Hi Mobashford, thanks for your question.

I really want to help but I'm a bit confused about this investment - could you give us a few more details, such as what type of investment it was and how the society's properties relate to it?

Thanks,

John

It is difficult to give specific advice about your situation without more detail so bear with my general comments.

I think you are using the term PIP as the shorthand for Personal Investment Plan which if I am thinking of the right bank is a flexible endowment. You can pay in a lump sum, regular payment or both.

You mention Inheritance Tax so I assume that these plans were written in a gift trust. If this is the case then it has a direct bearing in whether you can withdraw your money or not. If it is in a gift trust then you may be restricted in terms of how you can withdraw the money. Once the plan is in trust you are handling these plans as a trustee not as an owner. Therefore it may well be that to surrender would mean having to pass the benefits out to the beneficiaries.

It seems from the detail that you give that the plan was heavily invested in a commerical property fund. As you now know these funds have suffered falls in value in the last few months. Commercial Property is an important asset in anyone's portfolio but 50% is too high a percentage for most people. It is probably not a good idea to withdraw from a fund that has fallen this much as you are crystallising a loss. The assets could go further but there is probably some swing pricing in here as well. This is where the fund manager drops the unit price by 5% to ensure that anyone withdrawing pays the fair costs of selling off some of the property portfolio. In normal trading conditions this price should swing back the other way.

If you are thinking about cashing in you need to take some independent advice first. This is because you need someone who is suitably qualified to look at the trust as well as the investment and quantify for you what you lose by withdrawing. It sounds as if the original advice was from a Tied Adviser. I suggest paying for this advice on a fee basis rather than commission to avoid being sold another product by an adviser.

Please post again if you have further questions.

Matt Pitcher is a wealth adviser at Towry Law Group and a Moneywise Ask The Professionals columnist