AVC investment choices

turnbull10

Hi, i'm 55, have a workplace final salary pension scheme and have been paying into an AVC (advanced voluntary contributions) plan with standard life. i open to retire in 3 years and use the AVC plan as a separate crystallized pot to draw down on. the AVC plan has the option of selecting different funds to invest in. The default choices are blackrock 50:50. but this automatically transfers to a safer treasury bond percentage the closer i get to retirement. Could anyone offer any ideas on investment selections based on my information? the other options with standard life are:- SL blackrock ACS world equity, SL ishares corporate bond index, SL ishares index linked gilt, SL ishares over 15 year gilt, SL blackrock 50:50 global equity, SL ishares UK equity index, standard life deposit and treasury pension fund. Amy help much appreciated. 

Sam_666

Ideas?  No, you havent provided  any useful info needed for any sugestions.

turnbull10

Hi, just looking for ideas on how to spread the investment in the AVC pension pot to have a mediumish risk portfolio.
cheers

dasherman

AVC's = Additional Voluntary Contributions..

KnackeredAchilles

I've been putting money for a few months into a Standard Life Freestanding AVC and had the same problem as to where to invest. I ended up splitting it 3 ways but into similar funds. 30% Standard Life Future Advantage 1, 40% Future Advantage 2 and 30% Future Advantage 4. I've no idea if this is best but so far it seems OK. My main motivation is tax relief and a modest return and hopefully this split does that. The funds seem to be ethical as a bonus. 

turnbull10

Cheers, they look like different fund choices than my AVC scheme. Thanks for sharing.

turnbull10

I have 2 final salary pension schemes and a small sipp where I put my smaller pension pots.
I’ll have roughly 33 years of final salary contributions and was hoping to retire in just over 2 years.
I’d planned to pay in extra to the avc scheme for my last 2 years now that my mortgage is paid off.
I was thinking of using the avc pot as a drawdown account to top up my pension.
I could also leave the avc fund invested in a high/medium risk fund and use my isa or savings to drawdown to top up my pensions, this way I’d pay less tax.
Just wanted ideas of which standard life funds to select to make short to medium term gains.

The standard life choices are:-
SL blackrock ACS world equity,
SL ishares corporate bond index, 
SL ishares index linked gilt, 
SL ishares over 15 year gilt, 
SL blackrock 50:50 global equity, 
SL ishares UK equity index, 
standard life deposit and treasury pension fund.

Thanks in advance.

Beddie

turnbull10 said:

I have 2 final salary pension schemes and a small sipp where I put my smaller pension pots.
I’ll have roughly 33 years of final salary contributions and was hoping to retire in just over 2 years.
I’d planned to pay in extra to the avc scheme for my last 2 years now that my mortgage is paid off.
I was thinking of using the avc pot as a drawdown account to top up my pension.
I could also leave the avc fund invested in a high/medium risk fund and use my isa or savings to drawdown to top up my pensions, this way I’d pay less tax.
Just wanted ideas of which standard life funds to select to make short to medium term gains.

The standard life choices are:-
SL blackrock ACS world equity,
SL ishares corporate bond index, 
SL ishares index linked gilt, 
SL ishares over 15 year gilt, 
SL blackrock 50:50 global equity, 
SL ishares UK equity index, 
standard life deposit and treasury pension fund.

Thanks in advance.

For a short term investment of around 2 years, you should avoid the equity funds and go for bonds, gilts or deposit. I'd use the corporate bond index, but the choice is yours and you could use 2 or more funds should you wish. You can use Trustnet to find out more about each fund, e.g. 

https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/P/hse1/sl-ishares-corporate-bond-index-pn/

Albermarle

It largely depends on how the pot will be drawn down. Over what time scale.
The longer the time scale the more it should be invested in higher risk investments.
On the other hand if it was to be drawn down in 2 or 3 years , better to be in cash.