Pension

Olderbytheday

I’m with Scottish Widows for my work pension, with CS8 funds. Link here is good to show all available funds with graphs/asset distribution etc (my account too new for links, but address here) if you remove space after https: -

https: //digital.feprecisionplus.com/corppen?&category=7gpp01

You haven't said what you are currently invested in, seems strange its not increased over last 4 years - are you on lifestyling with SW maybe so have derisked - would be in SW pension portfolio 2, 3 and maybe 4?  

Assuming you plan to keep it invested for 10 years, and not advice, but for me I avoid any of the high fees ones like 0.23% and above you have mentioned, but thats only because I want a basic tracker. 

The SW global equity is 100% equities, matches global tracker quite closely, comparable or better charge than vanguard etc. the SW pension Portfolio 1 is the ‘adventurous’ version of the default scheme, with aim to track CPI +3.5%. Its higher UK equities (10% ish) and lower US (50% ish) than global market cap. I have both of those, have done quite well. 

The Pension portfolio 2 - balanced, and 3 - cautious are the others from default scheme. They aim to follow CPI plus 3%/2.5%.

The SSGA looks to be 100% equities, with 50% in UK. I guess it depends if you would want a UK focus, but thats very high with UK being abour 3.5% global market cap. 

If you are planning to use it in 10 years you may want to think about having a mix of funds, rather than 100% equities. SW have equivalent of MMF with SW cash or SW pension portfolio 5. They also have good mix of gilt funds available.   

The £2,880 you can either put to SW or see if you can get a SIPP for lower platform charges. Monevator has good comparison on providers - https: //monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

20122013

My current funds

Fund name	Fee
Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio Two CS8	0.1
Scottish Widows Property CS8	0.47
SW BlackRock UK Special Situations CS8	0.968
SW JPM Emerging Markets CS8	0.845
SW JPM Natural Resources CS8	0.825
SW Royal London UK Equity Income CS8	0.82
SW Schroder Tokyo CS8	0.977
SW Schroder UK Alpha Plus CS8	0.954
SW Schroder US Smaller Companies CS8	1.02
SW Veritas Asian CS8	0.51

I will check out SIPP account, I guess TCs will be different to SW in terms of withdraws etc, My thinking was that to withdraw the maximum tax free amount allowed and reinvest it back into ISA funds, hence, weighing the options of having more than one account.

20122013

The edit to my last post is not showing, so  I have retyped it:

Olderbytheday said:

I’m with Scottish Widows for my work pension, with CS8 funds. Link here is good to show all available funds with graphs/asset distribution etc (my account too new for links, but address here) if you remove space after https: -

https: //digital.feprecisionplus.com/corppen?&category=7gpp01

Appreciate this

You haven't said what you are currently invested in, seems strange its not increased over last 4 years - are you on lifestyling with SW maybe so have derisked - would be in SW pension portfolio 2, 3 and maybe 4?  

See my reply above

Assuming you plan to keep it invested for 10 years, and not advice, but for me I avoid any of the high fees ones like 0.23% and above you have mentioned, but thats only because I want a basic tracker.

The SW global equity is 100% equities, matches global tracker quite closely, comparable or better charge than vanguard etc. the SW pension Portfolio 1 is the ‘adventurous’ version of the default scheme, with aim to track CPI +3.5%. Its higher UK equities (10% ish) and lower US (50% ish) than global market cap. I have both of those, have done quite well.

There is a tracker (The SW global equity is 100% equities?) which excl UK but the fee is tripled 

I will check out these funds  you have mentioned and hope you two funds (SW global equity is 100% equities, SW pension Portfolio 1?)  were not too impacted by Trump's tariffs?

I do not really understand the funds in my portfolio but will switch all my funds.. 

The Pension portfolio 2 - balanced, and 3 - cautious are the others from default scheme. They aim to follow CPI plus 3%/2.5%.

The SSGA looks to be 100% equities, with 50% in UK. I guess it depends if you would want a UK focus, but thats very high with UK being abour 3.5% global market cap. 

If you are planning to use it in 10 years you may want to think about having a mix of funds, rather than 100% equities. SW have equivalent of MMF with SW cash or SW pension portfolio 5. They also have good mix of gilt funds available.  

Good points about the 'SW have equivalent of MMF with SW cash or SW pension portfolio 5. They also have good mix of gilt funds available.' 

A lot for me to understand - for some reason I thought that it is not a good time for MMF and Gilts funds.

LHW99

How much in each of those funds (%)? It seems a lot of funds unless you have a large amount in total

jimjames

20122013 said:

My current funds

That definitely doesn't look like a default fund list, I assume you must have chosen these over a period of time. Have you held all those funds for the last 4 years? What proportions are in each?

dunstonh

jimjames said:

20122013 said:

My current funds

That definitely doesn't look like a default fund list, I assume you must have chosen these over a period of time. Have you held all those funds for the last 4 years? What proportions are in each?

You are right.   SW do not use external funds in their default selection.
That list of funds does look like it has a structure, though (apart from the inclusion of the Pension Portfolio Two). The weightings are not mentioned, but the selection appears to be a sector allocation spread. SW's older group pensions had a limited fund range, and all those funds were available on the older versions apart from Pension Portfolio Two   (i.e. they only had a couple of funds for Asia or emerging markets etc - so the same names would pop up often)

I wonder if, at some point, an older SW pension was consolidated into a newer one. i.e. the employer moved from the GPPP to the AE version.    

20122013

jimjames said:

20122013 said:

My current funds

That definitely doesn't look like a default fund list, I assume you must have chosen these over a period of time. Have you held all those funds for the last 4 years? What proportions are in each?

These were selected by my ex IFA the only change in portfolio would have been due to the funds availability, so SW / Fund managers would have dealt with these (ie not instructed by me).

Fund names	Fund holding in %	%  (Fee)
Scottish Widows Global Growth 2 CS8	20.47	0.1
Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio Two CS8	4.26	0.1
Scottish Widows Property CS8	6.89	0.47
SW BlackRock UK Special Situations CS8	8.98	0.968
SW JPM Emerging Markets CS8	5.07	0.845
SW JPM Natural Resources CS8	3.22	0.825
SW Royal London UK Equity Income CS8	11.31	0.82
SW Schroder Tokyo CS8	5.98	0.977
SW Schroder UK Alpha Plus CS8	12.16	0.954
SW Schroder US Smaller Companies CS8	8.12	1.02
SW Veritas Asian CS8	13.54	0.51

20122013

dunstonh said:

You are right.   SW do not use external funds in their default selection.
That list of funds does look like it has a structure, though (apart from the inclusion of the Pension Portfolio Two). The weightings are not mentioned, but the selection appears to be a sector allocation spread. SW's older group pensions had a limited fund range, and all those funds were available on the older versions apart from Pension Portfolio Two   (i.e. they only had a couple of funds for Asia or emerging markets etc - so the same names would pop up often)

I wonder if, at some point, an older SW pension was consolidated into a newer one. i.e. the employer moved from the GPPP to the AE version.    

In 2011 my ex IFA had moved me from AXA and the funds have been left mostly as they are. 

I wonder what options  are available to me, as my pension valuation is less than £100K and whether I should starting take the tax free allowance when i can and open a SIPP and make the £2880 contribution there?   If I keep my pension invested is it worth switching all to a global tracker SW global equity is 100% equities, maybe too risky as the only other equity fund I have is the HSBC FTSE All World Index or maybe something else?

20122013

LHW99 said:

How much in each of those funds (%)? It seems a lot of funds unless you have a large amount in total

See  my post below

LHW99

If you have <£100k then IMO 3.22% in Natural resources isn't really going to amount to much (<£3k?)

And I do wonder if you need emerging markets, Asian and Tokyo funds - there must be at least some overlap, and at a total of ~25% it seems a big chunk of your potfolio.