Pension Review after going with financial advisor - Negative Growth

Albermarle

Gareth77 said:

What resources are available to understand this at a high level? - for me to compare the fluctuations over these periods.

Most people with an advisor, are paying them so they do not have to bother doing anything like that !
I am not saying some extra info will not help you though.

[Deleted User]

Gareth77 said:

What resources are available to understand this at a high level? - for me to compare the fluctuations over these periods.

I would suggest you start with John Edwards book on UK pensions.  Very simple, short and high level summary.

After that, if you are still interested in understanding what's going on:

The Four Pillars of Investing, William Bernstein. He also has a bunch of really good books on risks (investing for adults series)

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, John C. Bogle. 

A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Burton Malkiel. 
The Little Book of Behavioral Investing: How not to be your own worst enemy, James Montier

I think it's a REALLY good investment in both sterling and hours. 

gm0

+1 for Random Walk.

Bernstein "Rational expectations" is another good explainer

garyelder

To be honest my pension pot was 540k went down to 470k now back up a bit in the last 2 weeks to 491k
every month the fees come out but seems I just have to bare with it 
I’m 61 and don’t need to touch my pot till I’m 67 but just hope we don’t get bashed by the budget where I read they may do away with the 25% tax free but 
who knows 

dunstonh

I’m 61 and don’t need to touch my pot till I’m 67 but just hope we don’t get bashed by the budget where I read they may do away with the 25% tax free but 

The media run that every time there is a budget or statement due.   Been doing it since 1988.   Yet both Labour and Conservatives have increased the availability of tax free cash during their periods in Government.  

bostonerimus

garyelder said:

To be honest my pension pot was 540k went down to 470k now back up a bit in the last 2 weeks to 491k
every month the fees come out but seems I just have to bare with it 
I’m 61 and don’t need to touch my pot till I’m 67 but just hope we don’t get bashed by the budget where I read they may do away with the 25% tax free but 
who knows 

UK investors get very generous tax breaks and for them to be attacked would be a major break with previous policy under numerous administrations. The thing I'd worry about is the "tax" that you keep paying in fees. Make sure you have that under control.

Grumpy_chap

dunstonh said:

I’m 61 and don’t need to touch my pot till I’m 67 but just hope we don’t get bashed by the budget where I read they may do away with the 25% tax free but 

The media run that every time there is a budget or statement due.   Been doing it since 1988.   Yet both Labour and Conservatives have increased the availability of tax free cash during their periods in Government.  

The media like a scare-mongering story.
The Government (of any hue) likes to encourage private pension provision to reduce future state liability.

Marcon

NannaH said:

A more pragmatic view for you : 
Add up what you ( and employers)  have paid in over the last 20 years,  don’t forget the valuable tax relief too. 
I bet you will be pleasantly surprised at the long term growth.   I imagine you also have another 20+ years to go.
Prices falling mean you get extra funds for your future contributions,  just keep drip feeding.

...depending on the type of investments you hold.

JohnWinder

Gareth77 said:

What resources are available to understand this at a high level? - for me to compare the fluctuations over these periods.

If you know the composition of your investments, how much of what types of assets are invested, then you can use portfoliovisualizer website to get a historic perspective covering 50 years on how much investments rise and fall over different periods. It won’t be information specific to your investments, as it has a USA focus, but if you some global equities and government bonds then you’ll get a close enough approximation. There is a website with similar EU fund information, but how to find it?

JohnWinder

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, John C. Bogle. 

And that one’s free if you search by title and add ‘pdf’.