Should I be concerned

gh67

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Not passing any judgement on your personal decision. More concerned that you are worried over short term performance. Volatility is normal for markets. A decade of smoothing following interventionist Central Bank policies has endeared a huge amount of complancency in investors. Equities are a long term investment. Not for the faint hearted.

Thanks for the replies, I'm more concerned than worried but once I've spoken to my IFA in the next day or two im sure I'll be fine . It just take a bit getting used to it i think what i need to do is stop looking at it

Prism

gh67 wrote: »

I suppose it is it just when a few people in the same situation have earned 4% after fees, for me to make that up next year mine has to preform at 7% this year.

Unless you are all using exactly the same starting day (17 November 2017) and the same final day (say yesterday) it is not really worth comparing performance. Values can drop or rise several percent just in a few days.

Then you have the fact that your friends might have different risk levels than you. Maybe their funds have more or less equities. Maybe they have more or less allocation to the UK.

Even then its not really worth thinking about until a few years have passed.

Happier_Me

As others have said, markets go up and and down, we've had a bumpy ride recently and that bumpy ride may well continue for a while to come. You need to get used to these falls, they can't be avoided, they're the price we pay for the gains over time. Review your investments with your IFA and make sure you're comfortable with the risks, then let it do its thing.

My husband is reliant on a company DC pension for his retirement. In comparison, he's lost a good 4% this year. My reaction to this: if this continues we may need to increase his contributions to stay on track for early retirement. Its not great but its by no means a disaster.

Audaxer

gh67 wrote: »

I suppose it is it just when a few people in the same situation have earned 4% after fees, for me to make that up next year mine has to preform at 7% this year.

Your portfolio may be a lot more cautious than the ones you are comparing it to. If markets get more turbulent in the next few years, as could be the case, their funds might fall a lot lower than yours. But don't panic if they do fall further as they will hopefully bounce back by the time you are ready to access them.

gh67

Thanks to everyone who's took the time to reply, I think I knew the answer but just wanted reassuring from someone who has nothing to gain.

Merry Xmas Guys

Malthusian

gh67 wrote: »

I hope not to touch this pot for 8 year min, I assume by your answer you think over 10 years this will come good or at least OK.

With Profits investments like PruFund work by witholding some of your money in good years so they can keep adding bonuses to your fund in bad ones. This benefits you in bad years, but harms you in good years. As global stockmarkets have more good years than bad years, overall With Profits can be expected to deliver lower growth than an equivalent unit-linked fund.

To add to that you typically have higher charges and a higher proportion of fixed interest investments in With Profits.

There are no guarantees and it is perfectly possible for With Profits to outperform a unit linked investment due to superior asset allocation and stock selection (aka luck) - superior enough to overcome With Profits' inherent handicap.

However, if we can't expect a transparent unit-linked investment to outperform a With Profits one, we may as well all give up and dump ourselves in PruFund.

Thrugelmir

gh67 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I'm more concerned than worried but once I've spoken to my IFA in the next day or two im sure I'll be fine . It just take a bit getting used to it i think what i need to do is stop looking at it

Statistically there's a 1:6 chance of a 10% fall in equity markets in a year. Hence why investing in stocks and shares is viewed as best being done over the medium/longer term. A fall after initially investing may take time to recoup.