Help with my fathers pension!

5t3ve

Hi all.. Although I'm familiar with the savings and investments board (and the mfw board!) I'm not too wise when it comes to pensions, hence my plea for help here.

My dad is 10 years away from retirement and he's curious to know whether theres something better he can do with his pension pot. Here are the details..

- its with 'canada life'.
- he has 2 separate pots, both titled 'canlife multiple inv ps3'.
- the combined value at present is roughly £23k held in units.

Im interested to know whether with these things its best just to leave them be, or whether we should be looking at transferring it into a fund or something?

Any help greatly received. Although 10 years probably isn't considered a long time, I'm hoping that by acting now he might be able to make a considerable difference!!

Thanks.

nearlyrich

How much is he paying in per month?

5t3ve

Hi thanks for the reply.

Sorry i should have said.. This is an old pension from a former company he worked for a long time ago.

nearlyrich

So does he have other private pension arrangements?

5t3ve

He's currently paying into another pension for a job he started recently.. I dont think the 'pot' for this pension is particularly large though.

He's a homeowner, and i think concentrated on paying the mortgage and paying for his kids rather than investing heavily in his pension. I think when it comes to retirement he'll be looking to downsize his property to cancel out any remaining mortgage, and live off his state and private pension.

I appreciate that the pension pot he currently has might not be that large.. So im really looking for ways he can make it work better for him etc.

Thanks.

jamesd

canlife multiple inv seems to have consistently under-performed the index it's referenced to so it's not a great one to hold, though it's not horrible either. If he's not familiar with investing it's not a bad deal.

One of the pots might be called "protected rights" if he contracted out of SERPS/S2P for a while. If so, that pot is now the same as any other personal pension pot, with the restrictions removed.

Paying in more money is the biggest thing he can do unless he fancies downsizing early to increase the amount he can invest.

Magicseed

2 funds, the large one is Non-Protected Rights plan and the other smaller fund is Protected Rights plan. Just wanted to move it so as to get a better return. I'm currently not adding to this retirement plan but would consider making contributions if I thought I could get a good return.

xylophone

Protected Rights plan.

Protected Rights are no more.
http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1F4fabc8e295ade012.cde/page/6

5t3ve

Thanks all.. So does anyone have any recommendations for the best way forward?

Is it worth switching funds? And how would we go about doing this? Any advice one where to start paying additional contributions?

bigadaj

For defined contribution schemes there are only three things which influence the final pot which are money paid, on, charges and investment performance. I would check the charges on this scheme as older schemes can have higher charges and then look to move to a personal pension if lower charges can be achieved. What to invest in is a whole new debate, with a relatively short time to retirement then life styling would suggest moving towards bonds and even cash, however many people now see these as either low return or risky or both. Many people in drawdown, ie after crystallising the pot and taking a pension will still have a chunk in equities, patticulalry higher yielding shares and or funds.