AVC Fund Choices Clerical Medical

draiggoch

I'm just signing up to a salary sacrifice AVC with the LGPS and it is run via Clerical Medical. I have taken a snapshot of the funds they offer via the AVC scheme.
They also offer BlackRock Uk Equity Fund and BlackRock World (Ex UK) Fund.
I don't plan to take the pension and AVC for another 13 years. I have had a look at past performance and what they consist of, I was just wondering if there were any recommendations or ideas. For my SIPP i have just tended to stick to a cheap international equities  tracker.
Thanks
D.

AlanP_2

Does it have to be with CM?

My LA offered CM and Standard Life AVC options. Initially I went with CM but quickly realised that their IT and admin systems were about 20 years behind the rest of the world. No online portal, everything had to be done by letter from the scheme trustees after you requested them to ask CM to XXXX.

Wouldn't even tell you account value over phone.


Transferred to SL as soon as I could.

Their investment choices were pretty poor as well.

What asset allocation are you aiming for? 100% equities or a mix of Equities / Bonds / Property etc? 

If you think about that you can at least come up with your own personal short list.

Albermarle

I would at least avoid the funds charging more than 1% and the absolute return fund.

dunstonh

I am surprised that the funds are still showing as 1%.    When Clerical Medical closed for new business in March 2012, their pension products for the retail market before that were around 0.7% AMC (could be better with fund based discounts).

With the requirement to offer AVCs removed in 2006, many scheme administrators stopped focusing on the AVC product and those that still offer them are often old fashioned contracts without yesteryear pricing that is higher than retail individual pensions.

draiggoch

Clerical medical is the only option unfortunately, the charges are what I could find on the internet. There are no fees or charges shared in the paperwork I received from my LGPS. I was thinking of just sticking it all in equities maybe 80% International  growth (I  believe this only includes about 5% UK exposure) and 20% UK Growth.
As it is salary sacrifice the  NI benefits should outweigh most charges I would have thought in comparison to sticking it in my SIPP.  Without forgetting the option to take all the AVC tax free against the value of my LGPS annual pension.
Thanks