Share protection through life assurance

Directors' or partners' share agreements may provide for the remaining directors to purchase the shares of other shareholding directors should they die. However there is a risk that the remaining directors may not have sufficient funds to hand when a fellow director passes away unexpectedly.

One solution to this is to take out life cover as a source of funding.

To arrange such cover requires the understanding and agreement of all concerned. It will also require some careful calculations to determine how much cover is required.

However, it will be a comfort to all directors or partners of a business to know that their own or a colleague's death will leave the other directors with sufficient support to carry out the terms of their shareholders' agreement.

This type of policy can also include critical illness for protection in the event that a director or partner is forced to leave due to illness.

Key Person Insurance

Directors and employees with highly specialist skills or knowledge are key employees of the companies they work for. To lose one as a result of a critical illness or death can be damaging to the business. That is why taking out Key Person insurance to protect the company is a wise move.

Key Person insurances can provide several benefits. These can include:

1. Paying the costs of a temporary replacement
2. Meeting the costs of recruiting a permanent replacement
3. Covering the cost of death or incapacity of a key member of staff.

The full scope of cover will depend on the type of policy purchased but companies ignore the risks of losing key staff at their peril. Shareholders, bank managers, suppliers and customers may not be so laid back.

Every business needs to protect itself. For most businesses the most valuable asset it has is its people. Without them, a company’s survival could be at serious risk.

With that in mind we can help you take the right steps to protect your people and your business. After all, you already protect many of the important things that keep your business running smoothly, like property, fleets and stock. So, you should also insure your most valuable assets: your staff and shareholders.

Fixed interest investments is the term used to describe Government and Corporate bonds (which should not be confused with ‘investment bonds’ which are a kind of life insurance policy).

These kinds of bonds are loans to governments or companies that guarantee to pay the bondholder a specified level of income (called the ‘coupon’) for a specified period of time. At the end of that time, the bond issuer will repay the capital loaned.

Role In Investing

Fixed-interest securities can form an important part in diversified investments and investment strategies by:

• Providing a reliable income stream and liquidity
• Providing an element of capital security

The risk of fixed-interest investments is that the bond issuer defaults on either the interest payments or the repayment of capital.  Historically speaking fixed interest investments have not provided the same levels of return as equity investments, but the risk to an investor’s capital is generally lower.

As a rule of thumb, the rate of interest offered increases with the risk of the issuer defaulting.

Open Ended Investment Companies (OEICs)

An OEIC works in a very similar way to a unit trust except that an OEIC is legally constituted as a limited company (Plc). OEICs have been operating outside the UK for some time, but only since 1997 has it been possible to operate an OEIC in the UK.

OEICs are not trusts and do not therefore have a trustee. Instead, however, they have a depository which holds the securities and has similar duties to a unit trust trustee.

Most OEICs operate as umbrella funds which means that the OEIC is authorised and then can set up sub-funds without gaining individual authorisation for individual sub-funds. Each sub-fund has different investment aims. For example, a sub-fund may specialise in the shares of small companies or in a particular country, such as the USA. Each sub-fund can also have different charges and minimum and maximum investments. Unit trusts are allowed to do this too, but few do.

Investing in Unit Trusts

Unit Trusts are a common type of collective investment.

A unit trust is a large fund of monies and/or investments pooled together and controlled by trustees to gain capital appreciation, income, or both.

Unit Trusts are made up of 'units'. Each unit will have both a buying price and a selling price. The difference in these prices includes the fund management charges. The number of units held, multiplied by the current price, gives the current value of an investor’s holding.

These investments are open-ended, which means that units are created every time an investor puts money into the fund, and liquidated when they withdraw money so that the fund can react to demand and continually grow through prosperous periods.

Investors can then enjoy the benefits of larger investments. However, during periods of poorer performance, the fund may need to sell assets to enable investors to withdraw their monies, so the fund size is reduced.

Collective Investments

With a collective investment, your money is pooled, along with that of other investors, to create a large capital sum. Professional fund managers then use this capital sum to build up a large portfolio of investments. This approach enables you to indirectly hold a wide range of stocks and shares or other investments in a way which would not be practical for the majority of individual investors, whilst reducing the effects on your capital of fluctuations in individual share values.

Collectives can also invest in fixed-interest instruments. These include UK government stock, also known as gilt-edged stock or "gilts" for short. Corporate bonds are also fixed interest instruments and both represent direct borrowing on the part of the issuer of the bonds. They are referred to as "fixed interest" because their cost of borrowing is fixed, while the price of the bonds themselves may float up or down depending on supply and demand.

Investing in Equities

Investing in equities means buying stocks and shares in companies listed on the stock exchange. Historically this brings greater rewards than investing in bank accounts and bonds as you have the possibility of gaining not only a dividend - a proportion of the company's after-tax profits distributed to shareholders - but also a capital appreciation. If the price of the shares goes up after you buy them then – on paper - you have made a capital gain.

But with these increased rewards comes greater risk as the value of shares can go down as well as up, which means you risk losing your investment if the value of your shares falls.

Individual Savings Account (ISA)

ISAs represent a tax-efficient container in which to place cash savings and investments in equities, bonds and collectives.

An ISA is available to all UK resident individuals and to Crown servants (for example, those in the UK’s armed forces, diplomatic service or overseas civil service) and their spouses or civil partners who are not resident in the UK.

To open an ISA:

• You must be over the age of 18 for cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs.
• You cannot hold an ISA with or on behalf of someone else.

Frozen ISA Allowances for the 2026/2027 tax year

Endowment Policies

These are life insurance policies that are designed to pay a lump sum after a specific term and pay out a guaranteed sum if the person insured dies within the term of the plan.

Although it is still possible to buy endowments that guarantee the value of the lump sum at maturity, the majority of policies do not guarantee the maturity value - the money that you get back will depend on the value of the investments within the policy.

By using life insurance policies, the value of the plan at maturity can be paid without paying any further tax if certain ‘qualifying conditions’ are met. Although the policyholder can avoid paying any tax at maturity, the insurance company does pay tax on income and gains within the policy.

These policies can be particularly useful if you have an investment objective you’d like to realise regardless of what happens to you. For example, to repay a mortgage, provide a legacy for your children or provide for university fees etc.