Investment Bonds - sorting out your financial affairs

Investment bonds are lump-sum investments with insurance companies.

For many years investment bonds have proved to be a popular way of investing. They can be tax efficient, flexible and easy to administer but to get the most from your investment bond you need to be aware of your options and the tax implications.

Modern investment bonds will typically offer a wide range of fund options from a variety of top fund managers. This may not be the case for some of the older bonds that have been held for many years.

Reasons for reviewing an investment bond could be:-

Investment strategy – to ensure that your chosen investment funds are suited to your current objectives and tolerance to investment risk.
Performance – to identify underperforming investment funds and reallocate assets to more appropriate funds.
With-Profits funds – changes to the asset allocation in recent times and closure of some funds to new business can mean that with-profits funds in particular could benefit from a review.
Taking regular withdrawals – to provide additional ‘income’ from regular withdrawals from the bond or to alter the amount that you are currently taking.
Tax – to plan the most tax efficient time to take withdrawals or to surrender the bond.

For more information and advice please contact Expert Financial Solutions.

Updated: June 2007

Expert Financial Solutions Ltd are independent financial advisers (IFA) / financial planners based in Witney, Oxfordshire. We serve the local community in and around Abingdon, Banbury, Bampton, Bicester, Burford, Chipping Norton, Cheltenham, Cirencester, the Cotswolds, Henley on Thames, Kidlington, Lechlade, Oxford, Wantage, Witney and Woodstock. We specialise in pensions, retirement planning, pension annuities, investments including PEP, ISA, OEIC, unit trusts and investment bonds, and inheritance tax (IHT) mitigation and trust investment. One of our advisers is a Chartered Financial Planner and we are proud of having Oxfordshire's only Resolution qualified and accredited IFA for pensions on divorce.