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

Zatoichi.uK said:
There are people I really worry about. A brother in law with a wife who doesn't work and they still rent. He's mid 50s. A couple with 3 kids who also rent and they're fast approaching 50. I feel behind but some people are just sleepwalking into disaster.
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My brothers partners dad is a builder. He is in a council house, doesn't have a pension, is 55 and has no plan for retirement. He spends every penny he earns and he earns decent money. He will just sponge off the state like he has been for years. As we are seeing now, everyones taxes are just going to keep rising and rising as their wages stagnate and its all going to be to prop up a failing country that carries too many people and lets the massive multinationals get away with murder.

EvilRob said:
Unfortunately retirement itself is similar. You're at your peak spending at the beginning while you are still young enough to enjoy it, but (assuming drawdown) this is pretty detrimental to the long term value of your pot and you're at high risk from dips shortly after retirement.
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The issue is that people now are having to make choices. Do they live now or (in many cases) never. They can't afford a house because they are barely keeping their head above water with their rent etc and then do they bother putting much into their pension or try and save a little bit or do they enjoy themselves with what little they have left over. I don't blame a lot of people stuck in that horrible place but its going to be a huge bomb waiting to go off.
 
I suspect some of those gains will be offset after today. Big tech going to get hit badly after the low-cost/low-compute DeepSeek model (Chinese startup) announcement.
 
fez said:
Are they though? Pensioners vote in their own interests and politics is driven by what will get votes rather than whats best for the country.
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All people should be voting for their own interests, if they understand what they are voting for is the real question.

While younger people have more time to reap the rewards of changes and are likely to benefit more from long term plans, older people have less time to adjust and stand to lose out more, hence why they are more “Conservative” towards change.

The real issue in regards of pensions is moving from DB and DCs and more recently the moving from pension annuities to draw down plans. Not enough education was given out, and with less people taking annuities, amounts paid by annuities funds will basically witty down. As less people means that there’s less people who die before expected to cover the costs of the people who live longer than expected.
 
slinxy said:
All people should be voting for their own interests, if they understand what they are voting for is the real question.
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They should but they should also be voting for the future of the country and their childrens future. The idea of "**** everyone else, I got mine" is one of the massive things that has lead us down this path. "Who cares about 10 years from now, I only care about the next year".

Voting in your own interests should never be so narrow minded as to only consider a few years ahead but thats where we are.
 
Zatoichi.uK said:
Think it was Damien talks money that pointed it out but there's a section of Gen X's that just missed out on final salary pensions but were also too early for auto enrolment. There's early few years make a big difference in the long run.

I didn't start my pension until 30 so also feel behind. Doing my best to stock an ISA alongside the pension. Just gotta make the best of it!
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This was me also, did not put anything in until I was 29 and only really started taking it seriously about 10 years ago. Means I am having to shovel large numbers into pension to get it caught up. Still, I'm fortunate enough for that to be a realistic prospect, if I earned anything near the median I'd have no chance. So lesson for those youngsters reading this, get into the pension contribution habit early and dont assume minimum auto enrolment amounts will cut it!
 
Zatoichi.uK said:
There are people I really worry about. A brother in law with a wife who doesn't work and they still rent. He's mid 50s. A couple with 3 kids who also rent and they're fast approaching 50. I feel behind but some people are just sleepwalking into disaster.
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Same. I feel behind. But I'm waaaay above average. State pension age will just go up. Benefits would be able to keep up due to the ever increasing welfare bill. NHS will die off and underperform.

Without technology helping put for the greater good.. Surely people will just end up dying younger over time?

I know a few in similar position. No chance of catching up and no desire to do so.

Basically relying on the state to pay for it all.
 
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fez said:
They should but they should also be voting for the future of the country and their childrens future. The idea of "**** everyone else, I got mine" is one of the massive things that has lead us down this path. "Who cares about 10 years from now, I only care about the next year".

Voting in your own interests should never be so narrow minded as to only consider a few years ahead but thats where we are.
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I've never understood this.
People with kids and grand kids voting to basically stuff their kids.
I suppose mental link isn't there I dunno. Baffles me personally.
But bring up inheritance tax (ie a really easy to grasp thing) and the majority hate it.
 
fez said:
My brothers partners dad is a builder. He is in a council house, doesn't have a pension, is 55 and has no plan for retirement. He spends every penny he earns and he earns decent money. He will just sponge off the state like he has been for years. As we are seeing now, everyones taxes are just going to keep rising and rising as their wages stagnate and its all going to be to prop up a failing country that carries too many people and lets the massive multinationals get away with murder.



The issue is that people now are having to make choices. Do they live now or (in many cases) never. They can't afford a house because they are barely keeping their head above water with their rent etc and then do they bother putting much into their pension or try and save a little bit or do they enjoy themselves with what little they have left over. I don't blame a lot of people stuck in that horrible place but its going to be a huge bomb waiting to go off.
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My fear is we are already seeing there is no money. The small hike in NI has caused turmoil. And it's tiny vs what's coming.

As time goes on and population ages and there's few working people per non working that welfare Bill will rise and rise.

There's going to be tough decisions we have to make as an electorate.
I suspect we will vote selfishly to cap the welfare bill. Meaning nhs decline, pension age rises, and all other benefits falling in real terms.
I don't see an alternative. Productivity is flat at best. Inflation is ever present. An average job isn't enough now. Technology is eating up jobs like crazy.

I certainly wouldn't want to be a 16 year old right now.. Who's destined to be average.
Because average isn't looking like a nice life.
 
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413x said:
I've never understood this.
People with kids and grand kids voting to basically stuff their kids.
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Because they don't think about it that much and when their kids are at home and young, what benefits them, benefits their kids. Up to a point, if you earn enough money as well, you can insulate yourself and your kids from the **** world you voted to create. The bank of mum and dad is part of the reason house prices are so nuts. A huge proportion of people who buy a house get help from external sources. House prices and affordability get pushed to the limit constantly so as long as something is allowing people to still buy houses then things won't change.
 
fez said:
Because they don't think about it that much and when their kids are at home and young, what benefits them, benefits their kids. Up to a point, if you earn enough money as well, you can insulate yourself and your kids from the **** world you voted to create. The bank of mum and dad is part of the reason house prices are so nuts. A huge proportion of people who buy a house get help from external sources. House prices and affordability get pushed to the limit constantly so as long as something is allowing people to still buy houses then things won't change.
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It really doesn't help that looks like lending limits are going to be relaxed again. Got to keep the pyramid growing
 
To answer the original question, it's doing pretty well but my company is about to change providers. I'm still relatively young so I just pick a passive global equity tracker with the lowest fees.
 
With the news that the number of people claiming State Pension by 1.7m (between 2022 and 2032), I can see some proposals being thrown about regarding changes to the SP both to get a feel for what the public may accept and also lube everyone up for future changes.

That would be a little over 20% of the population at State Pension Age by 2032
 
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Vanguard say my transfer to Invest Engine has been complete. We'll see when it actually appears in my Invest Engine account!
 
ChrisD. said:
Exposure to the stock market should be tapered off as retirement approaches to be protected to dips and crashes.
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Historically I think this was true, migrating to bonds as retirement neared, to guarantee an annuity income. Today, draw-downs with a cashpot, to whether the hiccups, might be a better option for most with the bonus that anything left in the pension pot can be passed on to family / friends.
 
darkgen said:
Historically I think this was true, migrating to bonds as retirement neared, to guarantee an annuity income. Today, draw-downs with a cashpot, to whether the hiccups, might be a better option for most with the bonus that anything left in the pension pot can be passed on to family / friends.
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Yes

I would say with a but.
IMO a decent pot should be blended so that there are some short term low volatility funds there, plus some medium term medium volatility and most kept as high volatility high growth ones.

That way the bulk remains invested for growth but the short and medium term (I would suggest for this purpose both are around a years drawdown) can be kept ready for drawing down at their face value, or something that will be close to their face value.
These can be topped up and also a chunk moved into them when say the stockmarket feels high.
If I was looking to retire soon I would be seriously eyeing up the value of things like the S&P as IMO the drop when it comes (it always comes) will be nasty.

When you look at it, the biggest risk for drawdown is just after the person first retires. If the markets crash then they may have to significantly scale back drawdown.
Eg post COVID markets fell like 20%. Thats massive in regards a drawdown designed to last into say 90s with expectations of x% per annum over the term.

Annuities are out of fashion to some extent, but my plan is to seriously consider chopping in part of my DC (i have a couple of small DBs) for an annuity that along with my DBs and state pension gets me somewhere close to my minimum required cash income.
That way I can leave the DC pot remains in higher risk rating higher growth funds and basically should anything bad happen stockwise i can be hands off until they recover.

Its all personal risk & rewards vs certainty type stuff you need to balance.
 
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