Bonds & gilts investments - will their value return at some point or the fall is baked in ?

RNV

Thanks a lot for all the warnings, comments and suggestions. 

To clarify:  under no circumstances will I ever consider transferring into individual shares and by "limited options"  I didn't mean I was looking for any flashy named options  but just "standard" global index trackers.

Current portfolio:

Under workplace, I have been invested (100% up until this year) in SW Pension Portfolio 2 GB00B09CD637 for many years: 
US Equities 36.0%
International Equities 22.5%
UK Equities 12.8%
Global Fixed Interest 10.0%
Property Shares 5.5%
Other 4.7%
Japanese Equities 4.6%
UK Fixed Interest 1.5%
Money Market 1.3%
Europe ex UK Equities 1.1%

This investment was part of lifestyling and few months ago SW started moving more units into a similar (Portfolio 3) multi asset fund with a higher bonds proportion (35%)  which were falling.  At this point in time, I switched off lifestyling and eventual  funds reallocation  I've got today is :

1. - 80%  left in the original Portfolio 2 above   GB00B09CD637
2  - 20%  SW SSgA 50:50 Global Equity Index Pension GB00B09CDD03  

SW charges, with employer plan discount already applied, for item 1 is 0.77%  and  0.673% for 2  - by luck more than initial consideration these are amongst the cheapest options available under the workplace plan. Hence,  my reference of "quite expensive".

Bond funds:
The main  underlying Bond Funds included in the above Portfolio 2 (80% of my overall pot) are:
- Scottish Widows Corporate Bond Tracker Fund W Acc (-12.72 % 1 year change)
- abrdn Global Corporate Bond Tracker Fund B Acc (- 10.74%% 1 year change) 

Does anybody have any comments for these particular Bond funds  - typical ones, wrong end of the stick etc - although I will not be able to do anything as they are part of the portfolio 

SIPP/IFA or not:
If transferring "in full" is what it will end up eventually,  I cannot do it now as SW workplace have to be kept for Sal Sac. So any transfer decisions will have to be made prior to retirement (most probably with an IFA but I doubt many would be interested talking to me at this pot value level)

I do not think there is much value in seeing an IFA for me now - am I right ?

Low pot value/early retirement
I do fully understand that 500k is not much to worry-free  retire early. However, I do absolutely hate my job.  I'm paid in a region of 90k + occasional year bonus of ~10k, so I know I should not complain but the stress that comes with it impacts my life, my weekends, my holidays - you are constantly at the edge of needing to solve yet another problem/meet yet another deadline. I have resigned to the fact that I have to stick with it for another 4 years due to relatively high salary allowing max contribution; however I'm not sure I can stomach even a thought of doing it longer. 

If there is a crash in 4 years time and the pension value is down significantly, my plan B at the moment is to move to a low paid/low stress job only to cover the expenses (and preserve the pension), understandably this will be without any significant contribution to the pension any more.

My pension is aimed to cover ~30% the family's outgoings (and my "own" spending money). Husband is a bit older and will be retiring with a mixture of various incomes covering 70%. Our monthly spends atm are whopping 5.5 k (2k for mortgage with 2 years left).  We do have 2 children at home with future uni expenses (however there are 2 x rented properties of a relatively low value which can be sold if/when needed to cover these & other big costs).

Apologies for a long essay. 

saucer

Bottom line for me is that you are in very strong financial situation with having the combination of your pension, which is substantial given only needing to support a small portion of family outgoings, and the rentals. If I were you I wouldn’t put up with the job for longer than I needed to…albeit you are relatively young, and it’s not what you asked!

Albermarle

So any transfer decisions will have to be made prior to retirement (most probably with an IFA but I doubt many would be interested talking to me at this pot value level)

People with investable assets/ pension pots of anything over £100K are normally of interest for an IFA. Probably less in some less well off areas and maybe a bit more in wealthier areas.

The issue could be is that with a workplace pension they are more limited in their input, but I am sure you could find one interested if you wanted to.

On a more general note, you need to think through carefully whether taking a low paid job would really be an option. Many low paid jobs are highly pressurised. So you still get hassle, deadlines etc but with no autonomy or high pay.

Maybe better to do a couple more years at work . Each year will count for two as far as retirement funding is concerned, as you are still contributing to pension with a very generous 40% tax relief, whilst funding spending from work income, rather than your own money. It all depends on how bad the job is, normally you don't get £100Kpa without some sacrifices.

RNV

Thanks @Albermarle,

Husband is retiring in 3 years, pre- his retirement we were going to arrange an IFA to look at our case as a system - i think I will stick with this plan for now. 

Yes, I know what you mean re low paid jobs … there must be a happy solution somewhere in between…. £90k (87 to be precise) is after quite recent ~10% increase (in an attempt to retain staff, as shortstaffed for lots of new huge projects) after 4 years no  payrise; bonus is not guaranteed every year either.  Stress level getting higher and higher, catching up during weekends with whatever left on Fri; take laptop on every holiday and contunue working with an out of office switched on… This will cost me health if Im not careful…

 I dont know,… cannot plan for long… will keep on reassessing on early basis and see how long I can wait untill I tell them where exactly they can go with their annual performance review…

JohnWinder

Here are some graphics illustrating bond price movements with interest rate changes: https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1141094/what-to-expect-from-bond-total-returns-when-interest-rates-rise

RNV

Thank you @JohnWinder.  An interesting read. Will hope for reinvested coupons helping recovery.