Nest workplace pension poor investment?

HongKongPhooey2021

Hi,

So I had a workplace pension with "The peoples Pension" whilst working for a company & it was always in credit. With the pot often way above the contributions.

Switching jobs I wanted to detach myself completely from the previous company & transferred the 8k from TPP into NEST.

NEST being my new jobs pension provider.

However my pot has never exceded my contributions & I'm wondering what to do.

As of typing my contributions are £10,605 & my pot is £10,538

I know the figures are close as I write but it's never been above in 2 years!

Thanks

Dazed_and_C0nfused

HongKongPhooey2021 said:

Hi,

So I had a workplace pension with "The peoples Pension" whilst working for a company & it was always in credit. With the pot often way above the contributions.

Switching jobs I wanted to detach myself completely from the previous company & transferred the 8k from TPP into NEST.

NEST being my new jobs pension provider.

However my pot has never exceded my contributions & I'm wondering what to do.

As of typing my contributions are £10,605 & my pot is £10,538

I know the figures are close as I write but it's never been above in 2 years!

Thanks

The performance of your pension is primarily the result of your investment choices, not the provider.  Although provider fees do have an impact.

How have you chose to invest your money with Nest?  That is likely to be where the problem lies.  If there is one.

MX5huggy

If you had moved the other way (Nest to TTP) the outcome could be very similar. The transfer has crystallised your gain. On the day you transferred the TTP may have shown £6000 of contributions and a £2000 gain. The next day in nest it’s shown as just a simple £8000 contribution. That then goes up and down as stock markets do. You’ve then added about £2000 of contributions through a period of volatility. This graph shows the world stock market in the last 10 years. The next the last 2 years. The last 2 years have been significantly different to the previous 8 

MakingUpGround

I have a workplace pension with Nest and I too have not seen growth over the contributions. 
Until I changed funds into the riskiest one and now I'm starting to see some growth. 
My pension here is only small and not my main one so I'm ok with the risk factor.  

Its tricky to find, but the fund choice comparison is here https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/investing-your-pension/fund-choices/compare-fund-performance.html

What I don't like about NEST (not my choice to be with them) is that you can't spilt your choices, it's all in one fund

dunstonh

I know the figures are close as I write but it's never been above in 2 years!

2022 was a negative year.    It has nothing to do with the pension provider.  Most investment areas lost money during 2022.

Albermarle

However my pot has never exceded my contributions & I'm wondering what to do.

I think a good idea would be to keep an eye on financial news/ news in general.

Then you can see why your pension investments might be doing well, or not so well , over a given period.

Due to various factors, but particularly the Ukraine war and the aftermath of the pandemic, economies around the world have been struggling with high prices and supply issues for many goods and services. This has depressed financial markets, particularly during 2022.

HongKongPhooey2021

Hi, Thanks to everybody that replied. I've read & understood all answers.

The investment setting was on standard, however I've just upped it to high risk! :-)

With my current issues I bet I never claim it anyway.

Thanks

Simon11

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6441571/nest-workplace-pension-poor-investment

Based on the information above, it appears you are putting around £1k-£1.2k into your pension each year and includes employer contributions too with potentially no other pension pot?

If you are seeking to have a comfortable retirement or even retire early, you will seriously need to look at if it is possible to put more into your pension over the next few years.

I would focus your energy into increasing your pension pot, rather than worry about the investment returns on your existing pot.

xylophone

With my current issues I bet I never claim it anyway.

Have you named a beneficiary?

https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/memberhelpcentre/my-details-and-preferences/add-or-change-beneficiary.html#:~:text=You can add or edit,Your beneficiaries on your dashboard.

BlackKnightMonty

Hi,

Take a look at the NEST Sharia fund. I switched into this fund when I joined NEST as it had been the best performing. It still is thr best performing. Although tech stocks are a bit toppy right now.

Linton

BlackKnightMonty said:

Hi,

Take a look at the NEST Sharia fund. I switched into this fund when I joined NEST as it had been the best performing. It still is thr best performing. Although tech stocks are a bit toppy right now.

I would be very concerned about  the NEST Sharia fund's lower diversification than a standard global index fund.  NEST seem rather coy about its sector allocation, but the top 10 underlying holdings are similar %s to those of  HSBC's Islamic Global Equity Index fund.

That fund is 36% Tech,  16% Healthcare ( eg pharma) and 11% Communications (mobile phone, networks etc). Generally it is heavily wieghted (62%) towards growth companies.

This allocation can be compared with a typical global equity index fund: 25% Tech, 12% Healthcare, 7% Communications with an allocation to Growth companies of  36%.