Utmost International
Choice

Utmost International's Choice is a single contribution, whole of life, investment-linked insurance scheme.

The plan is designed to pay a death benefit of 101% of the investment value of the plan following the death of the relevant life assured.

Features of the Choice include:

• Utmost says that it allows you to select from a wide range of investment options corresponding to some of the world’s leading investment funds.
• The Plan currency can be denominated in US Dollar, Pound Sterling, Euro, Hong Kong Dollar or the Japanese Yen.
• Utmost allows for a regular withdrawal facility in the Choice plan.
• A death benefit of 101% of the value of the plan is provided.
• The plan allows for partial or full surrender.
• The Choice also allows you to pay a one-off single premium and choose to pay additional single premiums on an ad hoc basis.
• Utmost claims to provide security through Guernsey’s ‘policyholder protection regime’.
• The value of your plan is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up. The return and value of your plan will be calculated by Utmost with reference to the performance and value of the underlying funds and may be lower than the return on the underlying funds due to plan charges and market fluctuations.

Investment options:

• Utmost International claims that the Choice plan gives you the ability to choose from a wide range of investment options, with the ability to tailor your choices to suit your individual circumstances and attitude to risk.
• At plan commencement, you can select investment options corresponding to underlying funds. Initially, you can select up to ten investment options but these can be changed throughout the life of your plan by use of the switch option.
• For each investment option selected, you will be allocated sub-fund units corresponding to units in the underlying fund, which represents your investment option. Each of your investment options has a corresponding underlying fund.
• Utmost Worldwide will purchase or sell units in the underlying fund corresponding to your investment option. As a result, Utmost will allocate or de-allocate sub-fund units of investment options to your plan accordingly.
• The ownership of the units in the underlying fund resides with Utmost at all times. You are not investing in the underlying funds and you do not have any rights or ownership over these underlying investments.
• For each unit of an underlying fund purchased or sold, Utmost will allocate or de-allocate a sub-fund unit of investment options corresponding to the underlying fund to/from your plan.

For details of the investment options available under Choice, please refer to the investment options guide attached in the documents section of this review.

Fees and charges:

• In addition to any fees and charges levied by Utmost International at plan level, the bid/offer spread and annual management charges of the underlying funds will be incurred.
• The annual management charge of the underlying funds is in the range of 0.5% to 3% p.a. of the net asset value.
• The maximum bid/offer spread is 5.75% of the underlying fund which, after applying discounts (if any) negotiated by Utmost International, is substantially reduced to a maximum of 2% and a minimum of 0%.
• Annual performance fees (if applicable), may also be applied at the underlying fund level.
• In addition, other charges may apply to underlying funds. Please note that the fees and charges at the underlying fund level will be reflected in the “total expense ratio” of the fund which is available from a financial adviser on request.
• Fund overheads and advisory service fees (advisory service fees of up to 0.75% per annum) are deducted from underlying funds internally managed by Utmost International and reflected in the relevant unit prices.

Fees and charges (if applicable) at underlying fund level may vary and the affected planholders need to be given a written notice in case of any variation. 

NOTE: We would recommend reading the expert verdict section of this review before making a decision.