Scottish Widows Pensions

SpeedSouth

Hi,

What is dragging this fund down so much https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/P/qg27/scottish-widows-pension-portfolio-one-pension/

This is my workplace pension and its current value is a little lower than it was last year.  Value 12 months ago was £235k.  Value today is £230k and during that time its had £41k dropped in it.  So around  20% drop which I get is not huge given its equity weighting and not particularly worried but interested why it is struggling more than my Vanguard Global All Cap SIPP.

I'm just keen to understand I'm no expert I'm not about to pull it out in a panic, which is why all I did when setting it up was put it in the higher risk default fund at the point I started it 6 years ago.

AndyTh_2

It's invested more in UK investments, so has had less of a "benefit" of the pound going down in value, which is what is skewing your Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap to make it look like it's actually doing better.

Here's a comparison of that Scottish Widows fund against Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap and a GBP-hedged ETF tracking the same index as the All Cap.

With the All Cap and hedged ETF you can see more clearly the real global value decline of the companies more clearly. Since the Scottish Widows fund is has more UK shares, it sits between the two.

SpeedSouth

Thanks that makes sense

P1Fanatic

I have the same pension albeit I was in the more cautious Pension Portfolio Two until around 3 months ago and its down a similar amount so don't be overly concerned about choosing One. I need to disable it from displaying the balance in my Halifax app which I check every day for credit card transaction. Depressing viewing lol.

Albermarle

P1Fanatic said:

I have the same pension albeit I was in the more cautious Pension Portfolio Two until around 3 months ago and its down a similar amount so don't be overly concerned about choosing One. I need to disable it from displaying the balance in my Halifax app which I check every day for credit card transaction. Depressing viewing lol.

We are in an unusual period where lower risk funds have actually fallen more, or similar, than higher risk funds.
So whether you choose One , Two or Three, you will probably have a similar result over the last 12 months ( caveat being I have not actually checked the detail) 

Cotswoldtony

It's a fire sale at the moment with the Bank of England printing money to buy £65 billion government bonds to shore up the dam which only devalues them further reducing pension fund assets and pushing up mortgage rates. We could see bank bail-ins in the future.

SpeedSouth

P1Fanatic said:

I have the same pension albeit I was in the more cautious Pension Portfolio Two until around 3 months ago and its down a similar amount so don't be overly concerned about choosing One. I need to disable it from displaying the balance in my Halifax app which I check every day for credit card transaction. Depressing viewing lol.

Yeah i see it when ever I log onto Halifax as well.  This post was the annual update I do, but as you say seeing a monthly deposit of 3k not increase the value is not much fun.