Pension recovery from covid

Joey_Soap

JohnTbye said:

Investors are like gamblers, they only tell you when they win and things go well . Great to hear of all the positive results, anyone brave enough to tell of bad experiences during Covid as we will all learn more from them.

Please see my reply. I dare not look at my portfolio at the very bottom of the market, I guess it was more than 30 per cent down at worst. Today, I am about 10% down on ISA and SIPP combined. Due entirely to being overweight in UK income stocks.

[Deleted User]

scaredofdebt said:

I'm a bit gutted as I saw this pandemic coming and moved everything out of stocks and into cash, so althought I avoided the drop I didn't get back into the market as I couldn't see it recovering with all the uncertainty.

So I am about where I was in February but could have made 20% or so!

Back in now, hope it rises more on news of vaccines etc.

(most of mine is in foreign stocks)

And this is precisely why we should stay invested. Guessing once is possible. You need to time it right twice to benefit. The probability of doing that is zilch. 

Prism

This is what this year looks like for my SIPP. Its all equities with about a 20% UK bias.


I also have slightly more defensive ISA/Cash accounts which are up around 15% for the year, although only dropped about 12% in March.

garmeg

Looking at my crystallised SIPP, I am down 6% from when i crystallised it in 2019 and down 15% from its February 2020 peak. It was 40% down from February at its worst (having ASEI Aberdeen Standard Equity Income and TMPL Temple Bar ITs didnt help alongside too much UK generally) so it is recovering.

Large movements like this do make it hard to make a decision about when to retire. Guess I will be a perpetual "One More Year" employee.

OldMusicGuy

I set up my portfolio to avoid large downward movements accepting I would lose out on rapid growth during a recovery. That's because I am newly retired and need to protect what I have rather than grow it. I also hold a much higher proportion of cash in my SIPP than most would because I am very concerned about sequence of returns risk and am also very risk averse.

My portfolio was down around 11% from its February high at some of the lowest points of the drops and is currently just under 1.5% above the Feb high. That performance suits my risk profile and investment objectives.

garmeg

OldMusicGuy said:

I set up my portfolio to avoid large downward movements accepting I would lose out on rapid growth during a recovery. That's because I am newly retired and need to protect what I have rather than grow it. I also hold a much higher proportion of cash in my SIPP than most would because I am very concerned about sequence of returns risk and am also very risk averse.

My portfolio was down around 11% from its February high at some of the lowest points of the drops and is currently just under 1.5% above the Feb high. That performance suits my risk profile and investment objectives.

Care to please share what funds you hold because it may be suitable for my early retirement plans? Certainly need to reduce my pension volatility going forwards. 

Otherwise my job is going to be like Royston Vasey. I'll never leave ...

[Deleted User]

garmeg said:

Looking at my crystallised SIPP, I am down 6% from when i crystallised it in 2019 and down 15% from its February 2020 peak. It was 40% down from February at its worst (having ASEI Aberdeen Standard Equity Income and TMPL Temple Bar ITs didnt help alongside too much UK generally) so it is recovering.

Large movements like this do make it hard to make a decision about when to retire. Guess I will be a perpetual "One More Year" employee.

If it was me, I would consider a more defensive portfolio. Now that things calmed down could be a good time. In March/April would have been bad time. 

Alexland

Deleted_User said:

 You need to time it right twice to benefit. The probability of doing that is zilch. 

Probably a bit higher than zilch as I somehow did it with our children's Junior ISAs. I wasn't trying to time the market but just didn't see enough potential upside to keep them invested in S&S compared to the preferable 3%+ kids cash rates then when the market had crashed enough it became a no-brainer to transfer back to S&S and reinvest near the bottom. Shame it was only a modest amount of money but they still made a few grand not bad for little ones. When you know there is a good cash rate available it makes you think twice before continuing to take investment risk.

Prism

garmeg said:

OldMusicGuy said:

I set up my portfolio to avoid large downward movements accepting I would lose out on rapid growth during a recovery. That's because I am newly retired and need to protect what I have rather than grow it. I also hold a much higher proportion of cash in my SIPP than most would because I am very concerned about sequence of returns risk and am also very risk averse.

My portfolio was down around 11% from its February high at some of the lowest points of the drops and is currently just under 1.5% above the Feb high. That performance suits my risk profile and investment objectives.

Care to please share what funds you hold because it may be suitable for my early retirement plans? Certainly need to reduce my pension volatility going forwards. 

Otherwise my job is going to be like Royston Vasey. I'll never leave ...

A defensive early retirement portfolio not only needs to be able to withstand the brunt of a sharp downturn like in March this year but also an extended 5 year plus gradual downwards grind of equities, plus the ravages of inflation. Traditionally a decent allocation to bonds would do the trick but I am not sure that works as well at the moment. Its hard to know where else to turn except for cash, premium bonds and maybe a touch of alternative stuff like infrastructure.

shinytop

I'm about 2.5% up on Feb and that includes a chunk of cash earning next to nothing. That's mostly in 2 very mainstream mixed asset funds with a couple of satellites.   I know it's been a funny year but that's maybe 1% more than inflation.  If I could guarantee that for the next 30 years I might take it...