Pensions Advice

[Deleted User]

You can lower your risk without lowering expected returns. Its called diversification. Something like VLS 60 might work for you, but do spend some time on learning about pensions and investing. 

You also need to understand what risk means in your specific circumstances. 

spriteautn

So at the mo my old work pension is with Aegon ( charging 0.30%) and in the Aegon Bal Passive Lifestyle Fund.

Albermarle

spriteautn said:

So at the mo my old work pension is with Aegon ( charging 0.30%) and in the Aegon Bal Passive Lifestyle Fund.

The charge is low , so that is a good start. A lifestyle fund adjusts the portfolio in line with your closeness to the retirement age registered with Aegon.
This age can be changed by your request.
It will derisk the pension in the last few years before reaching this age. This can be a good idea but can derisk too far , especially if you intend to keep mainly invested during retirement. 
In the end whether it is suitable for you is your decision.

83705628

Sounds like you're new to this and don't want to spend time picking shares or funds etc
There is no such thing as a "safe" investment. If you want your money to be safe use a bank account. The real long-term risk with investing is the opportunity cost of not investing.
It may be easier to just make contributions to a pension you already have.

If you do want to open a new one, a Vanguard SIPP is an easy, cheap and simple option and you could keep it really simple and just buy the a Target Retirement fund appropriate to your age, or Lifestrategy 60 if you're about to retire, or Lifestrategy 80 if you have a while to go.

All valid options.

LHW99

Albermarle said:

spriteautn said:

So at the mo my old work pension is with Aegon ( charging 0.30%) and in the Aegon Bal Passive Lifestyle Fund.

The charge is low , so that is a good start. A lifestyle fund adjusts the portfolio in line with your closeness to the retirement age registered with Aegon.
This age can be changed by your request.
It will derisk the pension in the last few years before reaching this age. This can be a good idea but can derisk too far , especially if you intend to keep mainly invested during retirement. 
In the end whether it is suitable for you is your decision.

And the "Passive" part of the label suggests it may invest in an index (eg SP500, FTSE World) or indeed a group of indexes, rather like some of the Vanguard funds do.

spriteautn

Sorry if this sounds dumb 

1. Are pensions guaranteed safe like bank savings ? If i setup savings account with barclays, mr barclays cant run off with my money . Im guaranteed up to £85k by the gov ombudsman.  Is there similar for pensions/sipps ? 

2.  Are there any risks to losing all your retirement cash ? And how do you prevent or whar do you all do ( im guessing your not tracking the funds every minute and adjusting based on stock market or fed announcement) 

xylophone

https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/pensions/stolen-pension/

83705628

spriteautn said:

Sorry if this sounds dumb 

1. Are pensions guaranteed safe like bank savings ? If i setup savings account with barclays, mr barclays cant run off with my money . Im guaranteed up to £85k by the gov ombudsman.  Is there similar for pensions/sipps ? 

2.  Are there any risks to losing all your retirement cash ? And how do you prevent or whar do you all do ( im guessing your not tracking the funds every minute and adjusting based on stock market or fed announcement) 

/
I won't answer 1 because that information can change and there are articles on the site or people who work in the industry who can answer that.
However
If the SIPP platform, such as Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Vanguard go bust you still own whatever you owned, even if it was worth mor than £85k. You didn't stop being the owner just because you couldn't login one morning. Most major, reputable platforms will have contingency plans and insurance for this, and in theory the regulator or an administrator would come in and sort it out. But it may take months or years and whoever it is may deduct some fees to cover the cost of sorting it out.

2. There are a few ways you can do this and there is no shortage of people out there willing to help you do it.

a. Get scammed, it happens, just Google pension scams.
b. Buy (although "be sold" would be more accurate) a very bad or scammy investment. Basically, "ooh investing in a property development in Gwaddar in Pakistan that hasn't started construction yet sounds like a great idea" or "ooh I didn't know you could invest your SIPP in wine" or mini bonds or crypto currency or "guaranteed 15% returns in London property" or "make 24% by leasing construction equipment". There's a whole industry out there constantly churning out new, exciting, innovative ideas to grab people's money, and it can be very lucrative, and the payoff to commit fraud can be huge.
c. Buy a bad but not a scammy investment, like investing the whole SIPP by buying a share your mate told you about, or "emerging markets small nanotech fund" or "African startup high yield loans fund".
D. Literally give it away.
E. Trading a lot, as in, obsessively, to the point that it's literally gambling.

How you can avoid this is basically just educate yourself and this forum is a great starting point.
If you're really unsure, and you can afford it, then a local, reputable IFA may be worthwhile initially.
But (I think) you would do just fine opening a Vanguard SIPP and buying a target Retirement fund, or Lifestrategy 60 or 80 depending on your age and financial situation.

dunstonh

spriteautn said:

Sorry if this sounds dumb 

1. Are pensions guaranteed safe like bank savings ? If i setup savings account with barclays, mr barclays cant run off with my money . Im guaranteed up to £85k by the gov ombudsman.  Is there similar for pensions/sipps ? 

2.  Are there any risks to losing all your retirement cash ? And how do you prevent or whar do you all do ( im guessing your not tracking the funds every minute and adjusting based on stock market or fed announcement) 

1 - Pension is a term that is given to a range of different products.   So, its not an easy answer.    Plus, when it comes to investments, you can choose from 30,000 conventional options and probably another 30,000 off unconventional options.  e.g. picking a mainstream regulated investment fund investing in conventional invesmtent markets is a lot "safer" than picking an unregulated investment in Columbian Forestry.   The Government or Ombudsman does not protect deposits or investments.  The FSCS is funded by the financial services industry which has the ability to borrow from the Treasury if required.     

2 - Yes you can lose all your cash if you put it in inappropriate and daft investments.    Some people get greedy and do such things.  However, over 90% of people stick with mainstream investments and the only way to lose all your cash with that is an armegeddon event.  In which case, money would have no value any more and you wouldnt care about your pension.

83705628

Deleted_User said:

You can lower your risk without lowering expected returns. Its called diversification. Something like VLS 60 might work for you, but do spend some time on learning about pensions and investing. 

You also need to understand what risk means in your specific circumstances. 

Wouldn't VLS 60 have a lower return than say VLS 100?