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Is it worth taking out a pension...

Options
...in these uncertain times?.

My daughter took out a pension with Equitable Life 3 weeks before the big upset.

Should she dump it and take a chance with the future or, move it to another provider.
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Comments

  • Pal
    Pal Posts: 2,076 Forumite
    A pension is just an investment wrapper that gives certain tax concessions. It is always worth saving something for your retirement, and pensions are the obvious way to do it.

    The alternative is that your daughter lives off very poor state benefits when she retires, which won't be a lot of fun.

    By "uncertain times" what exactly do you mean? Investment markets are a bit odd at the moment, but given that you would be contributing rather than taking money out, you might see this as a reasonable time to be investing in the stock market, given that retirement might be 20+ years away.
  • Pal
    Pal Posts: 2,076 Forumite
    Re Equitable Life: How old is your daughter? If she is close to retiring then probably she should stay where she is.

    If she is fairly young then she should bite the bullet and move the policy elsewhere.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 119,595 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I did an Equitable life pension switch recently on a unit linked fund and the penalties werent too bad. The stakeholder pension offered the lower charges over the remaining term so it was easy to justify. However, I do recall seeing a with profits one earlier in the year which had massive penalties which couldnt be recouped.

    Uncertain times are great for those paying in monthly. You get to buy your units nice and cheap. Say you have 20 years to retirement, the ideal scenario is having 19 bad years of stockmarket performance and having a boom in the final year. Its all very cosy when it goes up every year but you end up buying less and less units for your money. Having these periodic declines is a good thing unless you happen to be retiring in the decline period. Although with a bit of sensible planning, you would have moved your portfolio out of the higher risk funds in the years before.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • Milarky
    Milarky Posts: 6,356 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic
    Uncertain times are great for those paying in monthly.  You get to buy your units nice and cheap.  Say you have 20 years to retirement, the ideal scenario is having 19 bad years of stockmarket performance and having a boom in the final year.  Its all very cosy when it goes up every year but you end up buying less and less units for your money.  Having these periodic declines is a good thing unless you happen to be retiring in the decline period.  Although with a bit of sensible planning, you would have moved your portfolio out of the higher risk funds in the years before.

    This is 'pound-cost-averaging', of course? [Or should that be 'year-cost-averaging' or 'decade-cost-averaging': "It might be down for the about the next ten years, but think how cheap it will look in 30 :o "]

    DD, are you aware of any general 'dip in the month' on unit prices? I pay in on the 1st, and it's 'uncanny' how the markets rally in the run to such dates, only to subside again. Would you suggest I alter my direct debit to mid-month instead? ;)
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  • Pal
    Pal Posts: 2,076 Forumite
    That would be advising on past performance. Even if DD responsed, you would be wise to ignore him. ;)
  • DiggingOut
    DiggingOut Posts: 770 Forumite
    If past performance is telling us something about investing habits (large numbers of pension contributions coming in 1st of the month) then it might be worth acting, not on the past performance, but on the underlying fact that is causing it.

    But I'm certainly not aware of any such general pattern, and lots of pension fund (and other) investments are not at the end/beginning of the month.
    I have five stars! This doesn't mean that I know anything about any of the things I post. I could be a raving lunatic, or a brilliant genius, or just some guy on the internet. In fact, I could be all three at the same time.

    If anything I say makes sense, then do it. If not, don't. Don't blame me or my stars if you do something stupid because I suggested it. I'm responsible for my own stupidity only. You are responsible for yours.

    Why, I don't even have five stars anymore! Aren't you glad you aren't responsible for my stupidity?
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 119,595 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    That would be advising on past performance.  Even if DD responsed, you would be wise to ignore him.   ;)

    :-X bah :-X

    I know not of a pattern as to the best time of the month.

    That sort of micro management would be a little pointless on a long term plan like a pension as well.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
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