Lifestyling -

existedsteed

My pension company, did not put my money into the Lifestyling program that
they had committed to do in the years as I  approach retirement- When I realised this and told them, they promptly apologised, backdated my lifestyle themed investments and reduced my pension fund balances by £10,000 in line with the historical Lifestyling performance that they say I should have been included in - When I squealed about this too, they “graciously” reversed that change, so that I am now returned to  the same position I was in before i raised the original issue to them.
I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea until my 63rd year that a pension company has so little interest in how ones pension is actually performing.
 I’m wondering if I should be grateful or disappointed with this pension company

Marcon

existedsteed said:

My pension company, did not put my money into the Lifestyling program that
they had committed to do in the years as I  approach retirement- When I realised this and told them, they promptly apologised, backdated my lifestyle themed investments and reduced my pension fund balances by £10,000 in line with the historical Lifestyling performance that they say I should have been included in - When I squealed about this too, they “graciously” reversed that change, so that I am now returned to  the same position I was in before i raised the original issue to them.
I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea until my 63rd year that a pension company has so little interest in how ones pension is actually performing.
 I’m wondering if I should be grateful or disappointed with this pension company

I think what you might find a tad more embarrassing is your own lack of interest in your own pension. The pension provider simply follows your instructions - or lack of them, in which case you are (along with the vast majority; you aren't alone here!) in whatever default fund is on offer. The pension performing badly; your choice of assets in which your funds are invested drives the outcome.

HappyHarry

existedsteed said:

My pension company, did not put my money into the Lifestyling program that
they had committed to do in the years as I  approach retirement- When I realised this and told them, they promptly apologised, backdated my lifestyle themed investments and reduced my pension fund balances by £10,000 in line with the historical Lifestyling performance that they say I should have been included in - When I squealed about this too, they “graciously” reversed that change, so that I am now returned to  the same position I was in before i raised the original issue to them.
I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea until my 63rd year that a pension company has so little interest in how ones pension is actually performing.
 I’m wondering if I should be grateful or disappointed with this pension company

So to clarify, the pension company made an error which you spotted. They corrected their error. You then decided you didn’t like the correction and asked them to reverse it, which they have done.

The pension company do not run your investments - at least, the pension team don’t run the investments, they are chosen by you, and /or who ever advises you, which is almost definitely not the pension company.

You should feel disappointed that the company made the original error, but grateful that they corrected it and then grateful again when they reversed that correction to suit your whim.

QrizB

existedsteed said:

My pension company, did not put my money into the Lifestyling program that
they had committed to do in the years as I  approach retirement- When I realised this and told them, they promptly apologised, backdated my lifestyle themed investments and reduced my pension fund balances by £10,000 in line with the historical Lifestyling performance that they say I should have been included in ...

Be careful what you wish for! You should probably have checked this before making the request.

When I squealed about this too, they “graciously” reversed that change, so that I am now returned to  the same position I was in before i raised the original issue to them. 

You're fortunate. They may have had no obligation to do this.

I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea until my 63rd year that a pension company has so little interest in how ones pension is actually performing.

Your chooce of fumds, and their performance, are not the concernnof the company administering yoir pension.

I’m wondering if I should be grateful or disappointed with this pension company

It seems as though your pension company have followed your instructions and have them very kindly undone the changes when you have realised the consequences of your request.

I think you should be grateful.

artyboy

I know we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to threads complaining about Lifestyling in the face of the recent gilts bloodbath (sorry... "correction"). But even I am tempted to suggest that this one could be a wind up!

Marcon

artyboy said:

I know we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to threads complaining about Lifestyling in the face of the recent gilts bloodbath (sorry... "correction"). But even I am tempted to suggest that this one could be a wind up!

I fear it's all too real - I've met these cases before. Normally where there is this sort of error (which isn't always easy for a layman to spot in the first place, never mind work out what the position would be if the error is corrected), the individual is entitled to the better of the original position or the corrected position.

Pat38493

Marcon said:

existedsteed said:

My pension company, did not put my money into the Lifestyling program that
they had committed to do in the years as I  approach retirement- When I realised this and told them, they promptly apologised, backdated my lifestyle themed investments and reduced my pension fund balances by £10,000 in line with the historical Lifestyling performance that they say I should have been included in - When I squealed about this too, they “graciously” reversed that change, so that I am now returned to  the same position I was in before i raised the original issue to them.
I’m embarrassed to admit I had no idea until my 63rd year that a pension company has so little interest in how ones pension is actually performing.
 I’m wondering if I should be grateful or disappointed with this pension company

I think what you might find a tad more embarrassing is your own lack of interest in your own pension. The pension provider simply follows your instructions - or lack of them, in which case you are (along with the vast majority; you aren't alone here!) in whatever default fund is on offer. The pension performing badly; your choice of assets in which your funds are invested drives the outcome.

For the second part maybe, but my understanding of the OP was that they were in a scheme where the pension provider was supposed to automatically move them into a different option at a certain point, and they failed to do so.  On that particular point, they did not follow the instructions so it's correct that it should be fixed (if I have understood the OP right).

However once it was fixed, wouldn't the pension provider be within their rights to say that they have fixed the pension according to the instructions that were in place from OP at the time and therefore there is nothing more to do.  Therefore they went above and beyond by reversing it back again?