Retirement Fast Approaching.....

Icenaj01

I was wondering if somebody could offer some advice to me. 

I am retiring in the next few months. I will have a DBS scheme from a previous employer, a DCS scheme with current employer and State Pension. I have calculated that I may not need to drawdown on the DCS yet as the DBS and State Pension will be sufficient. 

The workplace DCS scheme is currently worth c.£250,000 and has been in a very low risk lifestyle plan with Aviva for the last couple of years. 

I will have to decide what to do with the Aviva plan. I'm rather nervous of managing it on my own but also cognisant of high management fees out there that could erode away the investment.  

Does anyone have any view on any of the other Aviva plans or something suitable that is low cost and has could performed well?

Any advice is much appreciated. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Have you checked your State Pension forecast on gov.uk?  Important to read past the headline figure to see what you had accrued by April 2020.

robatwork

Aviva do offer a choice of investments and you could move them into something more risky. 

The question is - what %age are you paying them to manage your fund?

trevjl

My works DC is also with Aviva, we are paying 0.2%

Icenaj01

@Dazed_and_confused - DWP sent me an estimate last February 2020 - which was £8675 pa and took into account that I paid the old married women's stamp years for a few years and that I had contracted out of SERPS. I am divorced now and single.  I have contacted them on their request to apply for my pension this year and although they have acknowledged, I have not yet received notification on how much I will actually receive. 

@robatwork and @trevjl  - the Aviva annual fund charge on my DCS is 0.4%. 

Albermarle

If you never really intended to start taking the pension at the retirement date , or not until later anyway , it should never have been invested in a low risk lifestyle plan anyway . These plans are usually designed to derisk as you approach retirement , on the assumption you will start to take an income from them straightaway or buy an annuity .
You need an investment that will at least keep up with inflation and preferably a little bit ahead . It does not have to be high risk but it should have some focus on modest growth at least . No doubt there is something in the Aviva range that would suit and if you can keep the cost at approx 0.4% then that is not high. Probably some kind of mixed investment fund with a risk rating say 3 out of 7 . 

Icenaj01

Thanks @Albermarle - however the original idea was that I would either buy an annuity or an income to supplement the DBS and State  Pension on retirement  - that's why it has been invested as above in the last couple of years.  Since I have had final confirmation of my DBS income recently I have realised that I don't really need the DCS drawdown to start when retirement commences and therefore it should be invested into a growth vehicle until the day when I do require it to supplement my income. 

Albermarle

OK that makes sense .
So as a first step have a good look at what alternatives the Aviva pension can offer .

Icenaj01

Thanks @Albermarle - I'll do that. 

Does anyone know if there is some sort of investment hub out there where you can compare performance of different pension providers along with their charges?

JohnWinder

Just be a little bit careful when comparing 'performance', if you mean annual returns, because higher annual returns might have been achieved by taking more risk with the investment choices. The significance of this is that: you might not be comfortable with that higher level of risk (if you're able to find out what it is); and that higher level of risk might not have achieved a proportionately higher return, so that that option could be considered a poorer choice anyway as its risk adjusted returns were lower (even thought the absolute returns were higher). And of course, past performance really does not predict future performance accurately.

As well, be sure you're aware of any other charges you're incurring when you note Aviva charges 0.4%, as it would be unhelpful and unfair in the comparisons if you're not comparing all charges with all charges.

cfw1994

My main pot is with Aviva, & the costs (annual management costs, or AMC as mine reads) are very decent.
Are you able to login to it in order to check what fund choices there are?  Might be worthwhile staying with Aviva but choosing a some more “global” funds within it: mine has a Baillie Gifford International one that seems decent enough.
Aviva will also offer chargeable advice: I had a chat with someone who was clearly a “sales lady”, but she also realised I perhaps knew as much about the funds as she did & we parted politely at the end of the call!