The 3 main drawbacks of a Zurich Vista
Offshore savings and pension plans such as the Zurich Vista cost as much as 9% per year for the first 18 months, dropping to roughly 4% per year thereafter.
This is in large part because a lot of the money you agree to save is paid in commission to the salesperson who convinces you to start the plan. In broad terms, the market average for this type of plan is around 4.5% of the total amount you contract to save over the entire plan (whether you save it or not).
The technical name for this type of product is a maximum investment plan; in many ways it is similar to an endowment plan.
The structure means that if you stop paying into the plan the charging structure keeps on incrementally increasing based on the originally agreed monthly premiums.
In effect this means the charges are applied on every premium - whether your pay the premium or not.
This can wipe out any returns and savings if you need to take a break or decrease your premiums.
The commission paid to the salesperson for selling this type of policy is usually paid on the very first day you start the policy.
This is called ‘indemnified commission’, and in many cases means you are unlikely to receive a good level of ongoing service (or any service) with regard to this policy - because there is no incentive for the salesperson to bother continuing to help you. They've already been paid up front...
In effect you are paying up front for service over the full length of the policy, rather than on a pay as you go basis - i.e., how you pay a fee-based financial adviser.
So, there is no expectation of a fee to incentivise service from the salesperson: he’s been paid whether or not you get the service!