Managed Pension fund comparision tool - is there one?

begforforgiveness

Hi, I transferred out my pension 4 years ago into a True Potential Managed Pension Fund. It's doing OK and has gone up circa 40% over the last 4.5 years (it's a Balanced risk fund).

I have always wondered how it would have performed had it been invested with AJBell or any other company. Is there a comparison tool that takes all the managed pension fund providers and (for a given risk profile) plots their performance over the last 5 years?

(I know that past performance does not indicate future performance, and that there are lots of caveats with any data, but I am really interested in a graph of this type…). I am guessing that every financial advisor has their own version of this graph, or at least knows where to find the data, and I know that each provider has their performance graphs on their websites that show their own funds relative performance, I want to see each provider plotted against each other….)

If anyone knows of such a place can a link be posted please?

Thanks for your help

gm0

The main fund comparison sites are trustnet and morningstar. Who have a collection of data on funds which are a) generally retail available b) are on the data feed from the fund managers.

Many "managed funds" and pension scheme specific specials. Are not on the feed. And not on these sites. And not available to compare openly.

So in order to compare them. You need to find something "equivalent" (which in the passive space is easier - same index, similar cost = differences will be the relative tracking error. Can be used for a "rough" compare. In the active space. Not so much. Looking for "similar" holdings is usually not close enough to be helpful and the fund snapshots are inadequate.

I have never heard of something which does what you want

Wealth managers (FAs) tend not to like comparison of their managed product - often high cost - against low cost market return "hold the market at low cost". Graphing it doesn't (quite often - not always) show their product in a particularly good light. It underperforms the market based on its higher drag.

I have sat in a meeting where such a company presented a graph in all seriousness where they had slugged the index down by 0.5% for "typical retail costs". On a comparison where that would be avaialable - easily enough for about 1/10th of that. If you cannot win fairly. Stick a hand on the scales.

Albermarle

As above it is not a simple exercise.

On a very basic level you can look at the make up of the fund, particularly the % of equity/shares.

Then if two funds have a similar % of equity, you can make a rough comparison. However if they are a typical multi asset fund ( which is what most of them are) a similar % equity will probably give a similar result.

Of course if you compare different risk levels ( higher risk means higher equity % normally), then the higher risk ones will perform better during market upturns and worse during downturns.

Having said all that there was a comparison for the period 2020 to 2022, which showed some big differences over that period. Why - I don't know.

Robo performance: January 2020 - June 2022

dunstonh

I have always wondered how it would have performed had it been invested with AJBell or any other company.

It would have returned precisely the same.

On whole‑of‑market platforms, the same investment held across multiple platforms will perform identically. The pension provider is merely the administrator of your pension. The TP portfolios are available on a range of whole of market platforms as well as their own brand software.

I assume the TP product you have is either the off‑the‑shelf direct‑to‑consumer version or an FA‑arranged option. Whilst it is available to IFAs, I suspect few will use it.

I am guessing that every financial advisor has their own version of this graph

Typically, IFAs have advanced tools which are not available to consumers for free. Some cut‑down versions of the professional tools, such as Trustnet or Morningstar, are available. They do not have full functionality and often do not cover all investment universes. They are adequate for most consumers.

GenX0212

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82155393#Comment_82155393

Interesting that the ‘cautious’ funds all appear to have lost money when by definition your average consumer would have expected them to at least not make a loss even if they don’t turn much of a profit.

dunstonh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82155707#Comment_82155707

That is not the definition of a cautious fund. Cautious still means taking investment risks but at a lower volatility than those with higher risk.

Historically, the most common assets used for defensive purposes are bonds (gilts and other fixed interest securities). They have gone through a torrid period since late 2021, with gilts in particular having their worst period in over a hundred years. Partly on the back of the unwinding of quantitative easing from the Credit Crunch. However, despite that, fixed interest securities have still outperformed cash over 12 or so years.