Family Flexible Plan
Beat the taxman together
Work together to benefit your family
Family Flexible Plan allows you to pool your family investments together. The purpose of the plan is to let you invest as a family and beat the taxman together! You choose to invest for 15 to 18 years, but have the option to exit the plan before your chosen term. Take a glance at the table below for a useful summary of the plan and visit the in detail tab for more information on Family Flexible Plan.
| i Your Family Flexible Plan | i Things you should consider |
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No advice has been provided by Scottish Friendly in relation to this plan. If you are in any doubt as to whether this plan is suitable for you, you should contact a financial adviser for advice. If you do not have a financial adviser, you can get details of local financial advisers by visiting www.unbiased.co.uk. Advisers may charge for providing such advice and should confirm any cost beforehand.
Work together to benefit your family
Thinking about tax-free savings and investments for your family? Family Flexible Plan may be the right thing. You get more out of family savings and investments by pooling your investments in Family Flexible Plan.
Tax-free family investments
Family Flexible Plan is for families in the UK. Members of your family aged up to 64 can invest. You're allowed to put up to £25 per family member every month tax-free in family investments with a friendly society such as Scottish Friendly. This is over and above other tax-free allowances such as ISAs.
With Family Flexible Plan you don’t pay tax on the growth of your family investment (although like ISAs and pensions, tax is automatically deducted from UK share dividends). And there’s no tax to pay when you cash in your family plan after 10 years. Please note that tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and the levels and basis of taxation may change in the future.
When you start your Family Flexible Plan you choose to invest for 15 to 18 years. This gives your investment plan long-term growth potential plus a tax-free lump sum. But you can of course exit your investment plan earlier, just as you see fit.
If you need your money earlier than planned, no problem. You have the flexibility to take your money out whenever you need to. With Family Flexible Plan you won’t get penalised by us if you need to take money out of your family investments earlier, because we don’t charge you for an early payout. However, you may have to pay tax on profits if you cash in your investment plans before 10 years. For details, please see Key Features for adult investments and Key Features for the children.
Start a regular family savings and investment habit
Family Flexible Plan may also do the trick if you want to start a regular family savings and investment habit. The plan is set up for a family, but each family member receives an individual policy that is their property, so everyone benefits.
It doesn’t matter what you need family savings and investments for in the future. For your home, a holiday or something unexpected. You decide when the time is ripe, but you know in advance that each family member will have a cash lump sum to look forward to when they need it.
Meanwhile, you put away a small amount into your family investment every month. That’s the regular bit. How much depends on you. The minimum is £15 and the tax-free limit is £25 per month per family member. This limit is set by the Government to benefit everyone. As long as you, and your family members, haven’t used up your tax exempt savings allowance either with us, or another friendly society you can invest tax-free in Family Flexible Plan.
You’ve got lots of options for family investments
You can take out a family investment plan for up to five people. Family Flexible Plan is actually a collection of individual tax-free investment plans. You’re allowed to invest one plan per family member. When you set up your family plan you can split your total monthly payment across as many family members as you like. Plus you have the added flexibility of deciding who will pay into each plan.
Take for example a family of four, consisting of Mum, Dad and their two children. Dad can make an investment for his plan and one of the children. Mum can make an investment for her plan and one of the children. Alternatively, Mum or Dad could pay for the entire family investment.
In any case, putting money aside into your family investments could quickly become a habit. When you set up paying into your Family Flexible Plan by Direct Debit, you choose the day the money leaves your account. Make it payday and you may hardly notice the payment.
About growth and risks
Your Family Flexible Plan money is invested in the Scottish Friendly UK Tracker Fund. The fund closely tracks the performance of shares in the stock market, investing in British household names such as Tesco, BSkyB and BT.
We regularly review our funds and what they’re tracking. So hopefully, as the value of the funds rise, your family investment can grow. Plus, annual dividends are reinvested in the fund to bolster long-term growth. Of course, as you know, share prices go down as well as up and you’re not guaranteed to get back your original investment.
With us, you only pay a small cost for the life cover that’s automatically included for each participating family member.
A family investment with life cover
Should the worst happen to a participating family member while you’re in Family Flexible Plan, we cannot console your loved ones, but at least you’ll know their estate will receive some financial comfort.
Family Flexible Plan provides life cover for each family member taking part. The level of cover and the cost of any deduction depends on the age of the individual family member and their monthly payments.
So, your family can relax a bit more when you pool your resources with Family Flexible Plan.
Get your Family Flexible Plan
Submitting your application for Family Flexible Plan with Scottish Friendly is safe and easy.
Make sure you have read and understood the Key Features for adult and Key Features for child investments then simply apply online for your family investment.
If you apply, we suggest printing or saving a copy of this page, other relevant pages and the Key Features.
How your family money could grow
It’s impossible to tell you the exact return your family may get in the future but we can give you a rough idea. Take a look at what a family of three might get back from their combined investment if they start a Family Flexible Plan with Scottish Friendly.
Projected returns on £75 per month invested into 3 plans over 18 years*
Projected returns for illustration only. Remember each family members original investment is not guaranteed and each person could get back less than the amounts shown.
Investing in the stock market is not without its risks because shares can rise and fall and each family member could get back less than the amount paid in.
| Projected return for: | Age at outset | Monthly premium | Projected value at 5% per year | Projected value at 7% per year | Projected value at 9% per year |
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| Adult 1 | 30 | £25 | £7,460 | £9,070 | £11,000 |
| Adult 2 | 30 | £25 | £7,460 | £9,070 | £11,000 |
| Child | 3 | £25 | £7,480 | £9,090 | £11,100 |
Source: Scottish Friendly. Based on 2 adults aged 30 and 1 child aged 3 at outset investing £25 per month each. *Total amount invested £16,200. These figures are only examples and are not guaranteed. They are based on premiums being paid into three plans for the full 18 years. They are not minimum or maximum amounts. What each family member gets back depends on how their investment grows and on the tax treatment of the investment. You and your family could get back more or less than the figures projected above and the total amount invested. The annual rates of growth for the illustration have been based on our reasonable estimate of potential returns and are the maximum projection rates permissible by the Financial Services Authority. All the figures include the deduction of the actual charges assumed on each family members plan. Do not forget that inflation would reduce what you and your family could buy in the future with the amounts shown. (For more details on the effect of charges on your plan, please see the Key Features for adult investments and Key Features for child investments).