This is beyond me so I am seeking help here?

[BWanderers]

This may seem an odd place to ask about financial matters, but the subject is out of my realm of experience, & once I was asked for advice, I remembered having seen informed opinions on such themes given via the , & I really don’t want to give out bum directions based on my lack of knowledge, so here goes:

Just got off the phone to a marginally pissed bezza mate, who has been having issues with his properly mad as, / neurotic / P.in the A. / mentalist wife, & mother of his two kids, since nigh on the day they married...
However things have recently moved on a pace, & what maybe the final straw, is that of him finding she has hidden £55k given to them by her mum, away in a secret building society account. This is at the same time as she has been made redundant from her 2 day a week secretarial job whilst continuing to rack up debts on their joint family bank account....

He meantime is being made redundant from one of the banks ‘we the nation’ own, as his dept. is being closed, & the whole K. & K. shunted off to an Indian call centre (I kid you not, 400+ redundancies/payments funded by 'us' the tax payer, & 'our' jobs given away into the bargain. W.T.F.?)

Anyway, I digress.

He has a small endowment policy of just over £50 per month he has been paying since some time in the late 80's (way before they met/married) which was based on a property long since sold. (Also sold before they got together.) He gets occasional letters from them saying it won't cover the mortgage endowment part of this no longer relevant mortgage, & the last one he got, talked something like it being worth approx.. £30k, not the £45Kish it was meant to. It is due to come to fruition mid next year.

He wants to achieve 2 things.
1. Cash it in before the now inevitable divorce proceeding’s kick off. (Thinks there are no links currently to her, or the matrimonial home, & wants to keep it that way, as the letters about the endowment always went to his parents addy, purely through historical luck)
2. Add it, on the sneak, to his redundancy pay-out to invest in a business he is thinking of starting when he is put out of work in June

So, he wants to cash it in approx. a year early. All I have are vague memories of this type of early cash-in as being ill advised, & this is about all I have to offer him in the way of insight. Am I right, or are there 'clever’ ways of achieving this? Who gives the best deals on near fruition type endowments, if anyone, & what are the pitfalls to avoid. How much should/could he expect to receive a year-ish from its natural run out? Apologies for being a bit nonspecific about things, but I have had to filter the detail from him, through a can of summat he had necked!

Additionally, is he likely to be able to keep it from his wife’s possible future legal team, (By f'1ng chance, her job was as a legal secretary!!) & are there any other considerations I have not thought of on his behalf?

Whatever advice I glean from the SXOC's All Seeing Eye, I will wait till he is not ‘Can In Hand’ before I enlighten him.... I reckon he will need all his whit’s about him to understand/take any advice on this.

Sorry for another of my usual tomes, but this is one of only a handful of bezza M's I have kept all the way from way-back-when at college, so don't want to proffer bum info. to him?

Ta,
Rob.

ps. not wanting to turn this into a 'ain't birds bastids' type of a thread, he just got unlucky, (twice, A.i.H’s, - caught his 1st 'W', all humpty on the dumpty with her own uncle... aaaanother story.) & NEEDS advice, so what’ve you got?

[Jeff]

The value of his policy will depend on the specifics of that policy and the type of fund he's invested in. The terminal bonus could be as much as half of the full value at the end of the term, plus there could be a market value adjustment if he encashes early, so for the sake of a year he might get back less than half of what he would if he waited. He needs to ring the provider and discuss it with them and not do anything rash.

Dunno how divorces work but I'd also be very careful about trying to hide or disguise any matrimonial assets, as I expect all assets would need to be declared when procedings start and hiding any could lead to big trouble.

[TrIcK^]

Definitely at least seek professional advice about the divorce legality issues but if they can do it without fighting he can minimise cost wastage to vampire solicitors.

[sparkyhx]

The value of his policy will depend on the specifics of that policy and the type of fund he's invested in. The terminal bonus could be as much as half of the full value at the end of the term, plus there could be a market value adjustment if he encashes early, so for the sake of a year he might get back less than half of what he would if he waited. He needs to ring the provider and discuss it with them and not do anything rash.

Dunno how divorces work but I'd also be very careful about trying to hide or disguise any matrimonial assets, as I expect all assets would need to be declared when procedings start and hiding any could lead to big trouble.

Everything he said. cash in and you will problably loose huge amount, don't hide assets, you are on dodgy ground.

You can 'sell' endowment policies close to redemption - they basically give you a better price than the company and keep it going until the end when they gat the max value. You will still loose but not as much as cancelling

[BWanderers]

Thanks for these updates/inputs gents. I was on the phone to him last night & despite the warnings he still seems to be heading towards the non-declaration route, just because he doesn't think there are connections to his current set up, who knows....
To be honest I think much of his decision for now is based on spite, not sense, & maybe once the hidden £55k thing fades, he will see the bigger picture

As for the best monetary approach to him turning it in early, the option of 'selling' the endowment to a 3rd party looks most likely to provide anything near an acceptable cash in.

He's not a kid, & even older (& still alive!!) than me, so will I just pass on the info. from here, add my doubts to the mix, & leave it with him to come to a conclusion on his own.

Thanks once again, & if any one has recommendations as to which companies will give him the best deal, please let me know, as for the moral aspects, I will let his concience decide!

Cheers,
R.