What is Platinum Bond Plus?
This type of investment involves a degree of risk. Its value can go down as well as up, so you might get back less than you put in.
For a summary of your Platinum Bond Plus with-profits investment, please see our Platinum Plus: An overview of your with-profits investment document (PDF - 657KB)
Product features
We'll send you a statement once a year, on the anniversary of your investment to let you know how it's performing*
Annual Bonus
Each year, we may add an annual bonus to your investment.
Investment term
There's no fixed end date. So you can invest for as long as you like.
Income
You can make withdrawals from this investment, to give you a 'regular income'.
*You can ask for a valuation of your investment at any time by calling us on 0345 605 7777.
More features
Cashing in
You can cash in all, or part of, your investment at any time.
When you do, we need to make sure we pay you a fair value for your investment at that time by applying a Final Bonus, or a Market Value Reduction (MVR). Remember that if you make a partial withdrawal this will reduce the value of your investment.
Final Bonus
We may apply a Final Bonus to top up your investment when you cash in your Bond, or in the event of your death. This makes sure we pay you a fair value for your investment at the time. You can find details of any Final Bonus on your annual statement. Or, if you ask for a valuation of your Bond over the phone, we’ll include this for you as part of the valuation.
Market Value Reduction (MVR)
When you cash in your Bond, we may apply a Market Value Reduction (MVR) to lower the value of your bond. This is to make sure you are paid a fair value for your investment at the time. We will not apply a MVR if you die.
Because of the economic climate and market conditions of the last few years, no MVRs have been applied to Platinum Bond Plus policies since 14th February 2013.
You can find out more about MVRs and these rates by reading our brochure.
Platinum Bond Plus, an overview of your with-profits investment (PDF - 161KB)
Income
You can make withdrawals from this investment, to give you a ‘regular income’. Up to 5% each year of the total amount you invested at the time without needing to pay any tax straight away.
Death benefit
Platinum Bond Plus is also a life assurance policy. When the person covered by the plan dies, we'll pay 101% of the plan value plus any further bonuses added at that time. The death benefit won't be lower than the premiums you've paid, less any money you've withdrawn from your policy.
If you have a joint policy and one of the policyholders dies, we will convert the policy into the sole name of the surviving policyholder.
Statements
We'll send you a statement once a year, on the anniversary of your investment, to let you know how it’s performing. Your statement will tell you if we've added an Annual Bonus to your investment. You'll also be able to see the current Bonus Rate or if we'd charge you any MVR if you wanted to cash in your investment.
You can ask for a valuation of your investment at any time by calling us on 03456 057777.
Product details
How we share the profits
How we share the profits
When you invest in Platinum Bond Plus, we pool your money together with lots of other investors’ money in a ‘with-profits fund'. A team of experienced investment professionals manage the fund.
Our investment strategy is to achieve growth by investing in different types of assets. These include:
- UK and overseas shares
- government and other bonds
- property
- cash
- alternative investments and more.
Because some people want to invest for longer than others, we make sure that everyone who invests in the fund is paid out a fair value when they come to cash in.
Profits from the investments made by our expert Fund Managers are added back to the fund. Then we share them with all the investors by adding bonuses to their investments.
Your returns are ‘smoothed’ over time, to reduce the impact of the daily ups and downs of the stock market. With-profits investments are a good fit for long-term investors who:
- Want better returns than they can usually get on cash savings
- Don't want to be fully exposed to the unpredictability of the stock market
But remember, unlike cash savings, the cash-in value of your investment may go down as well as up. You could get back less than you've invested. Read the Market Value Reduction section of this page for more information.
We add annual bonuses and review these on a regular basis. Annual bonuses share part of the profits of the fund with policyholders and increase your bond value. You can find more details on your annual statement.
Analysis and performance
Analysis and performance
Remember that past performance isn't a reliable measure of future performance. But if you’d invested £10,000 in Platinum Bond Plus during the last 15 years, this table shows you what you would've got back.
| Length of investment at 1 April 2019 (years) | Surrender value as at 1 April 2019 (£) | Rate of return on premiums paid (% pa) |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 16,286 | 6.3 |
| 9 | 17,583 | 6.5 |
| 10 | 21,150 | 7.8 |
| 11 | 18,077 | 5.5 |
| 12 | 16,970 | 4.5 |
| 13 | 19,207 | 5.2 |
| 14 | 21,604 | 5.7 |
| 15 | 23,887 | 6.0 |
| 16 | 27,501 | 6.5 |
| 17 | 24,565 | 5.4 |
| 18 | 24,647 | 5.1 |
| 19 | 23,650 | 4.6 |
| 20 | 25,938 | 4.9 |
Asset mix (as at 31 December 2021)
The with-profits fund is made up of different types of investments (assets).
Asset mix (as at 31 December 2021)
The with-profits fund is made up of a variety of different types of investments (assets).
- UK Shares = 16%
- Overseas Shares = 26%
- UK Government Bonds = 11%
- Corporate Bonds = 22%
- Property = 16%
- Alternative Investments = 6%
- Cash and Other = 3%
How we manage your investment
We provide a document called ‘The Principles and Practices of Financial Management’ (PPFM). This explains how we manage your investment.
Visit our PPFM page to download the latest version.
Fees and charges
Fees and charges
When you invest in Platinum Bond Plus we charge you for looking after and managing your money.
Fees and charges summary
There's a one-off charge of 4% for making an investment in Platinum Bond Plus on ‘day one’ of your investment. We calculate this as a percentage of the amount you invest.
We also charge you an annual management charge for the yearly expenses of managing your Bond. We deduct this from the investment profits of our with-profits fund before working out bonuses.
The annual management charges applied to your Bond are:
| Entry date after | Annual management charge |
|---|---|
| 1 July 1998 | 0.25% |
| 1 April 2002 | 0.50% |
| 28 July 2003 | 0.75% |
We aim to keep these charges to a minimum. We'll let you know if we make any changes.
What about tax?
Platinum Bond Plus can be a tax-efficient way to invest. In summary:
- We'll cover your basic rate of income tax and capital gains tax liability, for any growth of the investments in the ‘with-profits fund’. You cannot recover this tax.
- You can withdraw up to 5% each year of the total amount you invested without needing to pay any tax straight away. You might choose to do this to give you a 'regular income'.
You'll find more information about taxation in our brochure, “Key Features of The Co-operative Platinum Bond Plus”. We sent you a copy of this brochure when you invested.