What Now!

sgb479

Any advice appreciated,
Just received my statement from Scottish Equitable re: Private Pension, showing transfer value Feb 2008 £44,868,transfer value Feb 2009 £36,973! and whilst i was prepared for bad news, this is a total disaster.
What are my options?

Mort_Gage

Without wishing to add to your obvious stress at the fall in your PP it is an 18% fall whilst to stock market as a whole has declined by more than this during the timeframe you mentioned.

You don't say how close to retirement you are. If you're not too close then hopefully your investments will recover.

I'm sure others will be along with alternative suggestions.

Robert_Sterling_3

The past is not a guide to the future.

My shares in Northern Rock were worth £6,000 one day and shortly after were worth nothing.

purch

What are my options?

Find out more about your Pension, and what it is invested in.

Then you might have a better chance of avoiding a 17+% fall in it's value.

dunstonh

Private Pension, showing transfer value Feb 2008 £44,868,transfer value Feb 2009 £36,973! and whilst i was prepared for bad news, this is a total disaster.

Why is that a total disaster. That looks quite good to me. As mentioned above its only an 18% drop. Thats nothing in the scheme of things. It doesnt even get classed as a crash (as it hasnt dropped by more than 20%).

Invesmtents zig zag. Always have, always will. In 2000-2002 the FTSE dropped 43%. It doubled in the following 6 years. This is what happens with investments. You dont look at the drops and panic in the same way you dont look at the growth years and assume thats what you will always get. You average out the returns.

What are my options?

stop worrying about what is quite normal. There have been around 10 periods since 1986 where losses in excess of 10% have occured. Nearly once every two years. There have been 8 financial crisis since 1956. An average of once every 7 years.

sgb479

Thanks for the replies.