Independent Financial Advisors & Pensions

Nine_Lives

Lokolo wrote: »

Most probably overkill, but the IFA will want to know what you plan to get out of the pension and how much you plan on putting in as this will help make a decision as to which pension to go for.

They won't need to know you spend £120 a month on groceries!

Would they not be interested in my income -vs- my 'needed' expenditure? Such as board money, broadband, union fees etc (things i have to pay (you could argue broadband etc but just roll with it)) so that they could see/say whether the figure i want to pay in is realistic or not?

jem16

K_P83 wrote: »

Would the IFA be wanting expenditure details i assume?

To advise properly then yes an IFA would want all your income and expenditure. That was part of the info collected when I first saw my adviser.

Would these be any good to the IFA or is this going overkill?

I think those would come in very useful as you will be able to complete the factfind more easily.

Nine_Lives

Has something happened recently (today) Jem?

I got to work today & the woman who sorted out the papers for the pension through my work (Aviva stakeholder it turns out), she said that the news has been saying personal pensions aren't worth diddly squat now & it's all doom & gloom for them.

I'll still be going to an IFA when i get the chance, but in the meantime, what's going on & have i been given duff info again?

JoeCrystal

It is quite simple, the pension funds are invested in stock markets and so on and they have fallen. In my case, I just saw my pension fund's simple return going from +5% to -5% return in a week. I do not mind since if this fall in markets prolongs, it mean my contributions will buy more units. It is great for people who are still saving for their retirement but horrible for older people who may be retiring sooner. But you have to make sure you change your funds depending on how near to retirement. Such as the closer you get, the less risk in the funds you choose, for example, when you have five to ten years left you may want to put the money in Bonds and Fixed Interest funds, where the chance of things going bottoms up is less. This is proven in my eyes as an Fixed Interest fund in my pension scheme have not fallen compared to all other funds.

jem16

K_P83 wrote: »

she said that the news has been saying personal pensions aren't worth diddly squat now & it's all doom & gloom for them.

Everything in the media is always doom and gloom so I wouldn't base anything on what they say.

I'll still be going to an IFA when i get the chance, but in the meantime, what's going on & have i been given duff info again?

JoeCrystal has explained it all.

dunstonh

I got to work today & the woman who sorted out the papers for the pension through my work (Aviva stakeholder it turns out), she said that the news has been saying personal pensions aren't worth diddly squat now & it's all doom & gloom for them.

Someone that clearly doesnt understand investments (or pensions really as the recent events are not about pensions themselves but investments which could be held inside pensions or ISAs or bonds or held directly).

Markets go up and down. You have to average out the growth over the years. Think of it as a zig zag line. We have been having a poor summer for investing but its still not classed as a stockmarket crash.

Look at the US Market (as the US is the main cause of the recent drop). It is 10,809 points today. Its high point in the last 12 months was 12,876. Its low point in the last 12 months was 9,936. So, despite the recent decline, it is still higher than the lowest point in the last 12 months (and that ignores dividends).

The media reports often put no context in the figures and if you have a pleb that relies solely on media scaremongering (with phrases like plummet or plunge) then they are going to get things wrong. The media never reports when it goes up. So, you can end up with a situation that someone only hears the negative.