Have you been stung by Pension Bee?

formatge

I thought it a good idea to consolidate Pensions into one Pot. I transferred the first Pension some 7 months ago around £70K to Pension Bee. I also sent an additional £100 per month to them.

I chose their "Tailored" plan that offers to invest in risky stocks and shares in the early years when younger, moving money into low risk investments as you approach retirement.

I am 63 planning to retire at 67.

During the last six months my pension pot has shrunk from oer £70,000 to £59,000.

That does not seem like " low risk investments as you approach retirement" to me.

On complaing to Pension Bee I received the normal twaddle that " everyone has suffered" " my money has been expertly managed by Black Rock" etc. etc.

Suffice to say no more money has gone their way.

TheMilkmansDad

numerous posts on the same subject. Everyone is taking a hit. General response to you will be "why stop investing when your purchase power is better".

Van_Girl

I'm surprised that with only 4 years until retirement, that you chose a plan which I would think would be more suited to someone with considerably longer (more like 20 years)

Did you get financial advice before choosing to move your pension?

xylophone

That does not seem like " low risk investments as you approach retirement" to me.

 You say that you transferred your pension at age 63 and planned to  start drawing on the pension within four years - the plan chosen doesn't seem quite appropriate?

It's aimed at a person close to the start of his working life?

You could have chosen the "low risk plan".

And even then, low risk does not mean no risk.

Over the last few months, the stock market has been extremely volatile -  it seems to me that there will be few of us who have not seen some sharpish falls in their portfolios.

The_Fat_Controller

It sounds like you chose a completely inappropriate plan for your age.

63 is not old, but no way can it be considerer as your younger years !

I chose their "Tailored" plan that offers to invest in risky stocks and shares in the early years when younger, moving money into low risk investments as you approach retirement.

Linton

At your age the PensionBee Tailored plan is about 36% shares, 60% bonds and the rest in cash and other bits and pieces.  This is a moderately cautious allocation and reasonable (if not a little over-cautious) for someone planning to take money from their pot over the duration of their retirement.  So I dont see that PensionBee have done anything wrong in describing the fund at your time in life as lower risk compared with the 95% shares it would have held had you been much younger.

In the past few months we have had the very unusual situation that supposedly safe government bonds have been losing value.  This has occured because global interest rates which have been falling for the past 40 years to close to 0% are now rising.  At the same time we have had major falls in share prices because of the economic consequences of Ukraine and manufacturing and supply disruptions that have arisen as the world recovers from Covid.

This double whammy has affected almost all investors.  The only way of avoiding it would have been to keep all your money is cash.  But cash would have been permanently devalued because of inflation.

Over time, share and bond investments should rise again and your PensionBee fund get back to £70K and beyond.  In the meantime continuing to buy more investments at current low prices would seem to be sensible.

dunstonh

Have you been stung by Pension Bee?

That is an unfair thread title given your post subject.

During the last six months my pension pot has shrunk from oer £70,000 to £59,000.

Which is in the ballpark of expectation.

That does not seem like " low risk investments as you approach retirement" to me.

It is in line with the level of loss suffered on defensive assets during this period.  Indeed, its lower than some have suffered.

On complaing to Pension Bee I received the normal twaddle that " everyone has suffered" " my money has been expertly managed by Black Rock" etc. etc.

Suffice to say no more money has gone their way.

Pensionbee are not responsible for the way assets perform.    The problem here is you.   You refer to it as twaddle.   If you treat pertinent information as twaddle then you will not understand how investments work and what can and will happen periodically.  So, when those events happen, that twaddle you ignored leaves you in a position of ignorance and at the risk of making bad decisions.

Pensionbee are a perfectly good robo-provider.  Their product is aimed at people with relatively small values (like yours) and those that don't believe they need financial advice but can make basic decisions on their own.       

By stopping your contributions, you are only spiting yourself.   You may be invested above your risk level given the very short timescale you indicate.  Although if you are not drawing it out fully at 67, then that does not really matter.

The current loss period is less than the 2020 loss period.  What did you do in 2020 when your value dropped by more than this?
The current loss period is on par with the loss periods in 2018 and 2015/16 - did you complain then?
How about during 2008/9 when you had the largest loss period in modern history (double the current)?
You may have missed the 2000-2002 period when you had three negative years in a row.  However, if you were investing back then (which is possible with a pension at your age), what did you do then?

Linton

The_Fat_Controller said:

It sounds like you chose a completely inappropriate plan for your age.

63 is not old, but no way can it be considerer as your younger years !

I chose their "Tailored" plan that offers to invest in risky stocks and shares in the early years when younger, moving money into low risk investments as you approach retirement.

The allocations in the fund are based on age so unless the OP did not provide correct data the fund would not have been high risk. See https://www.pensionbee.com/plans.

Albermarle

Van_Girl said:

I'm surprised that with only 4 years until retirement, that you chose a plan which I would think would be more suited to someone with considerably longer (more like 20 years)

Did you get financial advice before choosing to move your pension?

As described by Linton's post ,the problem is that we have been through/going through an unusual period, where assets classed as low risk, have pretty much suffered the same falls as those classed as high risk. 
So a simple fund that is a mix of equities and bonds, will have gone down a similar amount regardless of the split between equities and bonds, which is unusual.

Rtayl306

formatge said:

I thought it a good idea to consolidate Pensions into one Pot. I transferred the first Pension some 7 months ago around £70K to Pension Bee. I also sent an additional £100 per month to them.

I chose their "Tailored" plan that offers to invest in risky stocks and shares in the early years when younger, moving money into low risk investments as you approach retirement.

I am 63 planning to retire at 67.

During the last six months my pension pot has shrunk from oer £70,000 to £59,000.

That does not seem like " low risk investments as you approach retirement" to me.

On complaing to Pension Bee I received the normal twaddle that " everyone has suffered" " my money has been expertly managed by Black Rock" etc. etc.

Suffice to say no more money has gone their way.

I have been stung for fourteen grand to date since I joined these clowns in Dec 21.  They are truly an abysmal pension company who need investigating by the FCA.  There lining there pockets at our expense.

Prism

Rtayl306 said:

Who on here is with pensionbee & seen there pots be decimated by these clowns, they have threatened me that I have been abusive towards them, well to see FOURTEEN GRAND wiped off my pension pot is nothing to laugh at, truth hurts doesn't it pensionbee.  Time something was done to stop this.

Most people have seen losses in their pension pot this year regardless of who they are with. This is not Pension Bee's fault - its just what happens when you are invested in the markets.