Company Pension options?

LXV

Hi All, I'm currently 31 and have been putting in a company pension for nearly 6 years. At present my employer puts in 6% and I have recently upped my contribution to 14% as a HRT payer due to the 40% tax relief in. I feel like, certainly for the next 15 years I can afford to be a little more adventurous with the fund/s I hold my pension in.

With the recent significant drop in my portfolio I knew this would be a test of my appetite to risk and whilst it's far from ideal my thoughts after picking myself off the floor was that my monthly plan means I can buy more at a lower price & as I dont need it for at least 20 years I am happy and confident it will recover. I haven't felt any urge to run.

I have been looking at my pensions that I own through the 2 companies I have worked with. First question is should I merge to pensions together? One is with Aviva and I have two funds from my previous employer.

With standard life the funds are fairly small numbers but are with:
Standard life managed pension fund
4 balanced II universal

Total of these two previous employer pensions is only around 16k as of today.

With Aviva the fund (current employers choice) is:
Aviva pension my future focus growth PP

All are showing in risk 4 of 7 category which seems fairly standard for this stage of my working life.

Inparticularly Aviva (my current employers choice of pension provider) seems heavy (28.4%) in UK equities of a target 75% equity fund and looks to have well underperformed its benchmark. (I know this doesn't mean future performance will be).

I am looking at potential alternatives and the BlackRock World Ex-UK equity index aquila C seems appealing. 5 on the risk scale, slightly lower fund charges and targets to track the FTSE Developed World ex UK index.

Within my funds I am investing £500pm plus top up bonuses (last year I put in around 11k) which is sat predominantly between Vangard LS80 and LS100, to create around an LS90 if that makes sense. Then the rest in Vanguard Global All Cap as I wanted total less weighting in the UK until things change in our economy.

I am just looking to see if many/most on here stick with the hand they are dealt by their employers pension provider or if you've looked at other options? I know people can't give advice but can people say what they do and how you picked your pensions (especially in a company pension)?

I am fairly new to the forum so please be gentle!

Thanks 

Albermarle

I think the figure is that well over 90% of money in workplace pensions is in the default fund and/or a very limited selection of lifestyle options. The reality is that the large majority of the public are clueless about these matters.
As this is  a pensions forum then of course the situation is different and many will have set up individual portfolios to suit themselves .Some probably better thought out than others !
First question is should I merge to pensions together? 
First thing to do is check the charges for each.

LXV

From what I can see 0.501% on the standard life, certainly the main one. Then 0.39% on the Aviva, so its cheaper. For the 16k it is about £17.5pa but I can see why if it was £100k it soon makes a difference! 

Any thoughts from others on if they feel they have or will benefit from looking at other options that the standard fund would be appreciated.