What did the smart pension money do when values dropped in March/April?

Thrugelmir

randompenitent said:

I also had some cash sitting on the side and invested that. I'm not clever enough to have bought at the bottom, but I did buy some way below the top and made a little profit. 

Bottom is relative. As markets are made up of thousands of companies. Every day some will rise, some will fall and others will remain unchanged. When markets fall suddenly in reaction to uncertainty.  You can expect at least 90% of shares to turn red.  Exploiting the anomalies that arise is where the money can be made. Good solid well managed financially sound companies don't become bad overnight. 

OldMusicGuy

What did I do? Nothing. I retired just over two years ago and set up my strategy to protect my portfolio from large downward falls  (at the expense of missing out on rapid growth during recovery). This was the first time that strategy was tested, and it worked for me. 

Sorry if this sounds personal, but your question implies you may not have the mentality to lose the certainty of a DB pension and replace it with the uncertainty of a DC investment. You sound like you think you can "time" the market. Just make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for if you go ahead with the transfer.

green_man

I did nothing.

Many people predicted some crash, but when it started it went pretty quickly.  What a lot of people didn’t predict was the relatively swift recovery (of US markets at least- due to tech/comms stocks).  So I suspect very few managed to be out before the crash and get back in at the bottom, most were predicting further falls etc.

if I had had a heavy cash position (as I do now) I hope I would have been buying in early March but I’ll never know for certain.

[Deleted User]

cloud_dog said:

I was fortunate, I had cash on the side, so jumped in.  I (we) still have cash on the side and I have sold some of the March invested investments but, that is due to the strategy/timeline (re-balancing back to cash percentage) being applied to this (these specific) pot(s) of investments.

Great aftertiming.

Prism

In my pension very little. Two of my regular contributions went into a trust that I had been watching for a while and had fallen significantly, then it was back to normal.

Cus

I did nothing. Maybe the fund managers of the active funds that I have investments in did something.

Thrugelmir

green_man said:

What a lot of people didn’t predict was the relatively swift recovery (of US markets at least- due to tech/comms stocks). 

Nor the amount of cash that would be helicopter dropped by Central Banks in Western economies to keep the natives happy.    

enthusiasticsaver

We did nothing.  We are invested in low to medium risk strategy portfolio but it did fall slightly in March.  Not for long though and even if it had fallen further we would not have sold out.  We have plenty of easily accessible cash so why would we? It has more than recovered now. 

enthusiasticsaver

britishboy said:

Partly a theoretical question, and also genuinely interested...
When it was a given that markets everywhere were going to plunge due to Covid in March/April of this year, what were people doing with their SIPP's and pension pots?  Allowing them to ride it out, or transfer it somewhere a little 'safer', if there was anywhere?  

NOTE: For those of you who read the rest of my pension posts on here, I am considering a DB transfer out so want to know what options there are regarding safer investment choices if a period of uncertainty if forecast (I'm talking months, not daily fluctuations)

The safest option is not to transfer out of a DB pension. 

clive0510

I didn't do anything as regards my pension. I just left it as it was. what I did do was wait untill things had gone even lower untill I thought that was it. everything at rock bottom. and then I set up a monthly  direct debit into a high income -and also high risk- isa that I have. so as things slowly climb so will my isa. ie- buy low sell high. 
so that was that, and here we are again lockdown stage 2, and every thing gone pear shaped and getting worse. so I kinda gunna give up now, and just let things take there own course.