ready made pension advice

jimboger1

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

Good  So you understand the need for cash if you are drawing down benefits from your pension.

Have you established that the SW pension supports the sort of drawdown you want to do?

no, I haven't established that I'm afraid 

SVaz

Right, so it’s an accumulation fund so you would need to sell funds for income if you stay in the fund. 

Or leave your 2025-26 contributions as cash, which seems the easiest option. 

You can probably arrange it online if you have an online account with them.
Going forwards,  you will need to sell funds regularly to build up enough of a buffer to carry you through 7 years without worrying about market crashes. 

You have pretty much the same timeframe as me, although I have a military pension kicking in this year so my drawdown needs aren’t as much as yours. 

DRS1

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

Good  So you understand the need for cash if you are drawing down benefits from your pension.

Have you established that the SW pension supports the sort of drawdown you want to do?

no, I haven't established that I'm afraid 

It depends how old the pension is.  Mine dates to the 1980s and will not support any form of drawdown.  Others may support a limited form of it or you may just be told you need to transfer to a more modern form of pension.  If you contact SW saying you are thinking of taking your benefits in a year's time and could they send you a retirement pack you should see what is what and what your alternatives are.  Hopefully they will not say you are premature though they will probably not give any annuity quotes until you are much closer to taking the benefits (I know you don't want an annuity but it will be an option in the retirement pack). 

dunstonh

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

What method of drawdown do you plan on using?
What investment strategy are you using to match your drawdown strategy? - i.e. yield, total return, bucketing etc  (cash floats already mentioned)?

Not all providers support all methods.   Not all providers support all strategies.  

jimboger1

dunstonh said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

What method of drawdown do you plan on using?
What investment strategy are you using to match your drawdown strategy? - i.e. yield, total return, bucketing etc  (cash floats already mentioned)?

Not all providers support all methods.   Not all providers support all strategies.  

tbh I have no idea, and the more comments I get, the more I realise I may be a bit out of my depth here 

GenX0212

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

Good  So you understand the need for cash if you are drawing down benefits from your pension.

Have you established that the SW pension supports the sort of drawdown you want to do?

Hold on, what 'need for cash'? It depends on the OPs attitude to risk surely? I intend to retire next year via drawdown and at the moment plan to leave my money invested in non-cash funds with a split across lower risk mixed funds and higher risk equity. Not everyone subscribes to a need for cash.

dunstonh

GenX0212 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

Good  So you understand the need for cash if you are drawing down benefits from your pension.

Have you established that the SW pension supports the sort of drawdown you want to do?

Hold on, what 'need for cash'? It depends on the OPs attitude to risk surely? I intend to retire next year via drawdown and at the moment plan to leave my money invested in non-cash funds with a split across lower risk mixed funds and higher risk equity. Not everyone subscribes to a need for cash.

With some investment strategies deemed suitable for drawdown, having a cash float for an x months' worth of withdrawals is considered sensible.  Indeed, some providers insist on cash being available to cover withdrawals.

You don't have to have the cash in the pension.  You can hold the cash outside of the pension and stop or reduce pension draws during negative periods and replenish the cash externally when things improve.

jimboger1

GenX0212 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

Good  So you understand the need for cash if you are drawing down benefits from your pension.

Have you established that the SW pension supports the sort of drawdown you want to do?

Hold on, what 'need for cash'? It depends on the OPs attitude to risk surely? I intend to retire next year via drawdown and at the moment plan to leave my money invested in non-cash funds with a split across lower risk mixed funds and higher risk equity. Not everyone subscribes to a need for cash.

thanks, I think that is where I am at right now tbh - although I was looking on moving my 320k into something that willl give me around 5%, which im not getting at present 

jimboger1

dunstonh said:

GenX0212 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

DRS1 said:

jimboger1 said:

SVaz said:

You either sell funds to create a ‘cash pot’  with 2/3 years of income in it or you stop investing your ongoing contributions and leave them as cash OR put them into a short term money market fund if one is available. 

Presumably your SW pension pays interest on cash held within 
I assume you hold accumulation funds if you have no ‘cash pot’ . 

  Would the funds you hold pay enough in dividends every year to cover what you will draw?    If so then you could just switch to income funds. 

sorry, but I have no idea what you are advising - im a novice here 

Are you sure you don't want an annuity?

If you want to go down a drawdown route you are going to need to understand (and do) what he is saying.  You have a year to go so now is the time to do some reading (on here and elsewhere) watch some youtube videos and educate yourself on the subject

thanks, I do understand drawdown

Good  So you understand the need for cash if you are drawing down benefits from your pension.

Have you established that the SW pension supports the sort of drawdown you want to do?

Hold on, what 'need for cash'? It depends on the OPs attitude to risk surely? I intend to retire next year via drawdown and at the moment plan to leave my money invested in non-cash funds with a split across lower risk mixed funds and higher risk equity. Not everyone subscribes to a need for cash.

With some investment strategies deemed suitable for drawdown, having a cash float for an x months' worth of withdrawals is considered sensible.  Indeed, some providers insist on cash being available to cover withdrawals.

You don't have to have the cash in the pension.  You can hold the cash outside of the pension and stop or reduce pension draws during negative periods and replenish the cash externally when things improve.

I do have around 30k in easy access ISAS 

gm0

For DIY - several of the SIPP platforms are cheaper than those listed

>Pension Bee, Moneyfarm, Nutmeg

Say iWeb.  Or Fidelity.   Cashback offers exist.  

£95 capped platform fee for Fidelity if you hold ETFs.  Regardless of size of total funds in them.
Trades are not the cheapest but for a pension these need not be frequent unless that becomes your preferred behaviour.

Each of those you list have a simplified offer.  Pre-packaged.  More modern apps and digital.  And they cost a bit more to hold investments than some alternatives.

It's all a balance of the customer experience you want. 
Fee drag

Transfer process can be easy or painful with anyone.

Just an example.

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/pension-transfer/?intcmp=yext-promo-anner_sipp_consolidation_Q1_25_Consol

£1250 cashback. 

With funds this is not an especially cheap % of pot platform. 0.2% over 250k. 0.35% below.  Capped at £1m.  So 2k max. But with ETFs only £95 capped - or indeed something in between with a mixture of investments of fund type and ETF type. £1250 cash to come - is a free year of platform fess with funds at 400k.  And a lot more than that with ETFs.

If still adding to pension you need to scrutinise the regular payment plan and arrangements and trade fees to work out what the true costs are for a given platform. And your intended behaviour.

Lots of choice available.

All the majors will have the main investments you are likely to want covered.  They may not have all the variations from all the fund managers.  Each has a list.  So start with "what I want to invest in" and work from there.