed that almost three-quarters of 25-34-year-olds in Britain do not have a proper handle on their finances.