hoskib

iTrader: (1)

not that clued up at the mo with how pensions should be performing but just got my yearly statement and in a nutshell, it's been going 10 years and total contributions are nearly 12k (i know, not much planning for the future) value of fund at present -

£11k

now i know it's a long term thing but i've not made a bloody bean in 10 years, infact find myself a grand down.

so, is this the norm with pensions of this age that were started about the time i did and have taken the recent market crashes/labour b'stards nicking it all etc?

or is my fund manger having a good holiday on me?

and is it worth starting another pension that hopefully won't go thru the **** that this one seems to have been hit with?

personal pension by the way, contracted out of serps(or stp2 or whatever it's called)

ta

scoob_babe

think you're getting one over. the personal plan that the hubby took out 4 years ago is worth more than that. Were you paying the maximum into it or a smaller amount?

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

no, just about £80 a month

Petem95

You've got Labour to thank for your pension being screwed, and its the case for millions of people out there. Gordon Brown has taxed pension schemes to the point where they cant really ever recover. Forget the exact amount hes effectively 'taken', but its huge.

Edit: GB's private pension raid has removed in the region of 5billion from private pension schemes since '97.

scoob_babe

Ah, right. We were paying considerably more into his than that. But, as Pete has pointed out, pensions are a bit pants since Greedy Brown raided them.
I would get in touch with a financial advisor. Maybe you could afford to put a little more in, but you do need enough to live on now / have a reasonable lifestyle.

The Zohan

Try getting some independant financial advice or even a reccommendation for an IFA from a friend.

scoob_babe

oh, I forgot to say that had Mr Bliar been working in private industry, his pension would be ILLEGAL!

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

that's the thing though, i wanted to put up my contributions but after seeing the crap growth (or lack of) of this one i didn't know if it was best just to take that money and start a different one with different company?

and please for ***** sake don't turn this into a labour slanging match, i know i brought it up but i really would like some advice to work with rather than picking out the odd usefull post among a page of slagging ta

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Pension performance, or rather, since Stock Market performance since 2000 has been relatively poor.

A majore factor will be where your money is invested, i.e. what fund are you invested in, and what has the performance been, say in comparison with the RPI Index and the FT All-Share Index.

Some fund performance over the past 2-3 years has been very good (recent volatility taken into account).

It maybe possible for you to "transfer" the exsting fund to another product provider, this will probably be a lesser value than the current fund value, BUT, with better underlying fund performance you will probably recoup the transfer/current value difference.

Richard

JGRIFF

Not quite accurate as a holder of one of the three "great offices of state" Lord Chancellor, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Prime Minister incumbents receive full salary for life as pension

scoob_babe

If you speak to an independent advisor, they should know which funds are performing well however they don't always look too far into the future (been caught out there). But you will get illustrations of how it could perform, giving you an idea of what the returns will be based on how much you are putting in. If you get all your financial data together ie all outgoings/incomings plus a possible date of when you'd like to retire (ie early or not) they will be able to give you a much better projection. I believe a lot of large organisations are saying its better to be contracted back into SERPS - again it depends on your personal circumstances. The problem is that stockmarket / funds can go down in value, they're not guaranteed to go up. There was a thread on here started by Drunken Bungle ***** about pensions in general - I'll dig it out

scoob_babe

my point entirely, the rest of us mere mortals are capped at what we can out in

anyway, the other pensions advice thread is here
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=393467

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

but is the current good performer going to be good in 10 years time or is it a case of keeping on top of good performers and chopping and changing frequently?

or is it better to start another with the top performer of the moment and just let that ride?

i am unfortunately one of these people that seems to **** up no matter what i do, so i know if i change to another company they will probably get wiped out by a stray meteor and if i stay put it'll continue to give a **** return.

descisions, descisions

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

cheers for that babe

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Fund performance is one of the most difficult things to fathom, do you go for new funds (dot com) but then see the bubble burst?

The main thing with pension funds is to able to switch between funds at no charge and to be able to switch any number of times per annum.

I switch my pension "fund" between 300 funds each month, and have been delighted with recent performance, and I can switch into Cash or Deposit based funds if I feel the market is getting more volatile.

Remember, one of the biggest dangers with associated with the Stock Market is NOT being in it.

Depending on your age/income there is plenty of scope for providing sufficient income in retirement.

ProperCharlie

Could the level of managment fees being paid be of relevance? Or maybe the fund still hasn't recovered from the stockmarket "correction"?

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

**** it, it's all going on black




































or maybe red?

think i may spread the eggs a bit and start an isa with the excess and start getting clued up and taking a more active role in keeping an eye on performances etc.
just let it run for the last 10 years without paying much attention to it, time to pull my finger out methinks.

cheers guys

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

I just put money in a high interest bank account now. At least i know what i will have at the end. With Pensions they keep on changing the rules and then if you only live a few years past retirement the moneys lost and cant be passed on.
The whole thing is fukced and has been for some time without anything being done.

I paid into a pension fund for years and that is now prob worth 6000GBP/Annum at retirement. My high interest bank account is already returning 1200GBP/Annum and rising fast as i pay 300GBP/Month in and any surplus cash.

I am 44 and believe i will manage just fine at retirement, unless the government force us all into a pension scheme - then we will all be screwed. Although I may be able to escape that if i manage my location/job correctly.

Sorry, not of any help, but ive seen so many advisors now and paid for their glass fronted offices and 3 series BMWs that I am a bit fed up. They also feed you the biggest crap you have ever heard, dont look ahead, guarantee nothing and tell you the story in such a way that it cant be fully understood, after that i just decided to go my own way.

Fuzz

erm most financial advisors are free...?#

fast bloke

erm - No they aren't. The 'free' ones are still getting paid from someone.

Beastie - mines a 5 series

Anyway - Hoskib - have a look on google for pound cost averaging. You probably are not a feked as you think you are. There is a possibility that you may be able to include investment properties in your pension from next year. The looks like a really good idea - get property prices on the up and a pile of extra stamp duty for gordo

Tiggs

are you having a laugh??????

the first rule of finacial adviser school is that you dont charge and you lie.

are you saying you get.......paid...somehow????

no wonder the world is screwed with people like you in it trying to make money......sickening.

T
ps- i am surprised you bother with posting advice here anymore.......you have a higher tolerance for fools than me it seems

hoskib

iTrader: (1)

no mate, quite the opposite, it's good to hear the high interest account route is a viable option. it was something that occured to me when i saw the loss my fund had taken, at least there would have been some interest earned that way!

Bottomfeeder

I have a pension with my employer, they employ a 'fund management team' who take a 'tiny' cut of my contributions to pay for the privilage(sp?) of having them invest my money......................

Actually what happens in reality is that the asswipes write to me every quarter and ask me what I want them to do with my money !!!!! I usually write back telling them I am a computer engineer not an investment specialist and that they should be telling me what to do with it!!

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

Its amusing that some of you think that financial advisors do it out the goodness of there hearts for the sake of us all Reality is they get a cut of anything you invest in to either as a percentage or a flat fee. They then absolve themselves of all responsibility for there actions by adding a disclaimer.

To be honest, it must be impossible to call.

I am currently with ING www.ingdirect.com and living outwith the tax envelope i.e. I claim any tax i pay back at the end of the year, yes ALL of it paid on earnings or bank accounts.ING gives me freedom to get hold of my money anytime althougth i never intend to but it means i can move swiftly as necessary. Even without this you can still find some accounts paying 5% interest and above.

Nice to see that some people have 5 series BMWs now free enterprise is alive and well

Tiggs

You mean they get paid? Shocking

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

Tiggs, i know isnt it shocking when a disclaimer is also given. What are we paying for i ask??

I started off paying into a "company" pension scheme that returned 1/40ths. As my employer wouldnt make any contributions himself, i made his contributions for him in the way of a reduced salary. The payments went up to 12% of my total salary (his payments and mine) and the payment on retirement dropped to 1/60ths. They then went up to 18% in total and dropped to 1/80ths. I worked out that i was directly financing my own pension on a one to one basis. i.e. I would pay in enough money to pay myself back at retirement 18% of my salary for 25 years. I then dropped out.

What then made me mad was a pension advisor on tv, who advised a girl who wanted 10000GBP/annum on retirement that she would need to pay approximately 250000GBP into a pension fund to get this amount. Well it doesnt take a rocket scientist to realise that at 10000GBP/annum she could support herself for 25 years on this amount never mind any interest over the period.

Hence i went high interest bank account and play the tax system.

If you cant join them fukc em as me old granny used to say

PS My advise carries a disclaimer - at your own risk etc

Tiggs

i have no idea what you are paying for.....why dont you get a pension yourself without advice?

edit...having read your edited version......what pension have you had thats been advised by an adviser????

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

Tiggs you are right - you might as well if a pension does it for you. Its a stacked deck and many people have been caught out at retirement. Its all a risk and a bit of a gamble, but is one of the most important things you will probably ever do. I dont have the answer - just relating what i am currently doing.

What you doing yourself?

sorry was editing mine whilst you were writing yours. The point is i havent currently had a pension as offered to me by an advisor as they can never convince me of the return. When put on the spot they go like a bar of soap and slide about evading the question and not answering. If they cant tell me who can ? I have had a pension fund given by an advisor that subsequently crashed after paying into it for many years, i then was advised about FSAVCs which i paid into ,and that was useless as well.

Tentenths

Beastie,

Sorry, but this doesn't make sense to me. You seem to be saying that you were a member of a 1/40ths based final salary scheme... into which the employer did not contribute????

Are you sure? In 25 years in financial services I have never come across a final salary scheme into which the employer does not contribute something (except for rarely sanctioned short term contribution "holidays" when the scheme's assets exceed its liabilities by a significant margin - rare as hen's teeth these days).

You then appear to contradict yourself... 12% of my total salary (HIS PAYMENTS and mine...

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

Tentenths - yes. The employers contribution was met by a reduction in my basic salary whilst my contribution was then removed from that. If i hadnt taken the pension then i would have been better off by 12% and then lastly 18%. My employer met none of the payments i had to meet them all. There is no contradiction.