Pension advice 29 years old dormant

dorrellm

Hi i hope someone can help i currently have 7500 in old dormant pensions. I am 29 and my current company do not offer a pension so i figured i had better get on it before it is to late. I am thinking of investing 250 a month and upping it when i get pay rises in the future.

The current pension is with standard life and i believe i can transfer my existing pension into another one of there products (personal pension) and continue investing in this. The charges i believe is 1% of the fund please correct me if i am wrong as it seems i may have this wrong.

What i really want to know is whether i am paying to much i really could do with someone showing me with calculations the difference with continuing on with standard life or another product. Am i over analysing this or is this sensible to be looking at. The funds i am invested in are below any help would be appreciated.


LOCATION - (PERCENTAGE OF SAVINGS)

FIDELITY SPECIAL SITUATIONS FUND (13) JUPITER MERLIN INCOME FUND (20) JUPITER MERLIN WORLDWIDE FUND (13) NEWTON GLOBAL BALLANCED FUND (20) SL PENSION MANAGED CASH FUND (34)

Loughton_Monkey

Your pension is still growing. 'Dormant' is probably not the right word.

We can only rely on your word that it's 1%. Unless we all read the terms, how can we confirm that you are paying 1% charges? 1% is generally 'reasonable' and could probably only be bettered if you wanted to start a new one with a considerable monthly investment.

But don't expect much growth with over a third of it in a cash fund. Look them all up on trustnet. After charges, these are destined to lose a fraction of your money every year. They are intended only for those getting close to retirement and who want to avoid the volatility of 'normal' equity funds.

dorrellm

What kind of risk is advisable at my age

at the moment its pretty much

25% risky
40% medium risk
35% low risk

the numbers above are not exact

ffacoffipawb

dorrellm wrote: »

What kind of risk is advisable at my age

at the moment its pretty much

25% risky
40% medium risk
35% low risk

the numbers above are not exact

I'm 47 and my SIPP is 100% direct equity (18 different UK FTSE High Yielders) and I am happy with that level of risk. I also have a deferred final salary (private sector) pension of approx £8,000 per annum payable from age 62, in today's money.

The SIPP is with SIPPDEAL, is worth 6 figures, and the charges are minimal.

Richie(UK)

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

I'm 47 and my SIPP is 100% direct equity ...

I think what ffacoffipawb is trying to say is that although age is a factor we all have different appetites for risk. That is, there isn't really an advisable level of risk based on age - it's all a question of what level of risk you are comfortable with.

dunstonh

dorrellm wrote: »

What kind of risk is advisable at my age

at the moment its pretty much

25% risky
40% medium risk
35% low risk

the numbers above are not exact

You should take the risk you are comfortable with. Not what someone else is comfortable with.

What is your definition of risky, medium risk or low risk?

dorrellm

Thank you for replying

I know that the percentage increase does depend on how the particular funds i have chosen do however with the risk i set out earlier

25% low risk
40% medium risk
35% high risk

In your opinion what should i be expecting as a percentage increase over a long period. 5% a year or 8% a year e.t.c.

Am i investing to low risk in order to achieve 7% a year

dorrellm

I was given a list of investment funds which had next to them a list of whether they where high, med or low risk this is how i based my definition of risk it was produced by standard life

margaretclare

You've got some global, some worldwide, some 'special situations' (whatever that means) and a lot in cash. If it was me, instead of the cash fund I'd want some UK equity, some European and maybe some in 'new technology' and/or energy, because this is what's going to grow over time. Others might add: Pacific rim, Japan, China. However, you've got global and worldwide already.

Are you able to keep an eye on these yourself and change them, or is the control all down to someone else?

dorrellm

its pretty much down to me i just log onto the standard life website and change what i want.

I very much agree with you i would definately think energy and green energy will be a good investment over 30 years.

margaretclare

dorrellm wrote: »

its pretty much down to me i just log onto the standard life website and change what i want.

I very much agree with you i would definitely think energy and green energy will be a good investment over 30 years.

For 'green energy' you could look at Jupiter Ecology.

Have a look at Hargreaves Lansdown's site. They write some very informative articles and they have a list called 'Wealth 150' - the 150 funds which, on their opinion, are likely to do best.

This is not 'advice', you understand. I'm not qualified to give any advice in any case, even if it was allowed on this site, but I've learned a lot over the past few years simply by being interested.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made - and I've made a few - was in ignoring a newspaper ad for 'unit trusts' waaay back in the 1960s when they were new.