Pension fund going down the pan

dunstonh

I don't think the average punter like myself realised pensions could be so volatile

Pensions are not volatile. They dont make money or lose money. The investments you or your IFA choose is where the money is made and lost. If you choose a medium risk investment or spread then you will get volatility that is typical with medium risk. Same applies to low risk or high risk and any other level of risk on the scale.

It's as though all the gains over 10yrs or so have been wiped out in 1yrs poor stock market.

Yes. Thats how it works in the short term. However, all the money that is in there in March is now around 30% higher than it was.

It doesn't give me much confidence

That is because you dont understand it. I dont mean that in a rude sense but as you have bought without advice you have never had anyone explain how investments work. You have purchased an investment and been lazy with it. Thats how most do it. You havent spread the investments, rebalanced them, reviewed the risk or anything like that. You have just let it go with the flow. You need to do this or employ an IFA to do it for you. If you lazy invest then you shouldnt expect to get the best out of your investments.

It is possible as well that you are investing above your risk profile. Everyone has a different view on risk.

jem16

EdInvestor wrote: »

Your fund has doubled in value over 5 years.

Perhaps you are not really reading the figures properly?

I would imagine the OP is thinking that over the last 10 years he has paid in £100pm, so £1200 yearly. Over 10 years he has paid in £12,000 or £15,000 if you include tax relief ( will be slightly more than that as tax relief was 22% for the majority of that).

So based on the contributions paid in, he hasn't made any gains.

Of course, as dunstonh says, reviewing the investment over the last 10 years would probably have made quite a difference.

bendix

I think you're all wasting your breath. The OP has decided investments are a waste of time and will likely give up, thus condemning himself to a miserable retirement, and all to save himself a paltry £100 a month which - incidentally - is far too little for a 46 year old man to be contributing to a pension.

it all seems so futile somehow.

I can't for the life of me understand how anyone 'can't understand investments'. Do people live in a bubble and never watch the news, read newspapers or show the slightest bit of intellectual curiousity?

Daz2009

EdInvestor wrote: »

Your fund has doubled in value over 5 years.

Perhaps you are not really reading the figures properly?

You seem to be ignoring the thousands I've contributed during these years.
Gains ? Hardly any to my eyes

Daz2009

bendix wrote: »

I think you're all wasting your breath. The OP has decided investments are a waste of time and will likely give up, thus condemning himself to a miserable retirement, and all to save himself a paltry £100 a month which - incidentally - is far too little for a 46 year old man to be contributing to a pension.

it all seems so futile somehow.

I can't for the life of me understand how anyone 'can't understand investments'. Do people live in a bubble and never watch the news, read newspapers or show the slightest bit of intellectual curiousity?

A previous poster mentioned I had failed to review my investment.This isn't strictly true.If you look at the figures above everything was going ok up til 2007,I was getting growth and I was happy with that.2008 saw a blip and so I was waiting for the 2009 figures,which is why I find myself on here asking for advice.

The reply above is really helpful isn't it. You don't know my financial circumstances and how much I can afford to contribute.For most people day to day expenditure is more important than pension contributions.
Incidentally,contributions were supposed to increase 5% yearly but Britannic's sytem constantly failed to do this and in the end I just upped it to £100 per month and left it at that.
You may not have noticed Bendix but there's a recession on and times are very difficult for some people.

Getting back to the point.....contributions of around £14,000 over 11 years and I have a pot of around £14,000.....what do I do next ?

jem16

Daz2009 wrote: »

Getting back to the point.....contributions of around £14,000 over 11 years and I have a pot of around £14,000.....what do I do next ?

How about seeing an IFA to review your pension arrangements?

Daz2009

That was something I had in mind anyway but my previous dealings with them hasn't been entirely successful which is what lead me here.
How do I find a good one ?

dunstonh

A previous poster mentioned I had failed to review my investment.This isn't strictly true.

Looking at the statement isnt reviewing your investments.

1 - How are you invested?
2 - is it consitent with your risk profile?
3 - Are their alternative options that are better suited going forward?

if you look at the figures above everything was going ok up til 2007

Correct. Good period that. Easy to double your value in the 2002-2007 period.

2008 saw a blip and so I was waiting for the 2009 figures,which is why I find myself on here asking for advice.

Blips that will happen periodically and if you follow the news you would have been aware about. As you are not close to retirement, you dont worry about them as your current contributions are buying units much cheaper.

Whilst past performance is no indication of future returns, the recent stockmarket decline was within a few percent of the drop that occurred before 2002. 2002-2007 saw significant growth.

Getting back to the point.....contributions of around £14,000 over 11 years and I have a pot of around £14,000.....what do I do next ?

Either learn about investments or get an IFA to do it for you. Apart from that, dont worry about it. Lets say the next three-five years mirror the period that occurred after the last crash of this size, you will have around £30,000 ignoring future contributions. Zig zagging like that is normal. If you dont like it then reduce the risk of your investments. They will still zig zag but to a lesser degree. However, you may then be replacing investment risk with shortfall risk.

That was something I had in mind anyway but my previous dealings with them hasn't been entirely successful which is what lead me here.

IFAs didnt retail Britannic pensions. So, you didnt use one then. You may have used one with Equitable but it looks like you went transactional rather than servicing back then. Any further back than that and you cannot compare IFAs back then with IFAs around today. You cant compare products available back then with today either as its totally different nowadays.

Daz2009

dunstonh wrote: »

Looking at the statement isnt reviewing your investments.

1 - How are you invested?
2 - is it consitent with your risk profile?
3 - Are their alternative options that are better suited going forward?

Correct. Good period that. Easy to double your value in the 2002-2007 period.

Blips that will happen periodically and if you follow the news you would have been aware about. As you are not close to retirement, you dont worry about them as your current contributions are buying units much cheaper.

Whilst past performance is no indication of future returns, the recent stockmarket decline was within a few percent of the drop that occurred before 2002. 2002-2007 saw significant growth.

Either learn about investments or get an IFA to do it for you. Apart from that, dont worry about it. Lets say the next three-five years mirror the period that occurred after the last crash of this size, you will have around £30,000 ignoring future contributions. Zig zagging like that is normal. If you dont like it then reduce the risk of your investments. They will still zig zag but to a lesser degree. However, you may then be replacing investment risk with shortfall risk.

IFAs didnt retail Britannic pensions. So, you didnt use one then. You may have used one with Equitable but it looks like you went transactional rather than servicing back then. Any further back than that and you cannot compare IFAs back then with IFAs around today. You cant compare products available back then with today either as its totally different nowadays.

My previous dealings with IFA's weren't concerning pensions per se but mortgages,endownments and such like.
I haven't had any advice since 1998 I think

dunstonh

My previous dealings with IFA's weren't concerning pensions per se but mortgages,endownments and such like.

So decades ago then. It was a different world then. Also, its easy to look back at endowments being wrong but for decades they paid surpluses and the media and Consumers Association were all pro endowment and had this site existed back then, it would have best buys on endowments too. Things change. Most financial products from more than 10 years ago are obsolete. Many from as little as 5 years ago as well. This is why you need to keep them under review.