Pension Performing Poorly

Cotta

Hi All,

I have a pension at work that I pay into as does my employer (around £500 per month), however this year it has just broken even which is a loss in real terms as the £500 monthly payments covered the losses.

How can I start managing my pension to try and ensure it performs better?

Thanks

MallyGirl

you need to find out what it is invested in - low, medium, high risk? What funds?
A pension is just a wrapper for whatever you choose to invest in. If you didn't make a conscious choice then you probably have the default so you need to find out what that is.

dunstonh

I have a pension at work that I pay into as does my employer (around £500 per month), however this year it has just broken even which is a loss in real terms as the £500 monthly payments covered the losses.

What makes you think that it is performing poorly?

Investments get good years, negative years and nothing years. You have to average out the ups and downs.

Spring saw the markets fall 10%. So, if your statement was dated around April/May, then you would expect a loss over 12 months. That doesnt mean it is performing badly.

performing badly means it fell 15% when its closest matches fell 10%. Whereas if it fell 8% when the closest matches fell 10% then its performing well.

How can I start managing my pension to try and ensure it performs better?

Firstly, dont do anything. Until you understand how investments work, making decisions based on bad understanding will likely lead to bad outcomes. Try and learn about investing first.

Audaxer

Cotta wrote: »

Hi All,
I have a pension at work that I pay into as does my employer (around £500 per month), however this year it has just broken even which is a loss in real terms as the £500 monthly payments covered the losses.

A lot of medium risk investment portfolios whether in pensions or S&S ISAs have just about broke even over the past year, due to a dip in the markets a few months ago. You will not have made a loss in real terms unless you were at an age when you were able to cash it all in, and you did cash it all in. If you are have been paying in £500 monthly over the last year that money would have been buying more investments at cheaper prices so it will benefit you in the long term.

Cotta

The fund name = Drawdown Lifecycle growth.


AVC + Pre97 SCC + Core ER Contributions + Transfer in contributions + ER Matching Contributions + EE Saver Contributions

jamesd

We really need to know the scheme investment details so we can be sure what drawdown and lifecycle are used to mean in this plan.

AnotherJoe

Cotta wrote: »

Hi All,

I have a pension at work that I pay into as does my employer (around £500 per month), however this year it has just broken even which is a loss in real terms as the £500 monthly payments covered the losses.

How can I start managing my pension to try and ensure it performs better?

Thanks

Its unrealistic to imagine that your pension (or any pension) will increase every year. Some years, even with your contribution included, will be down years. In those years though you will be buying more units at lower prices so that when the market rises you will gain more.


I posted the performance of one of my main funds a few weeks back it was, going back one year at a time
0.3
32.3
-1.6
21.2
6.8


and another fund did

-8.2
16.1
2.1
31.1
-9.0


So one fund had more than 8% drops in two out of 5 years. If you were in that fund this past year you'd have seen a 8% drop yet overall its done a respectable 6% a year over 5 years




Of course you may also have a lousy set of pension investments, or just a different set

, either of which might make downturns worse, but until you post the specific funds its invested in there's no way to know if you have good, bad indifferent. But, last year wasnt a great year as you can see, those two funds, one stayed still the other dropped more than 8%

Cotta

jamesd wrote: »

We really need to know the scheme investment details so we can be sure what drawdown and lifecycle are used to mean in this plan.

Silly question but how do I find this information?

LHW99

Silly question but how do I find this information?

Check any paperwork you got when you joined / annual statements.
See if there is an online portal that you can register with.
Ask HR / finance at your company.

AnotherJoe

Cotta wrote: »

Silly question but how do I find this information?

This should be a wake up call, you have £70,000 invested, and are putting in an additional £6,000 a year, and have no idea if its invested in the UK stock market, the worldwide one, or banana futures in Costa Rica.


Get educated on how your pension is invested so you can take control and understand your options.

Cotta

Below is how my pension is currently invested, does this help your query?


Core ER Contributions TV - 62%


Core ER Contributions - 15%


EE Saver Contributions - 14%


ER Matching Contributions - 7%


Core ER Contributions TV - 2%