Pension fund going down the pan

EdInvestor

You seem to be making a return of 6% net of charges where you are.Quite respectable, there seems no real reason to move.

dunstonh

I intend to seek the advice of an IFA but would welcome suggestions as to wether I should stay with Phoenix,transfer to another companies Stakeholder scheme or to a personal pension and which companies I should be looking at.

Impossible to say without a cost analysis being done. Not all Phoenix plans are the same due to the wide variety they have inherited over the years.

Mikeey_3

In terms of what to do, you need to sit down and work out:

1. Your term until retirement (i.e. your investment return period).
2. Your attitude to risk and whether this is likely to stay the same until you take pension benefits (e.g. some companies offering "lifestyling" funds where as you grow older and near your retirement age, the underlying funds automatically rebalance themselves more cautiously into less volatile assets such as cash and fixed interest).
3. Your expectations given your attitude to risk. If you're relatively cautious with your pension but have set your sights on growth rates of 8% plus then you need to manage your own expectations and either contribute more or decide on a more realistic view.
4. If you transfer via an IFA, you could get them to add trail commission (typically 0.5% a year) and let them take on the stress of managing the underlying funds on your behalf and rebalancing them. This is an extra cost but the burden then falls on them to deliver a service regularly (at least yearly) so that the underlying funds match your risk profile and expectations to retirement.