Hargreaves Lansdown & buying additiona/extra/other funds?

Nine_Lives

jamesd wrote: »

I'm unimpressed and I'd avoid using any of the NEST funds unless I had no choice. I'm not sure it'll be worth paying into NEST even with the employer contribution given the poor range of available investments. Except for people who just don't care about investments and want to stick the money in and forget about it and accept not doing very well. At the moment my inclination given the combination of poor funds and a ban on moving money to something different is to say don't use NEST even if an employer offers it as the only pension scheme. Use a personal pension instead to get a decent range of investments that'll probably end up beating the NEST ones over time even without the employer part.

This is my major concern.

I think dunstonh is the one who seems to say it most on here (certainly from my reading) .... don't throw away "free money" (employer contributions).
But if joining NEST means investing into a "waste-of-time" fund, even WITH employer contributions, then surely that's no good. If going solo is likely to outperform even the NEST approach, then what is the point in joining NEST? To me, i can't see one.

But then that brings me back to the situation that i'm currently in - in that my IFA has said hang on until NEST comes, and THEN start a pension.
But if NEST is likely to be a load of tosh & going solo is "better", then is it even worth beginning a pension (Vs remaining with S&S ISA) at all (for me)??

As for the discussion on which funds to invest in, i fully understand peoples viewpoints & differences of opinion, but the position i'm coming from is making money - as much of it as i can in a legal manner. If it's legal, then i'm not bothered where it's invested so long as it's earning me as much as it can.
I don't expect all to agree with my opinion, but ATEOTD i gain nothing from being overly selective.

There will be some competitors to NEST around that may be cheaper and easier for your employer to use and also better for you with good investment choices by the time it matters to you.

NEST seems to be cementing its role as the thing to choose for employers who don't care about their employees and want them to opt out of the pension.

1 question is: Let's say i open up a solo pension & invest in funds 1, 2 & 3. Can my employer just contribute to those or does it not work like that?

As said, i can almost guarantee my employer wont research alternatives. They will do the bare minimum. I also know that no other employee in the company (or at least i very strongly suspect) can be bothered with it either. They generally seem to be "whats the point" type of people. Such as whats the point of a union (& then complain when they're ill treated). So i guess it'll be down to me to look into alternatives & then suggest.
Even then i doubt any suggestion would be taken on board - because that'd require someone to research my findings to check against what i've found. Researching takes time, time is money & therefore it'll likely be a non-start.

jamesd

It's worth waiting and seeing what your employer does or even offering to handle the setup work yourself so you can pick something other than NEST. NOW Pensions is well worth watching. They don't have that ban on transferring out so anyone who dislikes it can move their money elsewhere to get better options. But there are sure to be many more alternatives by the time this matters more to you.

It's not easy to say throw away free money. I've declined it when I didn't trust an employer IFA, prior to that IFA ceasing to be a factor. For someone close to retirement age it may not make sense to decline. But for someone of your age it may well make sense because you've plenty of years of compounding to go.

Your employer could choose to contribute to a personal pension in your name if they wanted to. Some do, perhaps more in small companies than in big ones.

Nine_Lives

jamesd wrote: »

Some do, perhaps more in small companies than in big ones.

I'm told that we'll be at the latter end of the system being enforced.
I'm not sure how many employees we have, but i'd say 70-90 perhaps. Maybe slightly less/more, but if it is less/more then only slightly as i say.