Becoming self-employed

david1951

I am going to leaving my job and becoming self-employed quite shortly (next few months). Currently I have a defined contribution pension scheme with my employer through Aviva. This follows the "Mixed Investments Annuity Lifestyle Approach", with all my money in the medium-risk Aviva Mixed Investment (40-85% Shares) fund. Whatever that means.


I've never been bothered about pensions before and have only started looking into what the implications are when I become self-employed. My current understanding is that my employer simply ceases making payments into the Aviva pension and I take care of it myself.


So my first question is whether anyone thinks I should keep the pension with Aviva, or transfer it elsewhere?


It's also possible to stay with Aviva, but move to a more risky fund. Is this a wise idea? I'm 32.


Those are short-term questions. Longer term I'm interested in getting quite involved with the management of my pension. Can anyone recommend some reading (a book/website perhaps) to get me up to speed with this?


Should I just get a financial advisor to help me?

MallyGirl

Lifestyle usually means that as you move towards the retirement age it automatically moves you into lower risk / higher cash allocation. I would never want someone else doing that so I switched to a different fund.you need to ask what all the charges are and whether they are reduced as a result of being an employee - would they go up once you leave?
You need to look up what is in Aviva Mixed Investment (40-85% Shares) fund and see if you like it. If you don't understand what you see then do some reading.
Try John Edwards - DIY pensions, Investments etc His other DIY books are good intros too. Then maybe Time Hale - Smarter Investing.
There are lots of good websites to read too like Monevator
You are young so have plenty of time to take control of your future here

dunstonh

This follows the "Mixed Investments Annuity Lifestyle Approach", with all my money in the medium-risk Aviva Mixed Investment (40-85% Shares) fund. Whatever that means.

mixed investment means it is a multi-asset fund. A simple fund that invests in a wide range of areas. It holds equities within the range of 40-85%.

Lifestyling means automatic risk reduction as you get closer. Annuity means it is targetting full encashment on a defined date.

So my first question is whether anyone thinks I should keep the pension with Aviva, or transfer it elsewhere?

That particular fund is available on over 100 different types of pension. So, we cannot identify the type of pension you have or the terms. So, we cannot answer that question.

It's also possible to stay with Aviva, but move to a more risky fund. Is this a wise idea? I'm 32.

How risky do you think the current fund is?
In percentage terms, how much are you able to handle it losing in a 12 month period? 10%, 20% , 30% ,40%, 50%...... or higher?

Albermarle

So my first question is whether anyone thinks I should keep the pension with Aviva, or transfer it elsewhere?

The actual pension provider is less important than the funds the money is actually invested in. Many pension providers offer very similar funds to yours . They are a mix of equities( shares) , and bonds . The equities will normally provide more growth over the long term but with more volatility in the short/medium term . The bonds will provide more stability but less growth Your fund contains between 40 and 85% equities , the exact level at any one time at the discretion of the fund manager .
In simple terms a more risky fund would have up to 100% equities .
As already said best to understand some more about investing and risk before changing anything.