Help with husbands aegon pension. Which fund

cupcakeforever

Hi
My husband is 42. He has an aegon workplace pension with retiready with 60k in it. Most is invested with the default fund aegon ceb multi asset flex lifestyle profiling fund. It looks like it has a lot of equities 70-80%. Do you think he should just stick with this one? He is not sure he likes the life styling aspect.

He also chose to put some of his pension into a jp Morgan emerging markets fund. Do you think this is sensible? 

If he doesnt like the lifestyling aspect should we choose a fund through aegon such as Lifestrategy 100 or hsbc global strategy with a high percentage of equities? Or a global tracker?  However when we look at these funds on the platform it says they require a minimum funding requirement of a million pounds. Can this be right????

With the first fund, the default lifestyling fund, could we arrange it so it thinks we are retiring later than we actually are?

Yes I know we need to ring the actual company (aegon) but we have done that twice already and so I'm just hoping that someone is familiar with the platform and can shed some light on it. 

Many thanks in advance.

leosayer

Ignore the £1m minimum - it doesn't apply to individuals. Aegon as an institutional investor will meet this collectively with their combined client investments. 

I think you're asking the right questions, but it's a bit hard to give any direction about investments without a lot more knowledge about your financial situation, retirement goals, earnings etc.

There's a lot of information on YouTube channels like James Shack and Meaningful Money that speak about the pros and cons of the lifestyling approach. In summary, they're a 'one-size-fits-all' solution that is unlikely to be the best approach for most.

MallyGirl

Hi
no one on here should be giving you investment advice. Most are not qualified and those that are will not because it is their livelihood. Advice could only be provided on the basis of a full understanding of your husband's situation.
You can indeed avoid the lifestyling by setting the retirement age to 90 or something like that.
With 25 years potentially till retirement then a high percentage of equities is a decent choice to achieve decent growth. Ignore the million pound comment - there will be a version of the fund available to the average investor.

tacpot12

Lifestyling makes sense if the intention is to buy an annuity. If the intention is to remain invested and draw down on the income or growth of the investments, then Lifestyling is unlikely to be a good idea. 

dunstonh

He also chose to put some of his pension into a jp Morgan emerging markets fund. Do you think this is sensible? 

Does he have the knowledge and experience to build a portfolio?  If yes, then you shouldn't be asking us the questions as he would know. If not, then he shouldn't be trying to build a portfolio and should stick to multi-asset funds.

If he doesnt like the lifestyling aspect should we choose a fund through aegon such as Lifestrategy 100 or hsbc global strategy with a high percentage of equities? Or a global tracker?  However when we look at these funds on the platform it says they require a minimum funding requirement of a million pounds. Can this be right????

Yes it is right.  However, you need to remember that the platform is one that has to place that amount with the fund, or you if you were using it "off-platform".   It isn't individuals using the platform that have that minimum.

Yes I know we need to ring the actual company (aegon) but we have done that twice already and so I'm just hoping that someone is familiar with the platform and can shed some light on it. 

Aegon have no advice permissions and cannot offer any advice, opinion or suggestions.

Lifestyling makes sense if the intention is to buy an annuity. If the intention is to remain invested and draw down on the income or growth of the investments, then Lifestyling is unlikely to be a good idea. 

Aegon's own brand lifestyle funds are actually very good. They are BlackRock trackers, which are blended, and a range of lifestyle options exist to suit different scenarios.  i..e annuity or  drawdown/TFC only.   

Albermarle

tacpot12 said:

Lifestyling makes sense if the intention is to buy an annuity. If the intention is to remain invested and draw down on the income or growth of the investments, then Lifestyling is unlikely to be a good idea. 

Most providers will offer a range  of lifestyle options nowadays, with the default  geared towards drawdown rather than annuity.
However there will still be people with lifestyling geared towards annuities even if that is not the intention. 
So it needs checking for sure.

Albermarle

With the first fund, the default lifestyling fund, could we arrange it so it thinks we are retiring later than we actually are?

You can usually do this  on the providers website. I think some ( all?) will not allow you to go above 75.
It means that the fund will remain within the 70 to 80% equity range probably until he is at least 65.
Most people will tend to dial down the equities % as they approach retirement, but not everyone would agree with that strategy.
Some of the lifestyling products seem to reduce the % equity quite a lot, eventually down to around 30%, which seems a bit low, but that is only my opinion.

cupcakeforever

Thank you all. I can choose the lifestyling styling product geared to flexible drawdown I think. So its good to know that it is a decent option if maybe if we put his retirement age as a bit higher.

He is hoping for an inheritance in circa 20 years time which yes I know probably shouldn't be counted into financial planning. Plus some in crypto. So probably those options are why he is not into lifestyling at 60 ish.

I have a DB pension.

Thanks for the opinions.
If we don't go for the default fund I'm thinking that generally vanguard LS100, global strategy, global trackers like Vangusrd Global All Cap (VAFTGAG), HSBC All World index fund- all these, yes I know they are different, some multi asset funds, some trackers, but they are probably going to do a similar job over 20 years? So  any of them really? 

Does having the money in Aegons own product offer any protection? Or is it more difficult if he wants to transfer into a different pension if he changes work?

He is putting in £900 (including employer contributions before tax etc) a month. He earns about £58 k.

Many thanks.

Albermarle

cupcakeforever said:

Thank you all. I can choose the lifestyling styling product geared to flexible drawdown I think. So its good to know that it is a decent option if maybe if we put his retirement age as a bit higher.

He is hoping for an inheritance in circa 20 years time which yes I know probably shouldn't be counted into financial planning. Plus some in crypto. So probably those options are why he is not into lifestyling at 60 ish.

I have a DB pension.

Thanks for the opinions.
If we don't go for the default fund I'm thinking that generally vanguard LS100, global strategy, global trackers like Vangusrd Global All Cap (VAFTGAG), HSBC All World index fund- all these, yes I know they are different, some multi asset funds, some trackers, but they are probably going to do a similar job over 20 years? So  any of them really? 
They are all low cost, largely passive investments, so yes all largely the same except for the %equity content. Also Vanguard LS funds are more UK orientated than the others.

Does having the money in Aegons own product offer any protection? Or is it more difficult if he wants to transfer into a different pension if he changes work? Aegon, like Standard Life, Prudential, Royal London etc are traditional insured providers. In theory at least you will be compensated 100% for any catastrophe, although it is difficult to imagine what that would be in practice ( normal investment losses are not covered of course) .
If he transferred out to a SIPP for example, this 100% protection would be lost. However in reality it is not something to worry about too much as long as he does not transfer into a pension in the Virgin Islands in Cryptocurrency !

He is putting in £900 (including employer contributions before tax etc) a month. He earns about £58 k.

Many thanks.

When/if you transfer out of a provider like Aegon, who only offer their own funds that are not available elsewhere, the transfer has to be in cash. Then you have to decide how to invest it with your new provider.

dunstonh

Does having the money in Aegons own product offer any protection? Or is it more difficult if he wants to transfer into a different pension if he changes work?

Aegon have multiple offerings.  One is very restricted and offers a very limited investment selection (own brand only).   Another has a wider range with a mix of funds (own brand and some external).   And the other is a fund supermarket (wide range of funds - not quite whole of market but of old "fund supermarket" levels plus insured funds under the Aegon brand).

own brand funds cannot be transferred in-specie.   Whole of market funds can.    If they can't then a cash transfer would take place (and most people use that method  by default)

cupcakeforever

Thank you all.