Good time to combine my pensions together?

dunstonh

Yes they were invested in funds that were in the markets.

How did you lose money in the growth periods then as not one FP fund failed to perform in line with its sector?

With hindsight I always thought the pension advise we got was duff

Unlikely. Joining your occupational scheme is always good advice when its final salary or there is an employer contribution.

the pension was started when there was a lot of talk of mis-selling

That was between 1988 and 1993. However, that was were people opted out of the occupational scheme. You joined it.

basically the adviser didn't seem to want to say much, only advise we got was tick boxes for secure growth and balanced growth.

Not unusual for occupational schemes to get limited or no advice. The adviser is employed by the firm. Indeed, many of the administrators involved are not even advisers. They just complete the paperwork and avoid giving advice. Secure growth and balanced would not be 100% equity.

Now comparing the performance of these FP funds with similar funds of other providers they didn't seem to compare very well.

I suspect you were not comparing like for like. There is no point comparing a balanced fund against a US fund or UK Equity fund for example.

chriswatts

Not sure why my pension funds performed badly but the yearly report never looked good.

Not sure also if the adviser didn't give advise because they didn't want to or if like you said occupational schemes usually didn't but for a money purchase scheme I would have thought they'd tell you a bit more about fund options available than just tick here and there.

As for comparing like for like the FP funds that my pension was invested in were listed on a league table of like for like funds and were never in the best performers.

dunstonh

As for comparing like for like the FP funds that my pension was invested in were listed on a league table of like for like funds and were never in the best performers.

You would never expect them to be in the best. You dont expect that with internal funds. Sometimes they get lucky but if you take FPs managed fund for example (which is the default fund on many of their legacy contracts), that has mirrored the sector average exactly. i..e. exactly mid table.

Not sure why my pension funds performed badly but the yearly report never looked good.

dont see why. However, given the period yours would have been taken out you would have seen several changes to the projection rates used. This would have seen the final projection examples come down in value. That doesnt mean they were performing badly. It just means they were using lower projection rates than they used to in the past. This would apply to everyone as the FSA set the projection rate maximums.

I would have thought they'd tell you a bit more about fund options available than just tick here and there.

As I said, they may not have been advisers but worked at the advising firm. Most money purchase schemes have IFA firms as administrators but that doesnt mean you are seeing an adviser. If you want more advice they have to factfind you and go through the full advice process. Maybe the terms of the contract with the employer didnt cover the provision of financial advice. Remember the firm would have been employed to work for the employer. Not you.