Increase contribution or put eggs in two baskets?

Samps

I have a stakeholder pension and no company pension. I have been contributing less than a year but feel I am able to pay more in. Is there a general rule (without it being too circumstance specific) about whether to increase my monthly contributiuon or to start another pension scheme so as to have a couple of funds and spread the risks/rewards?

edinburgher

But surely you can hold multiple funds within the one scheme? Increasing your payments if you can comfortably afford to do so is a no-brainer, but I don't see why you'd need to start another pension.

dunstonh

Is there a general rule (without it being too circumstance specific) about whether to increase my monthly contributiuon or to start another pension scheme so as to have a couple of funds and spread the risks/rewards?

Assuming unit linked and ringfenced assets apply, there is no real benefit having multiple pensions. Indeed, it may cost you more.

Holding multiple funds may or may not be a good idea depending on your investment strategy and how you are investing. A lazy investor using single sector funds may end up worse off than one using a self balancing portfolio fund. Whereas an active investor or someone getting IFA servicing will usually prefer single sector funds and having multiple funds is the norm in this case.