paul.....that question is part of the problem. scooby net threads have a habbit of ending up in the hands of the resident "expert". as an example a recent thread from some fat bloke about a diet ended up with ppl swapping tips on which steroids to stack with each other!
a post by someone whos tyre pressures are low may end up being the focal point for anyone with a degree in slip angles.

in this case what does it matter how me....a financial expert with a good understanding of ALL the options open to me.....will fund my retirement? unless there is another 28 yr old company director on similar earnings with similar wants and similar etc, etc it is useless advice. BUT if i post about how im going to use a sass to hold my comercial property blah blah blah it is likley to cause someone somewhere to think "ohhh, tiggs isnt using a pension so i'll dump mine"

T

ohhh, 3000 posts. thats a lot!

Wrong forum :D

I can see what you are saying Tiggs, but tbh I wouldnt put a penny of my money with a fund manager i didnt know. Appreciate that financially unsophisticated people dont have much clue what to do with their money, but it's a crying shame..

About the only thing that the 'advisor' got right was the bit about the financial press giving out generic advice, that people will take notice of, with no comeback whatsoever.

The thing I love about the press is the way they change their advice to suit, ie; Which magazine saying that endowments, as a mortgage repayment vehicle, were a best buy circa 1991/1992. They are now championing the endowment 'misselling scandal'.

As for poor investment returns, you only lose if you cash them in. Unfortunate if you need to take your money but you cannot please all of the people all of the time.

Great time time to invest for medium to long term now though!

Full ISA allowance this side of April 5, same on April 7!

I am so financially unsophisticated that I just spend mine.

paulr: mini cash ISA has a £3000/year limit and is subject to govt. review in 2006. If too many people find out about them then the govt. will probably change the nature of the product to push people back towards pension funds.

IMHO £3000/year will not provide much of a pension.

Muppets!

Firstly, those of you saying you're going to spend all your money...then what are you going to use to live on if you don't die young??

Those of you going on about bad pensions....Stockmarkets rise and stockmarkets fall...unless any of you are within 5-10 years of retirement I doubt it would make any difference what the stockmarkets are doing right now. In fact a phenomenon called 'Pound Cost Averaging' means that if you're saving on a regular basis i.e. monthly, you buy more units with your fifty quid each month when the stockmarkets are low.....when the markets rise your units are worth more (duhhhh)

A pension is still the best way to save for your retirement because you get an extra £28 invested for every £100 you pay. If you're a high rate taxpayer you get an additional £23 back in tax relief...you do the sums......


Those of you who say don't put all your eggs in one basket....great idea. Any good financial planner will tell you to spread your savings over short, medium and long term investments. Here are a couple of clues:

1. Pensions are long-term investments
2. You have to be saving......

Those of you bleating about annuities....you're talking to the wrong financial advisers and/or you simply don't have enough in your pension funds. Modern flexible pensions allow Income withdrawal direct from your pension fund and you can defer purchasing an annuity until age 75. As annuity rates get better as you get older, this is a good plan though you probably need £150-£200k in your funds.

Those of you suggesting you should buy property......
You can invest in property through your pension funds. Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) allow investment in commercial property (e.g. hotels, shops, offices) if you're a company director you can use a Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS) to buy commercial property or Funded Unapproved Retirement Benefit Schemes (FURBS) to buy residential property. The tax breaks on FURBS' are different to normal pensions.

However, before investing in property you should remember that property values fluctuate too and if you can't rent out the property in bad times you could be saddled with a big mortgage payment.

People have short memories when it comes to investments, back in 1990 property values were at all time lows and equity markets were booming....refer back to the 'all eggs in one basket' paragraph above...

Lastly, those of you bleating about bad advice....if you're talking to tied agents - salesmen from a particular life company - more fool you! They can only advised you on their own products....how are you going to compare their product with all the others? How do you know if it has higher charges, poorer investment performance or poorer administration than any other plan?

(Hint: Talk to an Independent Financial Adviser)

One last thing.....DON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ IN THE PAPERS, ON WEBSITES OR HEAR FROM RICHARD BRANSON. ANYONE PUBLISHING SUCH INFO HAS TO TARGET THE LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR.....As Tiggs said in his thread, you need individual advice to match up with your financial circumstances, attitude to risk and intelligence level..;)

edited 'cos I forget how you do these smiley things

[Edited by Timbo330 - 2/27/2003 1:44:00 PM]

blimey Timbo, for a first post that was a belter!
I agree that an IFA is the place to get advice. But, there are good and bad IFAs. How do you make sure you get a good one? It's all very well going to one that has been recommended by a friend, but it's going to take 30 years before you find out whether that recommendation was any good or not.
I personally do not know enough about pensions and other investments to make my own arrangements, nor do I want to take the time to learn all about it. So as above, how do I go about ensuring that I see the correct IFA?

Steve

This site will give you details of some IFAs in your area :)

yeah...what tim said!