Pension Funds!! Advice and help needed!!

convict90210

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me!
I have a Standard Life stakeholder pension (started in Nov 2002) which I contribute in £25.00/£32.05 gross per month and an HSBC stakeholder (started in July 2005) which I pay in £19.54/£25.05 gross per month. I have also made several one-off payments and have increased/decreased monthly payments over time. The SL pension invests in their Stakeholder Stock Exchange Fund and the HSBC pension invests in 4 funds each for 25%. These are:

* FTSE All Share Index Tracker Fund
* GLOBAL EQUITY FUND
* UK Equity Fund
* EUROPEAN EQUITY INDEX TRACKER

I have read recently just how important it is to select the right funds within a pension plan. Are these funds OK and what is their past performance like? I have tried to find this info but have been unsuccessful so far! If they are not, should I consider transfer these plans out? Many thanks!

Ian_W

In the absence of any of the resident pension experts I'll offer this and it will bump you too!

Use THIS page so see how they have performed in the past. Set the drop down menu to "ABI" funds and you can look at 1, 3 5yrs. Looked at a couple of you HSBC funds and their performance is, erm, well modest to be kind. The positions are out of number of funds in that sector:
Euro Tracker: 1yr 99/204, 3yr 96/146, 5yr 94/132
Global Equity: 1yr 183/425, 3yr 151/281, 5yr 124/205.

The experts will tell you the pension is only a tax wrapper and you're right that it's the investment funds within them that make or break how well you'll do. I do understand though that most stakeholders have limited fund access - so these may be the best available on your pensions.

convict90210

Many thanks for that information-it made interesting reading!! Slightly surprised/worried by the relatively poor performances from the HSBC funds. Not sure what I should do next though-should I continue paying in or look elsewhere at other funds long term??

dunstonh

lightly surprised/worried by the relatively poor performances from the HSBC funds.

You shouldnt be. They are trackers or standard internal funds. You should expect average with trackers and internal funds.

should I continue paying in or look elsewhere at other funds long term??

Is your knowledge sufficient to be able to build a portfolio of funds and be able to tell the difference in risk and potential reward?

convict90210

Well I know I want to have a mix of lower risk and higher risk funds. As I am only 27 I am prepared to take a greater risk for bigger future returns but I am unsure as to which funds I should be looking at-maybe the Asian/Japanese funds.