Advice on spouse pension - Vanguard Target Retirement fund (lifestrategy?)

Mick70

Hello all

quick rundown on my Wifes pension provisions
Age 56 and hoping to retire in 3 years time (4 at max) age 59 ,sometime in 2026.

Currently has a portfolio of about £265k
£130k in banks ( i know this is far too much , unsure what to do though)
£70k in S+S ISA  60% equity 40% bonds
and
£66k IN Vanguard Retirement Fund 2030 - currently at 12 october this is invested at 62equity:38bonds, but im now aware this de risks as gets closer to 20230 and eventually ends up at 30:70 .  Having read this board im aware this isn't ideal .
My question is - you can sell/transfer your investments on the vanguard platform - should i transfer the full fund now to a 60:40 fund ?    - as they are currently similar there shouldn't be too much movement in the value ? i think anyway ?? 
any advice on this is much appreciated , i don't want to just sit back and let them de-risk further and increase the bonds allocation more and more

thank you for any advice
Mick

Albermarle

Mick70 said:

Hello all

quick rundown on my Wifes pension provisions
Age 56 and hoping to retire in 3 years time (4 at max) age 59 ,sometime in 2026.

Currently has a portfolio of about £265k
£130k in banks ( i know this is far too much , unsure what to do though)
£70k in S+S ISA  60% equity 40% bonds
and
£66k IN Vanguard Retirement Fund 2030 - currently at 12 october this is invested at 62equity:38bonds, but im now aware this de risks as gets closer to 20230 and eventually ends up at 30:70 .  Having read this board im aware this isn't ideal .
My question is - you can sell/transfer your investments on the vanguard platform - should i transfer the full fund now to a 60:40 fund ?    - as they are currently similar there shouldn't be too much movement in the value ? i think anyway ?? 
any advice on this is much appreciated , i don't want to just sit back and let them de-risk further and increase the bonds allocation more and more

thank you for any advice
Mick

Sounds like a good idea as it should fulfil your objective to stop the derisking.

Mick70

Should say spouse is 56 now , not 59. Just incase impacts the scenario 

MallyGirl

It sounds like a good start. Then you need to have a think about what overall strategy you want. If that 130k in 'banks' is all cash then the portfolio might - to some - seem light in equities for long term investment. Only you know how long you want it to last and what strategy you have for its use - if buying an annuity from the pension at retirement then less equity might be the right choice there but that only applies to the pension and not the other 'buckets'.
Also you could look at having higher risk (higher equity proportion?) in the ISA and lower in the pension as the ISA is tax free on the way out so that is where the growth should be happening. 

QrizB

Just a thought on your other question:

Mick70 said:

...
£130k in banks ( i know this is far too much , unsure what to do though)

You could move as-much-as-the-funding-rules-permit into the Vanguard pension, and £20k-pa-of-the-rest into the SSISA.

You could even put the SS ISA component into the same Vanguard fund (VLS60?) as the pension.

If the pension rfunding rules permit, move from the SS ISA into the pension for the 25% tax credit.

Mick70

Next 2 year , possibly 3, I’m hoping to max out the S&S isa (20k pa) and unfortunately she is a low earner about 16k pa but I plan on paying that 16k into her pension.
so the large amount tied up in various savings accounts in banks is stuck there for moment I think, otherwise I would be using up those allowances 

Mick70

Thank you for replies BTW, always appreciated

MX5huggy

Remember you can invest in an unwrapped General Investment Account.

Which would use her £1000 dividend allowance and £3000 Capital Gains allowance up if managed correctly. 

Mick70

i dont understand this bit >  

Remember you can invest in an unwrapped General Investment Account.

Which would use her £1000 dividend allowance and £3000 Capital Gains allowance up if managed correctly.