Standard Life Sterling Fund

Lawlesstce · 7 March 2009 at 5:18PM

MikeJones wrote: »

Trustees of pension schemes that invested in the Standard Life Pension Sterling fund are taking legal advice according to this article:

- Standard Life victims take legal advice (Professional Pensions)

The Trustees of my pension fund have given me the "great opportunity" of moving my AVC fund from Sterling One to the Std Life Managed Cash fund.

The choice seems to be between an uncertain future with Sterling or a guarranteed loss with the managed cash Fund [ after management charges].

Despite all my requests they are determined to leave my money at risk until the fund matures in Oct 2010.

wonderman · 13 April 2009 at 10:19PM

Has anyone else noticed that this fund is very slowly losing its value - nothing big 0.1 or 0.2 of a penny at a time - but there is a definite trend. It will only take a few months of this and the 5% reduction will have been achieved without all the fuss.......

Daytona · 14 April 2009 at 10:49AM

I no longer hold, so I haven't been taking notice, but looking at the literature, what you say is true.

Fund summary -

The Stakeholder varient -
webfund6.financialexpress.net/clients/standardlife/fundFactsheet.aspx?type=retail&code=AY34

The Personal Pension varient -
webfund6.financialexpress.net/clients/standardlife/fundFactsheet.aspx?type=retail&code=ST61

There is no commentary in the Monthly Investment Bulletins & Fund Reports section -
uk.standardlifeinvestments.com/adviserzone/literature/75/simplified_prospectus.html

compare this with with the safer varients, with a low exposure to asset backed securities (ABS) -

Life Assurance varient -
webfund6.financialexpress.net/clients/standardlife/fundFactsheet.aspx?type=retail&code=J326

Standard Life International - Standard Life Sterling Liquidity Plus
webfund6.financialexpress.net/clients/standardlife/fundFactsheet.aspx?type=retail&code=QK41
Current no information available.

Standard Life have refused to give me the necessary information to determine what is going on, so I've escalated it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FSO) as I believe that the fund has been incorrectly marketed and valued since the start of the credit crises.

Daytona · 14 April 2009 at 10:55AM

Sorry about the non linked URLs, but I got the following message and due to the SL links not starting with the traditional www, I was able to get around it -

"The following errors occurred with your submission:

1. Sorry as a new user you are not allowed to post with links. This is done to stop spammers clogging up the site. Please edit your message below to continue."

This is a rather stupid policy by MSE, they should do as other forums do and use CAPTCHA on user registration and new user posts with links. Even better, use the popular and free phpBB forum software.

Perfect_Choice · 15 April 2009 at 1:07PM

Both the Standard Life Sterling and its “safer” Managed Cash funds have both been subject to a slowly decreasing unit price, based on the last 10 days, they’re actually showing an annual equivalent of -0.5% for MC and -11.6% for Sterling within the stakeholder pension scheme and based on the change in the unit price since the 5th April.

No doubt the 1% management charge is a key factor here but find it incredible that a main player like Standard Life cannot create a simple deposit fund model where funds can be kept without any fear of reducing in value. Through other pension plans, I have investments in Skandia deposit, L&G cash fund and Norwich Union deposit, all of which are still showing a slow but consistent growth in value.

Another case where SL need to get their act together as the privilege of having your invested cash “managed” is that they manage to make a loss due to their management charges, unlike the other pension deposit/cash funds mentioned above!

wonderman · 15 April 2009 at 11:23PM

Perfect_Choice wrote: »

Both the Standard Life Sterling and its “safer” Managed Cash funds have both been subject to a slowly decreasing unit price, based on the last 10 days, they’re actually showing an annual equivalent of -0.5% for MC and -11.6% for Sterling within the stakeholder pension scheme and based on the change in the unit price since the 5th April.

No doubt the 1% management charge is a key factor here but find it incredible that a main player like Standard Life cannot create a simple deposit fund model where funds can be kept without any fear of reducing in value. Though other pension plans, I have investments in Skandia deposit, L&G cash fund and Norwich Union deposit, all of which are still showing a slow but consistent growth in value.

Another case where SL need to get their act together as the privilege of having your invested cash “managed” is that they manage to make a loss due to their management charges, unlike the other pension deposit/cash funds mentioned above!

I predict SL will slowly go bust, they appear to mismanage most things. Have you tried to access their web site "after hours"? It's closed. Which other web site closes? :rolleyes: Had a look at the sterling fund performance on their web site in opening hours - no - why not - its blacked out - has been for weeks and weeks. Managing your money and giving you access to info on where it is invested? Oh no sir we don't do that, we are SL. Very arrogant out of touch company IMHO.

cogito · 16 April 2009 at 8:38AM

I access the Standard Life website several times a week and have never had a problem although I don't feel the need to use it between midnight and 7am. Details of the Sterling Fund are readily accessible.

http://www.standardlife.co.uk/content/policy/sl_funds/PS4/prices.html

wonderman · 17 April 2009 at 9:32AM

cogito wrote: »

I access the Standard Life website several times a week and have never had a problem although I don't feel the need to use it between midnight and 7am. Details of the Sterling Fund are readily accessible.

http://www.standardlife.co.uk/content/policy/sl_funds/PS4/prices.html

Thanks, there must be something wrong with my link as the sterling fund is not accessible - as is the Protection one fund on your link.
What a dismal graph the sterling one fund is; for a safe safe cash fund - to quote SL "all investments are AAA rated".

Daytona · 17 April 2009 at 9:46AM

Thanked for a link which doesn't work -

There was an error generating or downloading the PDF document.

also as I said in my previous post where I provided links to all, there are 4 different varients of the Sterling fund, so double check that this is the correct one.

EdGasket · 4 May 2009 at 4:34PM

Re. 'I'd have thought we would have got some written confirmation of the actual refund taking place, amount and where they've put it'.
I would have thought so too but I never had any documentation re. the uplift in the Sterling Fund plus funds I had switched into after the drop in Sterling Fund. They do seem to have made the correct adjustments but no explanation; nothing. I just spotted that I now have 5% more units in a fund I had switched into before the 5% uplift in the Sterling fund. Would have been nice to be told what's going on !
Does anyone know if the 'Managed Cash' fund is any safer than the Sterling Fund?

Standard Life Sterling Fund

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