Could I do better than this ?

wooder

I recently started to get interested in looking after and trying to get a better return on my money than just putting it in a Halifax Isa and have pretty much sorted out where I want to be with my current investments. This just leaves me now to sort out my pension.

I originally had a hotch potch of personal pension plans (I'm self employed) with bits in L&G, Co-Op and sadly, Equitable Life. On the advice of a financial advisor I left it to him to sort it out and he transferred everything into a Skandia PP. This was July 2009. A couple of years back he advised to switch to a Skandia CRA.

I now want to check if the pension plan he advised me to go with is a good one or should I be taking control now and having a go myself ?

I have just received a statement and the figures are
Policy started July 2009
Product name - Skandia CRA
Amount transferred - £49,431.10p
Monthly payments in - £100
Valuation as of end of March 2014 - £76,621.72

If I put those figures into a compound interest calculator I think it shows an annual %increase of about 7.4% ? Have i got that right ? Is that a good return ? And will that valuation have had the charges already taken out, in other words is that what I actually have now ?

I pay £80pm from my bank to Skandia so I guess that the £100 is what goes in after the taxman has added his bit ?

I did better than this with the money I took from my Halifax Isa and managed to make 13.9% since February 2013

I just turned 59 years old and want to have everything sorted and in place before I hit the big 60.

Thanks

dunstonh

I originally had a hotch potch of personal pension plans (I'm self employed) with bits in L&G, Co-Op and sadly, Equitable Life. On the advice of a financial advisor I left it to him to sort it out and he transferred everything into a Skandia PP. This was July 2009. A couple of years back he advised to switch to a Skandia CRA.

I now want to check if the pension plan he advised me to go with is a good one or should I be taking control now and having a go myself ?

All sounds good so far. The Skandia Life PPP was the first in the country to offer external funds within a personal pension. It was a quality pension at the time. However, things moved quickly and platforms came in. So, a move to the Skandia CRA was logical. You are probably on charge basis one or two given the year and that is a very cost effective option.

I did better than this with the money I took from my Halifax Isa and managed to make 13.9% since February 2013

Was that on the same volatility risk score over exactly the same period? Was the ISA also getting regular contributions?

I just turned 59 years old and want to have everything sorted and in place before I hit the big 60.

What is happening at 60?