Endowments

These are insurance-related policies with a life assurance and a savings element. The minimum term is typically ten years, and typical terms are twenty and twenty-five years. 

They have been used traditionally as a repayment vehicle for an interest-only mortgage, and in their usual form are invested in a with-profits fund, although unit-linked endowments are also popular.

The under-performance and cloudy charging structure of many endowment products have made them less favoured by investors nowadays, and indeed better alternatives could often be put together by combining a separate life policy and investment product.

Taxation: The investment fund suffers tax internally. Provided that the qualifying rules are not broken, the owner of the policy has no further tax to pay on growth at  maturity. 

For investors with under-performing endowment policies, there can be a difficult choice as to stopping premiums, encashing the policy, keeping it going or trading it. Call an adviser on the number shown to discuss your options.   

Maximum Investment Savings Plans

Similar to endowments, this variation has a small insurance element and the maximum amount of the premium into the investment fund. The main attraction for such plans are their tax treatment for higher rate taxpayers (same as for endowments, above). However, their charging structures are usually not as attractive as say, ISAs and Unit trusts/OEICs.