Phoenix Group Final Results

[Bouleversee]

I think the only possible fly in the ointment is regulation. ...

There is at least one other possible fly in the ointment: poorer investment performance and/or greater increases in longevity than their actuaries have assumed. And of course, those are exactly the situations in which a HYPer is most likely to want their HYP to perform relatively well...

Not saying "don't invest in life insurers", more "beware of investing too much in life insurers". And "beware of rose-tinted spectacles": the belief that a company has only one way it can go wrong is only slightly less rose-tinted than the belief that it has none at all...

Gengulphus

Yes, my husband lived considerably longer than expected, thanks to my care and battling with the medics, and who knows how long I might live (already 80) with my two thirds residual benefit from his annuity? Possibly not very long, after battling with probate and all the financial headaches, but you never know.. One comment I would like to make (though I daresay it is irrelevant to financial implications} is that I found Phoenix the slowest, least sympathetic, least efficient of the annuity companies I had to deal with following my husband's death.

[jackdaww]

i also have a note on my phoenix file - dont know the source ---

""gives poor service and poor outcomes for clients"".

[blobby]

Having been really positive about Phoenix I then come to a realisation that I don't really understand the business when reading the final results. I have been considering selling out as a result but today I'm more positive again due to a director buying a meaningful number of shares:

http://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london ... g/74158748

£63,600 investment by a director seems like a bigger vote of confidence than I usually see. This is from non-executive director Wendy Mayall who I hope understands the books better that I do.

[Alaric]

As a follow-up to the comments about regulatory risk, there's an article on the Telegraph website about pension transfers for under 55s.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pensions-ret ... tch-young/

It doesn't mention Phoenix, but does mention Abbey Life who are a recent Phoenix acquisition. It goes on to note the prospect of an FCA crackdown.

Pension companies face the prospect of yet another crackdown by the FCA unless they better understand how their customers are faring. Six firms were referred to the watchdog’s enforcement division a year ago over their unfair treatment of long-standing customers.

Senior management at the providers – which included Old Mutual Wealth, as well as Abbey Life, Countrywide, Police Mutual, Prudential and Scottish Widows – were found “not to have a grasp” of how these customers were being treated.