have clerical medical pension and want to do research about changing

sidi5

Hello

I have a clerical medical pension at mo and have been putting 75pounds in it every month for the past couple of years which I know is nothing but figure at least am trying and it is all I can afford at the moment.

I want to look around and see if I'm in a good plan or not but am not sure where to start looking or what I'm looking at and don't want to go shell out for advice if I don't have to.

Can people please give me some tips or tell me if clerical medical is a good company to be with in the first place.

dunstonh

Can people please give me some tips or tell me if clerical medical is a good company to be with in the first place.

They had some excellent plans as far as value goes in their last few years but they also had some expensive ones. Without analysis it would not be possible to say what you have. Although it was their personal pension that allowed the better value. Their stakeholder post 2005 was full stakeholder cost potentially (which allowed up to 1.5% for the first 10 years before dropping back to 1%). However, it had fund based discounts which could counter that on larger values. Although if you had larger values, then the personal pension (of CM or others would come in better).

sidi5

Hi there,

Sorry for late reply some more info.

Don't have a stakeholder but have a Individual Pension plan.

Tried to do some research about its performance but was told it was failing by some and to hang in there by others.

dunstonh

Tried to do some research about its performance but was told it was failing by some and to hang in there by others.

Did any of these people actually know what they were talking about are were they just making a random guess?

i.e. did they put the projections through software to see how they compared to modern funds? Did, they analyse the portfolio and compare it with alternative options available?

Were those that said it was failing give a reason why they said it was failing? i.e were the funds compared against their sector and performance relative to sector or were they just talking about the fact the values dropped in 2008/9 but went up in 2010/11?

sidi5

Not sure as it was friends trying to anaylsis it through the internet

Told them about the fund and they said that it was underperforming but seemed lower risk than stakeholder pension so might be worth hanging on to it rather than transfer to stakeholder

dunstonh

Told them about the fund and they said that it was underperforming but seemed lower risk than stakeholder pension so might be worth hanging on to it rather than transfer to stakeholder

I am not picking holes but just giving you an indication that the information you have been given is a bit duff.

stakeholder pensions do not perform. They are a "tax wrapper" that contains investments of your choice. The term "stakeholder" indicates a defined method of charging. Thats all. So, a fund cannot underperform (or outperform) or be higher or lower risk than a stakeholder pension.

What they have said is something along the lines of which is faster, a car or petrol.

The funds that were available on the CM stakeholder were also available on the personal pension. However, the personal pension had a greater fund range on top of that as well as the ability to have lower charges (depending on version and how it was set up).

Off the cuff remarks about what is best (existing or alternative) cannot be of any real value without a proper analysis of what you have. I suggest that once you can afford to get that gross premium to £100pm, that you contact a local IFA and ask them to do an analysis of your existing pension for ongoing suitability. At £100pm you will get access to most personal pensions and these are typically cheaper than stakeholder for everyone with more than around 10 years to go until retirement.

sidi5

Thanks for advice as soon as things get to point where can afford extra cash will do that and will hold tight with the one I have for just now.