Pension Fund Strategy (Scottish Widows)

RTK_1982

Hi

This is the first I have taken proper interest in pension contributions but realising now is the time to focus on this if I want a decent pension pot at retirement (39 years old - £43k in current pot now with a total £500 a month contributions).

I have 100% of my pension invested in Scottish Widows Baillie Gifford North American.  I know it's high risk but would be the type of companies I would like to invest in if I had the money (top heavy with Tech companies like Tesla, Amazon etc)

I'm thinking of splitting the contributions between a few other low cost equity index funds to cover all the markets

SW SSgA Emerging Markets Equity Index (0.25%)

Scottish Widows Ethical Pension (Series 2) (0.25%)

Scottish Widows Premier Pension Portfolio 2 (Series 2) (0.25)

SW SSgA Europe ex UK Equity Index (0.25)

SW SSgA Asia Pacific Ex Japan Equity Index Pension (0.25)

SW SSgA Japan Equity Index Pension (0.25)

Just wondering what other people's strategies are when it comes to funds? 

Thanks

Joe

michaels

Are those percentages your total cost? My older pension with SW has a minimum charge of 75bps for the cheapest funds and most of the ones you mention are even more.

RTK_1982

Yeah 0.25% management fees on these funds.  They are advertised as 1% but we get a company discount of 0.75% on any funds chosen..  

I think there is a standard 0.25% that they charge to administer the policy so would be 0.5%. 

That's my understanding anyway, might drop them an email to make sure that is the case

dunstonh

I have 100% of my pension invested in Scottish Widows Baillie Gifford North American.  I know it's high risk but would be the type of companies I would like to invest in if I had the money (top heavy with Tech companies like Tesla, Amazon etc)

Great with luck and hindsight if you did that a year ago.  Not so much if you did it recently.

Just wondering what other people's strategies are when it comes to funds? 

Structured with researched weightings/allocations and not random or equal percentages.

What is wrong with their multi-asset funds? 

Thrugelmir

Do SW offer a range of "managed" funds?   Simply randomly selecting a combination of funds isn't the way forward in terms of building a diversified portfolio.  Your pension fund should be treated akin to running a marathon rather than a sprint. 

RTK_1982

Tell me about it Dunston, I did it midway through last year so managed to get some decent gains before it took a hit in March.

Yeah the Global Asset fund could be a good option, hadn't considered that.  Although it is top heavy in America (61%) and wanted to keep the Baillie Gilford American long term so any other funds I would probably be different areas

Albermarle

Scottish Widows Premier Pension Portfolio 2 (Series 2) (0.25)

This is a managed/multi asset fund with about 75% equities , so medium/high risk.

RTK_1982

Thrugelmir said:

Do SW offer a range of "managed" funds?   Simply randomly selecting a combination of funds isn't the way forward in terms of building a diversified portfolio.  Your pension fund should be treated akin to running a marathon rather than a sprint. 

It does, although these funds picked are not random selections and would be the intention to leave the funds alone for the next 20 years.

If I was investing out side my pension it would be in low cost index funds which these funds are.  These are all the index funds which are available with the lowest AMC. 

RTK_1982

Albermarle said:

Scottish Widows Premier Pension Portfolio 2 (Series 2) (0.25)

This is a managed/multi asset fund with about 75% equities , so medium/high risk.

Thanks Albermale, I think this is the fund my wife has her pension invested in.

Prism

RTK_1982 said:

Albermarle said:

Scottish Widows Premier Pension Portfolio 2 (Series 2) (0.25)

This is a managed/multi asset fund with about 75% equities , so medium/high risk.

Thanks Albermale, I think this is the fund my wife has her pension invested in.

My wife uses the Baillie Gifford Managed fund - bits of the American one plus the rest of the world.

Thrugelmir

RTK_1982 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Do SW offer a range of "managed" funds?   Simply randomly selecting a combination of funds isn't the way forward in terms of building a diversified portfolio.  Your pension fund should be treated akin to running a marathon rather than a sprint. 

It does, although these funds picked are not random selections and would be the intention to leave the funds alone for the next 20 years.

If you intend to actively manage group of funds. Then doing nothing at all for 20 years isn't advisable. A a lot will happen over that time frame.