Pension or ISA ?

Albermarle

I suppose my main reason for asking is it seems it would give me clarity of my returns (I'm not overly confident about the world as it stands at moment, who have guessed we'd have a had a world epidemic that turned everything on its head)

Since Jan 1st 2020 ( so just a few weeks before Covid) to today.

US stock market ( by far the biggest in the world ) is up 38%

Europe up 15%

Japan up 34 % 

UK ( a very small part of the global financial market) - 0%

Nick9967

In fact i have no clue what happened in the 70's other than history books , far too young to understand at that point, i did however live through 17% mortgage rates etc, but my point is here that i only need this pot for max 22 years, is it worth it?

QrizB

My opinion (which might not be worth anything) is that 22 years is long enough that investing is likely to be a better idea than a savings account.

Albermarle

Nick9967 said:

In fact i have no clue what happened in the 70's other than history books , far too young to understand at that point, i did however live through 17% mortgage rates etc, but my point is here that i only need this pot for max 22 years, is it worth it?

Your OP was asking whether taking out of some of your pension now, and sticking it in a fixed rate savings account was a good idea. You got a mixed range of answers.

So not sure what you mean now by 'is it worth it?'
Do you mean is it worth still contributing at work ? ( normally yes as you get free money)
Did you know that if after 22 years there is still money in it you can pass it on as a legacy, currently free of any inheritance tax implications. Or you could use it for care costs etc

Nick9967

"is it worth it"? , I didn't explain myself well, in reality I suppose that I'm getting at is that I know I need some cash back up , which I don't have, in my mind this is creating that cash back up out of that pension pot, normally not a great idea perhaps but does give me immediate cash whilst not decimating my pension to do so (at least in my mind as i had the 5-6% interest rate) 

Albermarle

Nick9967 said:

"is it worth it"? , I didn't explain myself well, in reality I suppose that I'm getting at is that I know I need some cash back up , which I don't have, in my mind this is creating that cash back up out of that pension pot, normally not a great idea perhaps but does give me immediate cash whilst not decimating my pension to do so (at least in my mind as i had the 5-6% interest rate) 

If you read through the forum, you will see there have been regular posts in recent weeks about people moving from investments into fix rate savings. Some even 100%, but most partly, like you are considering.

Moving 100% is short sighted/reacting to the short term, rather than thinking long term. Moving some/a portion is a more nuanced judgement call, and depends on your personal circumstances and attitude to investing

Nick9967

Albermarle said:

If you read through the forum, you will see there have been regular posts in recent weeks about people moving from investments into fix rate savings. Some even 100%, but most partly, like you are considering.

Moving 100% is short sighted/reacting to the short term, rather than thinking long term. Moving some/a portion is a more nuanced judgement call, and depends on your personal circumstances and attitude to investing

Thanks , i think i was looking for a fixed answer that isn't really there, as you say my partial change may make some sense depending on the overall look of what i have , so in reality i think it should have been looking for various opinions within the discussion rather than the "correct" answer, i take your point- 

If i took the 50k tax free part of my pension  (available now) and used that for short term fixed ISA's between wife and I (remainder in a savings pot at 5% lest say then i suppose i would miss any extra tax due as well?

BUT as you mentioned if i take that 50k out now then i miss the opportunity for better growth within its current fund(s), it really is a roll of the dice!

appreciate all of your opinions/answers-something top think about