Optimise Pension

BGM

Hi,

First post on here after a very long break, but want to get some advice (I hope) about what to do with my pension...

Currently I am 34 and have two pensions.. one is valued at around £110k w/ Standard Life and the other around £20k the later is a work place pension that I am currently contributing to..

What I want to do is make sure that a) I am paying minimal fees and b) it’s invested in the right mix.. I fear that as I don’t pay into the SL product any longer it may be charged higher fees that necessary and also it hasn’t been rebalanced in yonks afaik!

I am uncertain if I should approach an IFA, or attempt to sort it myself.. I don’t *really* have the time to research tons of stuff or tbh the confidence to put (what I consider) to be quite a large sum somewhere new...

What sort of fees should I be aiming at for a ‘good deal’, any advice on a platform?

dunstonh

I fear that as I don’t pay into the SL product any longer it may be charged higher fees that necessary

That would be unusual. it only tended to be on workplace schemes when that happened but some rule changes on that front ended it.
Indeed, some legacy pensions actually get cheaper if made paid up.

I am uncertain if I should approach an IFA, or attempt to sort it myself.. I don’t *really* have the time to research tons of stuff or tbh the confidence to put (what I consider) to be quite a large sum somewhere new...

IFA or DIY. They are your choices. Like any DIY, if you do the job well then you get a good end result and a cheaper option. If you do it badly, then it can be a costly mistake.

What sort of fees should I be aiming at for a ‘good deal’, any advice on a platform?

0.2x% to 0.3x% all in is the cheapest ballpark range. However, lowest cost is not everything.

xylophone

Have you compared the SW pension with your current pension?

Is it worth transferring the SW pension into your workplace pension?

BGM

xylophone wrote: »

Have you compared the SW pension with your current pension?

Is it worth transferring the SW pension into your workplace pension?

SW, do you mean SL? Guess SW == Scottish Widows?

Yes, that is a possibility! I shall compare fees this weekend, and get back to this thread

Like i say though, i am coming at this from two angles.. the first being fees, but the other is making sure that the pot is invested in the right places... i would ideally like some sort of pointers as to places i could go and fish for my own information.. but not super sure as to where to start.

I half thought there might be a sticky thread that would be able to set me off on the right path...

dunstonh

I half thought there might be a sticky thread that would be able to set me off on the right path...

MSE has generally avoided getting involved with investments. When it has it has tended to make a mess of it. Plus, pensions and investments are a regulated activity. So, they have to be careful how far they go.

Half the problem is that there is no one best option. Different scenarios and requirements will lead to different outcomes. The other half of the problem is that investing is very much about opinion rather than fact. And with 30,000 odd investments available, how do you fit that into an MSE article or sticky.

xylophone

SW

Sorry, yes, SL.

Albermarle

There is actually quite a lot of useful basic info on the Standard Life website about pensions, investing , attitude to risk, getting a balanced portfolio. So could be a good place to start.

xylophone

You may be interested in reading

DIY Pensions: A Simple Guide to Pensions, SIPPs & Retirement Planning, by John Edwards.

which was recommended by another poster.

dunstonh

Please ignore Felice Vanin. This is a spammer. Now posted about Intus on multiple threads in investment and pension section. Press the spam button.

Intus life are not regulated and promotions of them in the UK are unlawful.

AnotherJoe

BGM wrote: »

I am uncertain if I should approach an IFA, or attempt to sort it myself.. I don’t *really* have the time to research tons of stuff or tbh the confidence to put (what I consider) to be quite a large sum somewhere new...

Hopefully you have the time to read this and this?

BGM

thanks for all the responses guys... i seemed to stop receiving email notifications about this thread and so have only just had time to look back today.. !

I've downloaded my most recent statement for the SL Stakeholder pension, and can see that the average charge for the whole year was 0.499% so i guess that isn't too bad, so the worry about paying too much is mostly gone, good.

However, the pot did make a loss this year of £1726 it seems which is concerning.. not someone that keeps a very active eye on the global markets i don't know if this is pretty standard for how things have gone this year or not?

The topic that i keep coming back to is that i want a method of understanding the key performance indicators of what the fact sheets are showing me to know if the allocation that i have currently is firing on all cylinders...

My current split is as follows:

SL iShares Continental European Equity Index Pn (ABI Europe excluding UK Equities) - 0.0920120067613669
SL iShares North American Equity Index Pn Fd (ABI North America Equities) - 0.253710453271371
SL iShares Pacific ex Japan Equity Index Pn Fd (ABI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Equities) - 0.088881853884269
Standard Life International Equity Pension Fund (ABI Global Equities) - 0.207453728434209
Standard Life Japanese Equity Pension Fund (ABI Japan Equities) - 0.0541771177683633
Standard Life Managed Pension Fund (ABI Mixed Investment 40%-85% Shrs) - 0.220723831985892
Standard Life UK Equity Pension Fund (ABI UK All Companies) - 0.0830410078945286

The questions that keep coming back to me is:

1) Should i move this to some other platform that will give me a greater selection? This is the full list from SL (https://www.standardlife.co.uk/c1/funds/how-are-my-funds-doing.page)

2) This allocation has not been touched for a number of years and i am sure it should have a re-balance, not really sure how the original split was actually decided though as an old IFA (that is now retired) did it for me.

3) I have looked at the sectors (shown in brackets) on some sites such has Hargreaves Landsdown etc. and can see that there are some potentials alternative funds "out there" that might be suitable to switch to.. but i have a number of questions / lack of confidence which prevent me from pulling the trigger.

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Hopefully you have the time to read this and this?

Thanks, i will take a look at those links