choosing group stakeholder funds

hyperhypo

Hello

I am in company group scheme since June 2012.

Since that date i have accumulated £55k by using a single fund in the limited choice that the Aegon Group Stakeholder provides - using Baillie Gifford Balanced Managed. Charge wise this is +.25% more than the normal 0.5% whilst contributing.

In an effort to lose the associated .25% charge i have now chosen 5 new funds in which to invest all of my £1400 pcm , all having basic 0.5% charge.
These are
Scot Equit. Blackrock Aquila UK equity 15%
Scot Equit. Blackrock Aquila World Excluding UK 20%
Scot Equit. Blackrock Aquila U.S equity 15%
Scot Equit. Blackrock > 5 Year Gilt 25%
Blackrock Aquila Bond Equity Index 25%

I hope to retire in 7 years.
I have a defined benefit scheme which is worth £13 k pa in today's money, and a small 30k former protected rights pension.

Interested to hear any views on my choices past and present ..i'm contributing a lot above the amount needed to secure a 10% contriubtion from my employer to reduce exposure to 40% tax but have wondered if there might be a better way to do this outside of the company stakeholder scheme.

My current fund choice was based on a wish to minimise charges and have some above average / below averag spread of risk, taken from my digestion of the Trustnet tables on the Group funds.
It may well be misplaced.

AlanP_2

Don't know much about those funds but my first thought is that World ex UK is likely to include a fair bit of US stocks so your US exposure will be higher than the 15% you may be expecting.

To see the spread across geographies and sectors put the details into the Portfolio tool on Trustnet (buying say 1 or 12 months worth at the allocations you propose and at the £1400 pm) and then select Detailed Analysis under the Primary Asset Class Pie Chart.

You can even add your existing investments and see how that pans out.

As to where to invest in general unless you are benefiting from Salary Sacrifice on the cash going in (thus saving NI payments as well as HRT) then you could just pay the employer match amount and set up a standalone pension on a different platform.

Doing that would open up a whole range of investment options and MAY result in lower charges. Fidelity via Cavendish for example charges 0.3% Platform Fee with fund charges on top but some (particularly trackers) are less than 0.2% so could save a bit that way.

Also provides a bit more flexibility on when and what you start to call on as retirement looms.