Pension for a baby

cheerfulcat

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

Going back to the OP, I was looking for ideas/thoughts/suggestions as to what type of funds (but no specific fund names as that would be unreasonable to ask, and against the site rules) would be a good mix to go for , for a babys pension, with a view to a 60/65 year investment.

MTC, did you look at the investment trust site I linked to? A global generalist trust like Alliance Trust might suit your needs. The managers in these ITs have a very broad remit which means that they can invest where they see value. Some ITs are also partly run with an eye on preserving capital, so they can be quite conservative.

pavlovs_dog

i have absolutely zilch knowledge on pensions, so can give no expert advice in that field.

the one thing i am qualified to say however, is that further and higher education is a very expensive hobby. i should know, im paying to put myself thorugh uni! whilst it is admirable that you want to provide for their long term future, dont forget about their short term future. im not talking day to day living here, but things like school trips (which get very expensive come secondary school.. it may seem like a long way off, but you'd be surprised :whistle: . then there the issue of nursery fees, whether you want a private or state education, extra curricular activites (music or certain sports in particular can be costly), and then there's financing them through uni should they choose that path.

you seem to have your head screwed on, so no doubt this may be wasted on you, but from what ive seen it seems easy to miscalculate just how expensive kids can be when they get to my age.

and then there's the whole do you help pay towards the cost of their first home scenario, not to mention weddings, will you want to set up trust funds for grandkids etc :eek:

just dont spread yourself too thinly is all im trying to say. remember you and mrs cat will need money to live on in your old age too

Murphy_The_Cat

pavlovs_dog wrote:

i have absolutely zilch knowledge on pensions, so can give no expert advice in that field.

the one thing i am qualified to say however, is that further and higher education is a very expensive hobby. i should know, im paying to put myself thorugh uni!
I've also set up a seperate fund with a 18-21 year time frame for both of the littlies
whilst it is admirable that you want to provide for their long term future, dont forget about their short term future. im not talking day to day living here, but things like school trips (which get very expensive come secondary school.. it may seem like a long way off, but you'd be surprised :whistle: . then there the issue of nursery fees,
Oh yes, nursery fees, they really do amke a hole in the pocket. fortunately these are coverd in the most adavntageous way possble my our mutual employer whether you want a private or state education, (I don't think that I'll get a choice with that one)extra curricular activites (music or certain sports in particular can be costly), and then there's financing them through uni should they choose that path.should be covered by seperate fund

you seem to have your head screwed on, so no doubt this may be wasted on you, not wasted at all, I'm very garteful for all views/inputs but from what ive seen it seems easy to miscalculate just how expensive kids can be when they get to my age.thats true, which is why all of these investments are turnoffable, if needs be.

and then there's the whole do you help pay towards the cost of their first home scenario, that could be the biggie, which is why we've started long term saving, for BOTH of them ,now not to mention weddings, will you want to set up trust funds for grandkids indeed we would etc :eek:

just dont spread yourself too thinly is all im trying to say. good advice & I'm appreciating that. By our own means, we are a long way away from being destitute, but TBH, a realtively small amount going towards our childrens future is much more important than the sort of things that most people deem to be worth spending their disposable money on remember you and mrs cat will need money to live on in your old age too we're both well pensioned up (I started mine when I was 20 & I hope that the pension funds carry on working hard for me as I wish to retire with a very comfortable lifestyle)

Cheers for your thoughts pavlov, thats all rec'd and understood.

Murphy_The_Cat

cheerfulcat wrote:

MTC, did you look at the investment trust site I linked to? A global generalist trust like Alliance Trust might suit your needs. The managers in these ITs have a very broad remit which means that they can invest where they see value. Some ITs are also partly run with an eye on preserving capital, so they can be quite conservative.

Not yet. My freshly delivered bundle of joy is rather eating into my t'internet time at the moment :j But i certainly will be ASAP.

We can't do anything of course until MTK2 is registered.

pavlovs_dog

murph, in the planning stakes you sound almost as anal as me :eek: not a virgo by any chance are you

wotsthat

Murphy

Congratulations on your latest arrival.

Isn't your life complicated enough with two nippers?

With great respect to the opinions above anyone who thinks that they can predict that China, India, Europe, Property or even wind turbines will be the best investment over the next 65 years is talking out of their a**e.

Look at what's happened in the stock markets over the last few days when the 'experts' suddenly realised that they couldn't see into the future after all. However I'm amazed at how many of them knew a correction was imminent after it happened.

Why not simply go for the lowest charging FTSE tracker fund you can find?

cheerfulcat

wotsthat wrote:

With great respect to the opinions above anyone who thinks that they can predict that China, India, Europe, Property or even wind turbines will be the best investment over the next 65 years is talking out of their a**e.

Please give a link to the posts in this thread which do that predicting.

Why not simply go for the lowest charging FTSE tracker fund you can find?

Thus leaving out all other asset classes and most of the world's markets, and tying your fortunes exclusively to one index...

Murphy_The_Cat

wotsthat wrote:

Murphy

Congratulations on your latest arrival.

Why not simply go for the lowest charging FTSE tracker fund you can find?

Cheers wotsthat - that plan was the one advocated by Motley Fool a couple of years ago IIRC - the great advantage of that being the Ultra Low Charges (0.1%) at the time, but I don't know if they're Stakeholder Pensionable and TBH, & they're a touch 'dull' for me ---- but I can 100% understand where you're coming from.
But I am very happy to monitor how the pension is performing and make fund adjustments every 3 years or so.

Cheerfulcat, my new daughter is being a touch "ahem" nocturnal with me at the moment, so I should get the opportunity to study that link sooner, rather than later.

Pavlovs_dog, I'm a Cancer, is that good or bad ?
Regarding my finances, when I was growing up, my parents didn't have much, if any spare money at all, and it was vital to them that everything was accounted for to avoid them going into debt (an unthinkable situation for them), and I've probably got that mindset from them.
Fortunately, I have managed to sort out my affairs to the point where I have an acceptable standard of living, something put by for a rainy day, and pensions for myself, Mrs Cat & MTK, plus an existing investment plan for MTK for College/House starter/wedding etc.
T'other thing that I do is a Current Account Balance spreadsheet that I confirm with my online bank every week - and this is forward projected for 6 months. This Current Account Spreadsheet I intergrate into my Home Bank Balance Spreadsheet which accumulates the Current worth of Mrs Cat & I, + MTK, and also monitors the total fund values of the pensions.
Most people find this idea to be very anal, I imagine that you find it very acceptable.

Murphy_The_Cat

Hello folks

An update and a thank you for everyone who took the time to help me/advise me.

I've set up a Stakeholder Pension with Legal & General for MTK2 and I've spread the monthly investment over 4 funds.

I chose L&G because of their low management charges for online applications, their good choice of internal funds and their fair choice of internal funds (for only a little but extra AMC) and also because I can run the account online.

I've selected four funds, which I'll monitor on a quarterly basis, and fiddle around with on an annual basis if needed.

So its game on !

dunstonh

I chose L&G because of their low management charges for online applications

Legal and General dont lower their charges for online applications. They are identical to the full advice charges. They just keep the commission for themselves.

However, as stakeholders go, they are a good choice.