18 year old invested 100k in ILP. 3 years later, lost 38k…

Hey everyone! I’m 21 years old & need some serious advice. 3 years ago, I invested $100k in an ILP🥲

I received some inheritance & wasn’t sure what to do with it. A friend of mine recommended his FA to discuss more & recommended me to invest in ILP. It sounded like a good plan and I trusted her.

Fast forward 3 years later, I’ve lost a total of 38k.

I have absolutely no idea what my FA is doing but I really don’t think I should be losing this much money?!? Everything I ask, it’s always “the market is down, give it time”🙃 I’m desperate to save my funds before I lose everything. I was told not to surrender as I would have to pay a huge penalty. It’s a 10 year plan.

Can someone please advise me on what to do? 😭 I’m feeling lost and regretful. I need someone who actually knows what they’re doing. Really thought a FA could help me with my finances :(

Discussion (56)

What are your thoughts?

Learn how to style your text

Ian

04 Nov 2023

Oh shit...

Save

Anonymous Poster

26 Oct 2023

It went down to 61k today 😭 FA said can't do anything since I'm already "in", if not more losses...

The exact message was⬇️
"Unit trust fund performance generally are weighed on yearly basis. We are not playing stock market which carries higher risk thus requires more attention.

China had some mortgage default scare last 2 weeks. The government has since swiftly introduced measures to aid by lower their lending interests."

Btw 4 months ago, FA switched my funds into equities to "get bigger gains" (Greatlink global technology fund, Greatlink US income & growth fund and Greatlink China growth fund)

can anyone confirm if this is the correct way? As I literally don't see any changes and I'm still losing money each day! 🥲

Save

View 3 replies

blur panda

Edited 17 Oct 2023

Your agent is doing a very bad Job. Even the worst stock in my portfolio don't suffer 38% loss. Time to switch her away and take control of your investment. Can consider switching to this. Decrease tech and put to global equity if u don't want so risky.

I also signed up 3yrs ago... Invested 7800, now value 7600

Btw GWA can premium holiday from year 5. The fees are considerably one of the lowest among ILP of 0.3%pa over 30yrs, however GE fund are very poor quality

Save

View 3 replies

Vivian Ho

Edited 14 Oct 2023

I feel awful getting to know of your experience, and the similar experience of the commenters.

Although people say it is paper loss of -38%, you will still need a ~61.29% to breakeven. It would be worst to surrender because there will be high charges involved.

I would suggest you to find out exactly where are your funds invested in, within the policy of Great Wealth Advantage and Smart Invest.

Then work it out with your FA, or another investment-savvy professional/individual, to restructure your asset allocation to chase back returns when the market rallys again.

Not all FAs are selfish salesman that cares just about their targets without the knowledge to handle investments properly.

Before working with any FAs for investments, understand their mindset towards investments, and the strategies they use to handle clients' portfolios. "Just buy-and-hold" does not cut it - at all.

Save