Pension funds confusion...Help? :)

Gubz22

Hi all,


I have watched some advise on pensions from the community and everyone has been so helpful so I was wondering if I could possibly ask for some assistance.


Basically I have a work pension in the 'SL BlackRock Managed (50:50) Global Equity Pension' which I believe to be a standard low risk solution (Maybe I am wrong?). Personally by nature I'm a gambler and would much prefer not only to split out my funds but to also put my money in more high risk investments as a have a long time till retirement (38years).


Some details about me;
Currently 30years old.
Paying 7% company pays 9% (this will increase to 10% in a few months) on a salary sacrifice scheme.
Would prefer more high risk as intend to leave this there for at least the next 10years min (to even out the ups and downs).
By the looks of it I'm not restricted by which funds I can put my money into with Standard Life.
Current value is around £13k (£11,117.17 payments and £2,040.96 investment growth from June-2014.)
I'm unsure of what information would help people here assist me? I have not yet spoke to an IFA but would be sure to before I make any major movement.
So basically my over all question is can anyone guide me to what would be a decent mix-up of medium to high risk funds for my future?


I really appreciate any support/help that is given.


Many thanks everyone.
Darren

green_man

I won’t comment on your fund specifically as I’m not sure what the fund covers off the top of my head. I will though agree with your general philosophy that with 30 years to retirement I would be looking at a high % of global equities, save the bonds until nearer retirement.

Also although it’s tempting to track your pension value closely it’s really often better to just keep putting to money in month after month, some funds do poorly for a year or two then have a few years of over-performance, over 30 years you will get the good and bad.

Brynsam

Darren - have you looked at the factsheets for the various funds (should be available to download)? These normally give an indication of 'risk rating' plus details of fund performance (usual caveat about past performance being no guide...).

Not sure how much you would benefit from advice from an IFA at this stage. If you want to move your money into higher risk funds, you should be able to work out easily enough which funds meet your criteria.

MallyGirl

The 50:50 is the proportion of equity to other. You can go further up the risk scale than that at your age IMHO

Gubz22

Hi all,

I really appreciate the responses.

Just a few things.


1: I don't intend to track it closely I just intend to check up on how it has preformed over the 10years as I believe with higher risk investments this is a good times frame to complete an analysis.


2: I think I found the fact sheets but not allow to post a link as a new user What I might do is this weekend print it out, outline the ones I want more research on and then go from there. Seems to make it easier has getting hit with it all at once is some what over whelming (If someone has the fact sheets could you add a link to them please just in case I have the wrong ones)


3: It seems my premise of moving to higher risk seems right. Can I ask what proportional ratio would you split up your funds? IF it 50% Low risk 25% medium risk then 25% high risk? Or should I put it more like 30% Low risk 40% medium risk and 30% high risk for a more rounded return?


4: Is there anything else you think I should have more information on or anything else I should know?

I appreciate all the comments everyone

Brynsam

It really is a personal decision based on your attitude to risk. Given you have sensible time horizons and accept that funds can go down as well as up, pick out four or five funds which take your fancy. Do check the charges on each fund - returns may not be predictable, but charges are known ahead of time.

See https://uk.standardlifeinvestments.com/consumer/our_funds/index.html

MallyGirl

I think once you read the fact sheet on the BlackRock fund this will help you answer point 3 for yourself. The percentage of equity correlates to degree of risk. Higher equity means higher risk in simple terms. I am 20 years old than you and am comfortable with equity around 60% equity. I would think you could be 80% or more - there are plenty of questionnaires online that help you decide what level you are comfortable with so don't take my word for it.
You don't want to be doing 20% of this 20% of that as you would need to rebalance. Just find a fund or 2 and stick with it.

MK62

This fund is a Global Equity fund - the 50:50 refers to the percentage in the UK vs the rest of the world.

It's made up from two passive sub-funds (ie index trackers), rather than actively managed ones.
As a pure equity fund it wouldn't be considered low-risk though - most likely upper-medium risk.

I can't comment on it's suitability for the OP's purposes of course, or the relative merits of this fund vs that etc, but at the end of the day, if the net fund charges are OK, then you could do worse.

MallyGirl

so it is - I have edited my comment. 100% equity would not normally be classified as low risk.

Gubz22

MK62 wrote: »

This fund is a Global Equity fund - the 50:50 refers to the percentage in the UK vs the rest of the world.

It's made up from two passive sub-funds (ie index trackers), rather than actively managed ones.
As a pure equity fund it wouldn't be considered low-risk though - most likely upper-medium risk.

I can't comment on it's suitability for the OP's purposes of course, or the relative merits of this fund vs that etc, but at the end of the day, if the net fund charges are OK, then you could do worse.

HI there, thanks for the information. Yes we pay quite a low amount for the fund I can't find the paper work currently but I'm pretty sure it is around 0.5%

MK62

On the face of it, that does sound a tad on the expensive side for tracker funds, but remember with SL corporate pensions, that should include any "platform" charges too.