What are Friendly Society plans?

A Friendly Society invests the funds of its members and manages its insurance funds to generate returns to cover its operating costs, invest in services and to pay bonuses as required to its members. It does not have shareholders so any profits generated are distributed to members or member services.

What are Friendly Society benefits?

Friendly Societies offer a range of products – rang-ing from education, saving plans, funeral plans, income plans, etc – to allow individuals and their families to plan for the future with confidence. In a Friendly Society arrangement, members typi-cally pay a regular membership fee and hold regu-lar meetings.

What is a friendly bond?

Both Insurance Bonds (IBs) and Friendly Society Bonds (FSBs) are investments made with a single payment and have a nominal ten year term although the term may continue past ten years.

What does Friendly Society mean?

A friendly society is an organization to which people regularly pay small amounts of money and which then gives them money when they retire or when they are ill.

Are friendly societies tax-free?

Tax-free savings – Because of our unique legal status, friendly societies offer tax-exempt savings products that are not available from other providers such as high street banks.

How much can I invest in a friendly society bond?

You can invest a single lump sum of between £5,000 and £150,000 into the Investment Bond.

Are friendly societies not for profit?

Nowadays, friendly societies offer you similar services to banks or insurance companies. However, the difference is that the profits made by friendly societies don’t go to shareholders; instead, they are retained for the benefit of the policyholders.

Are friendly societies tax free?

Is a friendly society a charity?

Similar to an unincorporated charity the assets of the society are held by individual trustees on trust for the society and its members.

Are Friendly societies regulated?

Friendly societies offering ‘regulated activities’ are dual-regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

Are friendly societies regulated?

Who owns a friendly society?

They all have no public or private ownership – they are owned by their members, so there is a “mutual interest”. Friendly societies are registered under either the Friendly Societies Act 1974 or the Friendly Societies Act 1992.

What is the difference between friendly society and mutual?

The main difference between friendly societies and other mutuals is historical – many friendly societies have existed for centuries, offering social and financial services to their members. Nowadays they may offer products such as savings accounts, pensions and insurance.

What are the benefits of saving with a friendly society?

A further benefit of saving with a friendly society is that because of their special status they can offer additional tax-free savings over and above the ISA limit. In the case of Shepherds Friendly, you can save from £10 a month to £25 a month tax-free in their Tax Exempt Bonus Fund.

What is a friendly society and should you join one?

One big attraction of friendly societies is that they are owned by the members themselves. This means any profits generated go to members (directly or indirectly) rather than shareholders, as is the case with banks. A good example is Shepherds Friendly, which offers a range of savings, investments and insurance products.

What makes a friendly society different to a bank?

One big attraction of friendly societies is that they are owned by the members themselves. This means any profits generated go to members (directly or indirectly) rather than shareholders, as is the case with banks.

Are there any friendly societies that offer finance?

Many friendly societies today have either merged or evolved into modern, mutually run organisations offering financial services such as the below: There really is no difference to your bottom line or investment performance when taking out a plan with a mutual compared to a high street financial institution or bank.