Aviva Pension Fund choices

Louisdawg

Hi All

I have a pension with Aviva through work and I'm  very much in the accumulation phase of pension building.

I just checked what I'm invested in and it's
Aviva pension mixed investment (40-85 shares) S6.

Looking at the aims of the fund and its performance it feels a little conservative for someone with maybe 20 years of pension contributions to go.

I was thinking of switching it to HSBC ftse all world index tracker to get a fund that's supposedly got a bit of everything in it. 

Would that still be too Conservative?

The pension is slowly building but getting big enough now for bigger swings and accumulation.

Thank you for any thoughts. 

dunstonh

Looking at the aims of the fund and its performance it feels a little conservative for someone with maybe 20 years of pension contributions to go.

Off the top of my head, I think that has 85% equities.  So, in reality, its only one notch of very high risk.

Would that still be too Conservative?

Global tracker is very high risk. One notch above what you have.

If you can handle losing half your value during negative periods then fire away.  

Louisdawg

dunstonh said:

Looking at the aims of the fund and its performance it feels a little conservative for someone with maybe 20 years of pension contributions to go.

Off the top of my head, I think that has 85% equities.  So, in reality, its only one notch of very high risk.

Would that still be too Conservative?

Global tracker is very high risk. One notch above what you have.

If you can handle losing half your value during negative periods then fire away.  

Thank you Dunstonh

Out of interest, I often hear people saying that IFA's wouldn't be interested in anything under £xxxs

What amount do you think is a good idea to get an IFA involved?

Thank you 

coyrls

You wouldn't normally engage an IFA for advice on investments in an occupational pension, so I wouldn't include your work's pension sum in your £xxxs calculation.

Louisdawg

coyrls said:

You wouldn't normally engage an IFA for advice on investments in an occupational pension, so I wouldn't include your work's pension sum in your £xxxs calculation.

Sorry - it's a private pension through work, not an occupational scheme unfortunately. My employer pays in the bare minimum of 3 percent and I pay in 25 percent. 

The choices within the personal pension are all mine and independent. 

Bimbly

Louisdawg said:

I was thinking of switching it to HSBC ftse all world index tracker 

Are you sure you have access to this fund within your scheme? I have an Aviva workplace pension and it's not available to me. It would be so much more easier if it were!

Aviva offer different pensions to different employers, so yours very likely won't be the same as mine. But you might want to check your options before deciding where to place your money. Rather than having your heart set on one thing then discovering it's not available.

dunstonh

Are you sure you have access to this fund within your scheme? I have an Aviva workplace pension and it's not available to me. It would be so much more easier if it were!

Its a good point to make as many of their basic plans will be limited.  However, Aviva do have a whole of market option.  Although that is typically only available via IFAs.   The op doesn't appear to have an IFA.

Out of interest, I often hear people saying that IFA's wouldn't be interested in anything under £xxxs

There are a lot of different business models out there and different advisers at different stages of their business life.   A younger, newer adviser is unlikely to have a minimum.  Whereas older experienced advisers are more likely to be near capacity and have a minimum.  I have seen minimums as high as £250k.    It can also depend on the type of work and whether is a window to do it.  Ask in the tax year end/start weeks and most IFAs will be run off their feet.   Ask in early December and most will be much quieter.

Louisdawg

Bimbly said:

Louisdawg said:

I was thinking of switching it to HSBC ftse all world index tracker 

Are you sure you have access to this fund within your scheme? I have an Aviva workplace pension and it's not available to me. It would be so much more easier if it were!

Aviva offer different pensions to different employers, so yours very likely won't be the same as mine. But you might want to check your options before deciding where to place your money. Rather than having your heart set on one thing then discovering it's not available.

Actually now you mention it, I may be getting it mixed up with my Aegon pension.

Still the question still stands - is the Aviva mixed investments 45-85% any good or is it just a default fund which you should move away from?

cfw1994

dunstonh said:

Looking at the aims of the fund and its performance it feels a little conservative for someone with maybe 20 years of pension contributions to go.

Off the top of my head, I think that has 85% equities.  So, in reality, its only one notch of very high risk.

Would that still be too Conservative?

Global tracker is very high risk. One notch above what you have.

If you can handle losing half your value during negative periods then fire away.  

Because a portfolio constructed by an IFA cannot “lose up to half your value during negative periods”?
Is that a fact?
If *global* funds have lost half their value....it is pretty likely most other funds might also have lost a significant chunk, no?
Or is this an argument for finding the magic fund managers who consistently beat ‘the market’, year in, year out?  A bit of a unicorn find, I would suggest!

“Risk” is a very misunderstood concept.  If you want growth, you implicitly need risk.  Zero risk is cash, and that has the other risk of losing out to inflation every single year.  

dunstonh

Because a portfolio constructed by an IFA cannot “lose up to half your value during negative periods”?
Is that a fact?
If *global* funds have lost half their value....it is pretty likely most other funds might also have lost a significant chunk, no?
Or is this an argument for finding the magic fund managers who consistently beat ‘the market’, year in, year out?  A bit of a unicorn find, I would suggest!

Why are you trying to turn a comment about volatility/risk into being about IFAs?

JohnWinder

Louisdawg said:

Still the question still stands - is the Aviva mixed investments 45-85% any good or is it just a default fund which you should move away from?

To answer that I suppose you might wonder how well diversified it is? It’s mostly equities and bonds/cash, but good luck finding out exactly what it holds apart from ‘Energy equities’ or ‘dividend equity future’ etc. As a guess it’s probably well diversified. What are its costs? Almost pointless looking for that information since the fund is composed of other Aviva funds, and different platforms etc seem to alter the fees that might be reported somewhere else. Does the fund ‘style’ or ‘strategy’ drift? Well, it’s named a 40-85% equity fund, so I suppose the managers allow themselves to alter the equity percentage quite widely, currently at about 75%. Please yourself if you think that’s a good idea, but if you want a ‘high-ish’ risk equity-type fund you won’t be getting that if they drop the equity holdings to 50%. As well, we know from the SPIVA research that active fund managers fail in their struggle to beat index fund returns over the longer term, in the large majority; so do you favour actively managed funds?

Aviva lists hundreds of pension funds like yours. One would imagine that would cost more than offering dozens, which one would imagine could be enough to cover the investment world. If there are unnecessary funds, who's paying for them to exist, run, be promoted etc? Hopefully not the customer.

You might want to read this exchange about exactly the fund you enquired about, here: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=320254

And read about choosing funds, in general, here: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=218690