Can anyone advise regarding pension options please?

martyp

Hi all,

Sorry this is probably a very common post but I thought when I started a permanent job I should have a pension so chose one but now have had a letter asking me to make a choice on something before 31st January and I really am lost. I fear having to pay my financial advisor heavy fees if I go to him so wondered if anyone who knows loads about pensions could possibly be so kind to help at all?
It's a Defined Contribution scheme and I get a choice of:
Lifestyle Option
or
Selecting my own investment funds

Lifestyle option seems the easy idea but I'm worried that would be a bad decision?

Can anyone help me at all as there seems to be so much to understand and it really is all over my head when I try and read it through...

Many thanks in advance

blossomhill_2

I can't advise you on anything to do with pensions, but can't help thinking that if you are uncertain about this then you would be really stumped to select your own investment funds in such a short time

jem16

martyp wrote: »

Lifestyle option seems the easy idea but I'm worried that would be a bad decision?

It probably won't be the best decision but neither will it be the worst.

Unless you are prepared to do a lot of reading to find out what to choose and then to keep an eye on it at least yearly, you would be best to choose the Lifestyle option.

somethingcorporate

Unless you are putting lots and lots of money in it would probably make sense to choose the lifestyle option for now especially since you appear to be rushed.

Check the rules, with our scheme we can select funds once a year if we want to (I go with lifestyle choice) it seems to have been ok so far - outperformed the FTSE100 over the last 5 years or so.

martyp

Many thanks all. The lifestyle option does sound like a good choice in that case. I didn't have a clue what to select for the other choices, it really did seem to be something for someone who really knew about investments and stocks and stuff like that. I'm paying the lowest monthly amount into the pension at the moment (about £50 a month comes out my pay) so not a huge investment, I really just wanted to ensure I just had a pension more than anything.

somethingcorporate

What you might want to do is just lifestyle for now and maybe at a set point in the future take it to an IFA for an in-depth review. Not worth the costs until you have a fair bit in there though.

Is your employer contributing? You should max out the money they will give you, it's foolish to turn down free cash!