Changing funds with Aviva

jamesj1984

Hi all hoping for some advise. I have 2 Aviva Pensions and currently age 41.

1. Ex Friends Life pension. The fund is a risk 3 of 7 and a Aviva Global distribution AP. (Very poor performing)
2. Aviva 40-85% fund . (This has a 55 drawdown benefit)

Im concerned that the Ex friends life is of very low risk, has 30% Equities and a high amount of bonds, the other 40-85 is about 60% Equities at the moment.

I want to increase both funds to have about 80-90+% equities, quite like the Aviva multi asset core / plus V or IV funds.

Id also contemplate combining them both.

Just fancy some advice please. I have tried unbiased but 3-4% appears high

LHW99

As said by many more experience people than me - you need to look at what's in a fund to decide if is performing well or not.

You don;t say what "poor" means to you, or over what timescale, but a fund with 70% bonds will (generally over time) increase more slowly than one with 80% or more equities. However a fund with 80% or more equities is likely to go up and down more oven and to a greater extent than one with 30%.

How old are you? If you are 20-30, At 41, then 80% equities or more is probably a good idea, if 55-65, maybe not unless you have additional provision we don't know about.

(Edited to correct age)

ali_bear

Being in a mostly bond fund at your age does not sound ideal, and I would ask myself how that choice was made. You probably want a fund with risk rating 5 out of 7, or perhaps higher if you can stomach the ups and downs of markets between now and when you retire.

Having said that, in these uncertain times it would be bold to move from that defensive fund to a more risky one. Perhaps leave it until the spring and do some reading up before making any switch.

Aylesbury_Duck

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82173921#Comment_82173921

They're 41

Aylesbury_Duck

An old colleague from many years ago gave me what turned out to be excellent advice about 20 years ago when I was in my 30s. We had Friends Life pensions (which became Aviva) and he suggested I move out of the default fund and pick some funds with better growth prospects. At 41, and assuming you're not planning to retire and access the pension for another 20+ years, you're thinking along the same lines and it sounds sensible.

Is one or both of these a live works pension, i.e. are you stuck with Aviva? I left my employer some years ago and more recently, moved from the ex-FL into an Aviva SIPP because the fees were about half what I was paying and I could select similar funds. I've since moved them again into Vanguard, so my overall fees for the pension have gone from 1% with Aviva/FL, to 0.56% with the Aviva SIPP, to something like 0.29% with Vanguard. I did a lot of reading first, and asked several questions on here, to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Don't make a hasty decision, take time to read around it.

jamesj1984

Thanks all, thats all very sound advice.

These are both ex work pensions, I have 20+ years left to retire. My current workplace pension is with Scottish Widows and currently an 80% equity fund with the rest split between property, bonds and cash.

My Aviva is an ex Friends Life policy same as you. I will probably look to Switch to a 80/20 fund. Thank you guys

Aylesbury_Duck

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82174625#Comment_82174625

I elected to move mine to an Aviva SIPP, reasoning that an "internal" transfer should go smoothly. Knowledgeable people on here advised me that although FL had become part of Aviva, they were still being run as relatively separate entities. My transfer was a bit shambolic, it took a lot longer than it should have been and resulted in a formal complaint and a £200 goodwill gesture.

I would first make sure you understand if there are any protected benefits you might lose if you move one or both of the funds to another provider or even to an Aviva SIPP. It sounds like one of them has a protected access at age 55 which might be something you want to preserve if it fits your plans. For my transfer, there was a small protected benefit I was alerted to and had to "sign away", but it was worth a negligible sum that I would make up within a year on the lower fee structure, let alone over the many years I will hold the funds.

Then look at what sort of funds you want and which platforms offer them and at what platform fees. Clearly I can't advise you, but the Vanguard VLS80 may fit your objectives. There are other similar funds. Vanguard and others have target retirement funds, which automatically adjust the mix of investments as you approach your chose retirement age. Scottish Widows have them, too. A nice option if you want to set-and-forget.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6687307/changing-funds-with-aviva

Id also contemplate combining them both.

In case you are not aware, transferring pensions is normally pretty simple and you can easily DIY.

You could transfer one of the older pensions to the other one. You could probably transfer one or both to your current workplace pension with SW. You could transfer one or both of your existing pensions to a new one altogether. So plenty of options.

Cobbler_tone

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6687307/changing-funds-with-aviva

I can only give you a straw poll of 5 people who fall between 40-45 in my workforce. 3 are in the default (target date fund - they didn't know they could pick other funds, which will be a common theme in work place schemes) and 2 are in 100% equity funds. We actually had someone from the benefits team come in about a year ago. They must have been in their 40's. They were obviously giving an overview of the mechanics of the scheme as opposed to advice but (wrongly) shared their screen showing they were 100% in equities. I did feedback to them. They could have well had a decent DB scheme too, so context is usually important.