Reviewing my pensions with Standard Life and Legal and General

bradymd

Hi - I'm 63, so 3 years to retire. Finally I show interest in   my multiple modest pension pots.

Standard Life has a pot here at £50K which in 2022 dropped £8k. It's invested in the Standard Life Property Fund. It's gaining ground very slowly. Fund Performance over 1:3:5 years is 3.69%:-9.16%:6.98%

I don't know - that drop was harsh. I would have been 61 in 2022. I perhaps should have shown interest earlier and moved the investment before it fell.

Then there is a pot her with Legal and General at £44K. £8K in L&G PMC Cash 3; £5K in L&G PMC Global Eqty Fixed Weights 50:50 Index 3; £31K in L&G PMC Over 5 Year Index Linked Gilts Index 3

The performance of the first two funds is modest to good. But the last one is absolutely dire. Over 1:3:5 years before   -8.56%:-44.42%:-37.28%

I have 3 years towards retirement. So naive me thought that someone who cared about the outcome was managing this, and of course that turns out not to be true. That person should have been me I see.

Am I missing something , or should I just snap to it, and either reallocate immediately to better performing funds.  What do other people do in this situation?  I have no idea how much a financial adviser would cost. My leaning here is to  pick the best provider for me ... which usually means a provider which I find intuitive to understand and monitor and consolidate and use a stock market tracker eg Standard Life Stock Exchange Pension Fund the performance over 1:3:5 years is 13%:15%:37%

I'm clearly late to the party.  Am I on the right track and I should just go for it?

Aylesbury_Duck

bradymd said:

Hi - I'm 63, so 3 years to retire. Finally I show interest in   my multiple modest pension pots.

Standard Life has a pot here at £50K which in 2022 dropped £8k. It's invested in the Standard Life Property Fund. It's gaining ground very slowly. Fund Performance over 1:3:5 years is 3.69%:-9.16%:6.98%

I don't know - that drop was harsh. I would have been 61 in 2022. I perhaps should have shown interest earlier and moved the investment before it fell.

Then there is a pot her with Legal and General at £44K. £8K in L&G PMC Cash 3; £5K in L&G PMC Global Eqty Fixed Weights 50:50 Index 3; £31K in L&G PMC Over 5 Year Index Linked Gilts Index 3

The performance of the first two funds is modest to good. But the last one is absolutely dire. Over 1:3:5 years before   -8.56%:-44.42%:-37.28%

I have 3 years towards retirement. So naive me thought that someone who cared about the outcome was managing this, and of course that turns out not to be true. That person should have been me I see.

Am I missing something , or should I just snap to it, and either reallocate immediately to better performing funds.  What do other people do in this situation?  I have no idea how much a financial adviser would cost. My leaning here is to  pick the best provider for me ... which usually means a provider which I find intuitive to understand and monitor and consolidate and use a stock market tracker eg Standard Life Stock Exchange Pension Fund the performance over 1:3:5 years is 13%:15%:37%

I'm clearly late to the party.  Am I on the right track and I should just go for it?

As you will see from some of my recent posts, I have a lot still to learn, but I will offer some thoughts.

Almost everything dropped in 2022.  If you think you somehow would have known to move investments before they fell, you wouldn't be posting here, you'd be rich enough to own this site.  I'd be retired now had I moved all my ISAs and pensions into cash in February 2020 and then moved them back into investments a short while later.  Someone is managing your pension pots, but they can't all get it right all the time.  But yes, naivety does come into it  Don't beat yourself up over it, most people haven't a clue how much their pension plans are worth, let alone how they're invested and what performance looks like.  All you can do (as I am doing) is learn as much as you can and accept that you'll make mistakes and decisions that turn out to be poor, but making decisions about pensions is much better than doing nothing and getting a rude awakening when you want to retire and realise you're nowhere near being able to afford it.

My wife had pension money invested in an index-linked fund as part of a larger pot, and it's performed poorly in the last three years.  However, don't rush into anything.  Moving money out will crystallise the loss.  That's not to say you shouldn't move it, but don't knee-jerk into another fund on the basis of it having had a good last three years.  Neither fund's recent trend is necessarily going to continue.  Take some time to do some proper research and find funds that look likely to provide the growth and security you need to meet your retirement goals.

dunstonh

Standard Life has a pot here at £50K which in 2022 dropped £8k. It's invested in the Standard Life Property Fund. It's gaining ground very slowly. Fund Performance over 1:3:5 years is 3.69%:-9.16%:6.98%

Property has been off the boil since before 2019.    

I don't know - that drop was harsh. I would have been 61 in 2022. I perhaps should have shown interest earlier and moved the investment before it fell.

Its not a large fall. Less than a stockmarket crash and if you had been in gilts/bonds, it would have been higher.

The performance of the first two funds is modest to good. But the last one is absolutely dire. Over 1:3:5 years before   -8.56%:-44.42%:-37.28%

Gilts and bonds have gone through a generational negative event. In some cases, the worst in over 100 years.

I have 3 years towards retirement. So naive me thought that someone who cared about the outcome was managing this, and of course that turns out not to be true. That person should have been me I see.

Funds can only invest in what their remit is.  So, if you have an index linked gilts fund, it can only invest in index linked gilts.      Only you or your adviser, if you use one, can choose what funds you have.  

Am I missing something , or should I just snap to it, and either reallocate immediately to better performing funds. 

You don't know what the better performing funds in the future will be.    Looking at past performance just tells you the best and worst in that period.   Not the period ahead.  Often the best areas in one period are the worst in the next.  Or vice versa.

It sounds like you need a tidy up but past performance is not the way to do it.

bradymd

Thanks for the background explanation ...that helps a lot ... will plan a tidy up for both I think. Doesn't seem a big deal to choose another fund with the same providers.

jaybeetoo

You seem to have an unusual balance of investments.  From your figures you have approximately 53% in property, 8.5% in cash, 5% in global equity fixed weights, 33% in index linked gilts.  I’m not sure how you ended up in those funds.

Given you don’t seem very confident in managing your own investments, have you considered using someone like Vanguard to bring together all of your pension pots and manage them for you?  Go to their web site and look for personal pension (SIPP).  Even if you don’t use them, it might give you an idea of what a balanced pension portfolio looks like.

bradymd

These two funds (Standard Life and Legal and General) were just company arranged schemes (two different companies).  I have moved the Property fund into a the "Standard Life Stock Exchange Pension Fund" in the hope of better return.  The Legal and General spread confuses me a little in its intent.  Index linked gilts might be just a safe bet while I am 3 years to retirement. I'm getting a bit nervous about casually moving that to a fund based on the stock market.   Thanks for your comments though. I should have got involved earlier definitely.