Stakeholder pension performance.

cashflow

In June last year a stakeholder pension fund that I have was valued at just over £17000. This week it was worth £9800! 'Is it just me'?, or have stakeholder pension funds in general suffered as badly?

purch

stakeholder pension funds in general

It's irrelevant whether or not it is a Stakeholder Fund

It is the Investment that matters

What is/are the Funds invested in ??

dunstonh

The pension is just a tax wrapper. A container into which you place your investments. There are thousands of pension funds available (and indeed thousands of more options available which don't involve funds). The performance of those funds will depend on where you invest.

As purch says, it doesn't matter if the fund is an internal fund (typically used as stakeholder funds), an external fund or unit trusts. Its where you invest that matters. If you held the same investments in an ISA, investment bond or unwrapped (such as unit trust of direct holding) then the performance would be the same (minus any potential tax difference and charges differences their may be).

A drop of that size suggests you have probably invested in a poor way. Unlikely to have diversified and chosen a very high risk area where it hasn't paid off for you.

What investment fund(s) have you got?

cashflow

Thank you to both of you for the prompt responses. I had previously had the funds in 'Pacific Fund' and 'European Tactical', and then I switched to 'Balanced Managed' and 'UK Alpha'. Recently, I switched all the funds into 'Natural Resources.'

bigbloke45

So, really, the results are down to you and not "stakeholder" Pensions.

If you don't know what you are doing; don't do it!

dunstonh

cashflow wrote: »

Thank you to both of you for the prompt responses. I had previously had the funds in 'Pacific Fund' and 'European Tactical', and then I switched to 'Balanced Managed' and 'UK Alpha'. Recently, I switched all the funds into 'Natural Resources.'

Crikey, no wonder you have dropped so much. You have followed the fashions after the event and caught every downside possible.

Its almost as if you have waited until a sector has gone up, peaked and then gone into it before its decline.

<cruel to be kind mode on>

Never invest your money in one fund or sector. Especially in high risk areas as you have. Dont follow the fashions as it only ends up in losses.

Your investment strategy has been awful. If you had been an IFA i would be putting in a complaint about you now and it would be upheld!

You now need to decide if you are really up to this or not. Investing is about knowledge, experience and time. If you dont have it then going DIY is dangerous and your results show that. Dont be afraid to use someone to do things you cannot do. If you really want to keep up with DIY investing then start reading a lot more before you do too much more damage.

<cruel to be kind mode on>

I dont think you have a stakeholder either as you wouldnt expect a specialist fund like natural resources or a uk alpha or euro tactical fund to be in a stakeholder.

cashflow

When I posted my enquiry on the forum yesterday it was because I was concerned about the downward spiral in my stakeholder account funds. This trend was either going to be due to the recent global economic situation, or wrong choices made by me over the past year when switching into new stakeholder funds. I suspected the latter reason, so, thanks for your replies confirming that - I'll be speaking to an IFA this week. Although I've had big losses over the
last year, it hadn’t always been an unenjoyable ride. In fact, prior to July last year my funds had increased by 54% in about nineteen months, with minimal switching.
( Prior to that time I did have more time to research performance tables. )

dunstonh, in your second response yesterday you wrote: ' I dont think you have a stakeholder either as you wouldnt expect a specialist fund like natural resources or a uk alpha or euro tactical fund to be in a stakeholder.' The Company that I transferred my stakeholder funds to almost three years ago was highly rated in a 'Which' magazine article about stakeholder pensions. I receive a paper statement from them for each switch I make,
and I've no reason to doubt the accuracy thereof.

dunstonh

dunstonh, in your second response yesterday you wrote: ' I dont think you have a stakeholder either as you wouldnt expect a specialist fund like natural resources or a uk alpha or euro tactical fund to be in a stakeholder.' The Company that I transferred my stakeholder funds to almost three years ago was highly rated in a 'Which' magazine article about stakeholder pensions. I receive a paper statement from them for each switch I make,
and I've no reason to doubt the accuracy thereof.

Can you name the stakeholder pension provider and verify it is a stakeholder and not a personal pension as I am not aware of any stakeholder pension that gives access to specialist or targetted funds that you have mentioned. It sounds more like a personal pension that has access to stakeholder funds as well as external funds.

Ballyorca

Folks,

Does anyone know of any league tables for Stakeholder pension providers? Not just charges but performance of funds as well. I know a lot of them use third party funds and have been plodding through those.

bigheadxx

dunstonh wrote: »

Crikey, no wonder you have dropped so much. You have followed the fashions after the event and caught every downside possible.

Its almost as if you have waited until a sector has gone up, peaked and then gone into it before its decline.

<cruel to be kind mode on>

Never invest your money in one fund or sector. Especially in high risk areas as you have. Dont follow the fashions as it only ends up in losses.

Your investment strategy has been awful. If you had been an IFA i would be putting in a complaint about you now and it would be upheld!

You now need to decide if you are really up to this or not. Investing is about knowledge, experience and time. If you dont have it then going DIY is dangerous and your results show that. Dont be afraid to use someone to do things you cannot do. If you really want to keep up with DIY investing then start reading a lot more before you do too much more damage.

<cruel to be kind mode on>

I dont think you have a stakeholder either as you wouldnt expect a specialist fund like natural resources or a uk alpha or euro tactical fund to be in a stakeholder.

Doesnt seem that way to me at all. There is no sector that has particularly well in the past 12 months and falls of 40-50 % have been the norm. The OP stated that he had made significant gains prior to this and his mistake has been in trying to time the market. If you are an IFA then you should know that any stock market investment should be seen as long term. If you are willing to take the risk then high risk sectors are the best option for long term capital growth and having a substantial pension pot. I find this short termism incredulous when discussing pensions.

dunstonh

Ballyorca wrote: »

Folks,

Does anyone know of any league tables for Stakeholder pension providers? Not just charges but performance of funds as well. I know a lot of them use third party funds and have been plodding through those.

That isnt how investments work. For example, a higher risk investment would likely have gone down more in this period than a lower risk one. So, does that make the lower risk one better?

There is no sector that has particularly well in the past 12 months and falls of 40-50 % have been the norm.

You are responding to August 2008 posts. At that point losses of that size had not been the norm

If you are an IFA then you should know that any stock market investment should be seen as long term. If you are willing to take the risk then high risk sectors are the best option for long term capital growth and having a substantial pension pot. I find this short termism incredulous when discussing pensions.

The comments were correct for August 2008 when the thread started. In the 12 months before 12 August 2008, the FTSE100 had dropped 4.8%. The OP was reported a loss of 57%. For the period in question the figures did not add up.