Pension fund performance - do you monitor yours, how is it doing, do you actively change it?

[Uther]

I know a lot of people here think they need millions to retire, but it seems a lot of people will struggle to even afford the 'minimum' lifestyle in retirement...

Pension problem: Fears of retirement crisis resurface as numbers saving enough collapses

Sky's Ian King casts his eyes over an annual report on the state of pension savings and says those closest to retirement would appear to have the most to worry about after a series of blunders by successive governments and other headwinds.

news.sky.com

 

[200sols]

I know a lot of people here think they need millions to retire, but it seems a lot of people will struggle to even afford the 'minimum' lifestyle in retirement...

Pension problem: Fears of retirement crisis resurface as numbers saving enough collapses

Sky's Ian King casts his eyes over an annual report on the state of pension savings and says those closest to retirement would appear to have the most to worry about after a series of blunders by successive governments and other headwinds.

news.sky.com

Some review should look into what pensions are actually invested in. Many are in low performing assets saddled with high fees which seem to be the default option, people need educating on this and not from the likes of scottish widows who often like to saddle their customers with said low performance high fee products.

 

[Uther]

Some review should look into what pensions are actually invested in. Many are in low performing assets saddled with high fees which seem to be the default option, people need educating on this and not from the likes of scottish widows who often like to saddle their customers with said low performance high fee products.

Totally agree, some of the fees these funds charge are ridiculous, especially for the poor returns. If the government start forcing pension firms to start investing heavily into the UK that is an issue too.
I think a lot of people just pay the minimum 5% in and don't give it much more thought. That'll come back to bite them in a few decades, when it's either too late or it would take a huge amount of effort to catch up.

 

[EvilRob]

If the government start forcing pension firms to start investing heavily into the UK that is an issue too.

This is quite concerning. I hope they give more detail on their thinking about this soon. Hopefully it's optional and they incentivise to make it happen rather than dictating.

 

[booyaka]

Totally agree, some of the fees these funds charge are ridiculous, especially for the poor returns. If the government start forcing pension firms to start investing heavily into the UK that is an issue too.
I think a lot of people just pay the minimum 5% in and don't give it much more thought. That'll come back to bite them in a few decades, when it's either too late or it would take a huge amount of effort to catch up.

Literally just off the phone with a prospective client.

Worried about lack of performance in his pension.....

Investing monthly for last 15 years...... 98% invested in property funds/ 2% in with profits funds

Also a £9.50 per month "admin" fee, as well as 1% fund costs....

First time he's bothered to look at the statements since he setup the pension 15 years ago....

 

[200sols]

Totally agree, some of the fees these funds charge are ridiculous, especially for the poor returns. If the government start forcing pension firms to start investing heavily into the UK that is an issue too.
I think a lot of people just pay the minimum 5% in and don't give it much more thought. That'll come back to bite them in a few decades, when it's either too late or it would take a huge amount of effort to catch up.

Well if the pension money returns to UK markets then performance may change. The UK markets thing gets a bit overdone anyway, sure its not US levels of growth but I'd argue even a basic FTSE100 tracker has beaten most of these garbage pension funds.

 

[fez]

First time he's bothered to look at the statements since he setup the pension 15 years ago....

Hows he doing?

I know a lot of people here think they need millions to retire, but it seems a lot of people will struggle to even afford the 'minimum' lifestyle in retirement...

I would say there are going to be a huge number of people over the next 50 years who are going to be ****** in retirement. Their pensions won't afford them a decent retirement or they won't have much of a pension. A large number of people will still be renting because they could never afford to buy. More and more people have absolutely no savings and are living at the edge of their means constantly. The population is getting unhealthier by the year and healthcare costs are rising every year even ignoring the increased demand.

Its a recipe for disaster.

 

[Uther]

This is quite concerning. I hope they give more detail on their thinking about this soon. Hopefully it's optional and they incentivise to make it happen rather than dictating.

If it's a company pension scheme (nest etc) will most even realise or know enough to change it?

 

[EvilRob]

If it's a company pension scheme (nest etc) will most even realise or know enough to change it?

Many won't of course but anyone remotely financially savvy will know or have chosen how they are invested.

 

[200sols]

Many won't of course but anyone remotely financially savvy will know or have chosen how they are invested.

The aim of course should be to improve outcomes for the majority and we know most people are not interested/dont understand/think investing is a scam and want to impale shareholders. We need to change attitudes to see better results.

With DB pensions it didn't matter that people didn't understand, much different now with DC pensions.