Interesting week for pension fund value

Veloflyer

I sold my equities - apart from Shell - near the beginning of this latest ME war. Not by judgement, more by me wishing to purchase gilts and protect what I have now no money is coming in. My main concern is the rising inflation fed by this war and thus whether to buy conventional or index-linked gilts.

Fermion

I increased my cash float to about 7.6% of my drawdown pot about a month ago and I'm also invested in Income Funds and Shares which means I have over 24 months cash float even though I'm taking about 5.6% per annum in drawdown.

SouthCoastBoy

Not been a great week, 20k down yesterday, imagine quite a bit today. Still well above where we were 12mths ago on both ftse100 and s&p 500 though. The big unknown is how likely and how long it is to continue?

Cobbler_tone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81931215#Comment_81931215

A pandemic is one thing. A needless conflict another. Still ‘mild’ impact (apart from at the pumps) but there doesn’t seem an obvious conclusion. Could turn out to be a bad year. Not great but the impact feels more emotional than financial right now.

Seeing £20k drop in the blink of an eye will have some impact on a lot of people.

GenX0212

Having just recently pulled the trigger on my retirement date I keep checking my pot with a bit of dread 🤢

Down about £20k in the first couple of weeks but then a big drop of another £10k in the last day 😥

I wasn't originally planning to start hitting the pot straight away however. We have a solid DB income base and a ten year Gilt ladder in place which will cover all of the basic operating costs, and luckily we have a decent cash reserve which should see us through for a couple of years if needed. Massively frustrating though to see that comfort blanket being pulled away on 'day one'.

I'm not going to gamble by moving funds around and will ride it out.

QrizB

Seeing £20k drop in the blink of an eye will have some impact on a lot of people.

A 20k drop on a £50k pot could seem worrisome.

The same £20k drop on a £1M pot is just Thursday.

EverythingCounts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81931391#Comment_81931391

I’ve been looking at my pension today and can see it’s dropped about 30k in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been considering retirement this year or in the next year or two so yes this is frustrating to say the least!!

Like you I’m thinking I’ll leave everything as it is and just ride it out, problem is nobody knows how this will pan out. If the pension pot takes a big hit from this I guess I might have to just continue working a couple of years and hopefully see it recover before touching it.

Cus

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81931512#Comment_81931512

Ouch. If you are considering retirement this year or near, the recommended method I believe is to move a chunk to very low risk investments from a cash flow perspective so that you don't have to fear a drop when you are nearing the day that hurts the plan, or that you are in a position where 30k is a drop in the ocean and doesn't impact the plan. Good luck

jim8888

Saw a clip from Dave Ramsey yesterday reminding us that his tracker fund dropped by thirty percent when Covid hit. Fifty six days later, it had recovered to its original value. Seemed like a tidy reminder.

SouthCoastBoy

Peaks and troughs are all part of having a dc pot. It's got to be expected, but also needs to be kept in perspective. Yes I have lost around 40 to 50k but I'm also still up quite substantially from 12 mths ago.

As I'm near retirement I have a cash reserve that I will initially be using so that negates the concerns about volatility in the short term ( 5 to 7 years) as I won't be cashing in any equities during that period.