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

[slinxy]

I'd need too much money to travel in retirement. Ie.. My wage won't be enough to retire and do that stuff.

My next holiday is 4k. There's no way if I retired early I could earn enough to pay for stuff like that and retire.

It depends on how you want to travel/holiday...
If you staying in 5* hotels, flying back to the uk after each stay etc... then it's going to cost loads..
if you boarder hopping, travelling light.. it only cost 15 euros for a boat trip between Greece and Turkey.

You can look at renting your home out while you are away, stay away form the the hookers and gucci belt stores...
also what people don't often factor in is the cost of living in the uk.. no need to car insurance or the weekly shop... I think my weekly shop is 80 pounds alone, a meal in a normal place in europe is about 20 eurros inc tip.

 

[413x]

It depends on how you want to travel/holiday...
If you staying in 5* hotels, flying back to the uk after each stay etc... then it's going to cost loads..
if you boarder hopping, travelling light.. it only cost 15 euros for a boat trip between Greece and Turkey.

You can look at renting your home out while you are away, stay away form the the hookers and gucci belt stores...
also what people don't often factor in is the cost of living in the uk.. no need to car insurance or the weekly shop... I think my weekly shop is 80 pounds alone, a meal in a normal place in europe is about 20 eurros inc tip.

At that point might as well retire abroad. That is another option.
Sell up and live like a king in a much cheaper country where it's warm. Half a million from. Selling a house + pension etc could go a long way in a lot of places.

 

[slinxy]

At that point might as well retire abroad. That is another option.
Sell up and live like a king in a much cheaper country where it's warm. Half a million from. Selling a house + pension etc could go a long way in a lot of places.

Well that's what a lot of people used to do... I see no issues living aboard... but BREXIT huh...

 

[Pho]

Not really, you get a bit of info in their annual summary but everything appears to be smoke and mirrors. I've never actually tried calling them though.

Apparently their fund fees are negotiated with your employer so it's worth ringing them to see what they are, and if necessary transfer them out to your own supplier. It's something on my list to do.

Ahh, I figured as much. I can kind of work it out by looking at the employer paid amount and then comparing it against the shown current valuation but like you say it seems a bit smoke and mirrors compared to the other providers.

We're on a 0.33% management fee deal and I moved my fund to the aggressive one but yeah I think I could do with researching moving it elsewhere as well. I just feel my other ones do better.

 

[413x]

Well that's what a lot of people used to do... I see no issues living aboard... but BREXIT huh...

Yeah. Mainly older people taking opportunities from the young.

Wish more of the younger generation voted so we could have kept all those benefits

 

[jaybee]

I found out that claiming back owed tax on pension contributions has a back date limit of 4 tax years. I think I may have lost money on that one as I had a previous job where I think I should have been doing self assessments to reclaim some. Again, just didn't know about this stuff at the time.

I think advice about pensions from employers (for me) has generally been poor. Anytime a decision has been required by me where they move provider or the type of fund etc, my workplaces have done sort of pension sessions to try to "help" with it all. However, every time anyone asks a question - even if you go HR/finance dept. individually - results in the standard response of "we cannot give you financial advice" and that you need to seek that out yourself.

I think it would be good if financial education were to be taught now at a time when it's people's job to learn...at school.

 

[slinxy]

I found out that claiming back owed tax on pension contributions has a back date limit of 4 tax years. I think I may have lost money on that one as I had a previous job where I think I should have been doing self assessments to reclaim some. Again, just didn't know about this stuff at the time.

I think advice about pensions from employers (for me) has generally been poor. Anytime a decision has been required by me where they move provider or the type of fund etc, my workplaces have done sort of pension sessions to try to "help" with it all. However, every time anyone asks a question - even if you go HR/finance dept. individually - results in the standard response of "we cannot give you financial advice" and that you need to seek that out yourself.

I think it would be good if financial education were to be taught now at a time when it's people's job to learn...at school.

No one teaches you this stuff.... it's how they keep the poor - poor...
By all means, I was taught how to do a budgets, balance sheets etc, heck I could programme an application to do it while at collegue and that's what a lot of finance departments know to that level or a higher level but no one told me about pensions, investments, isa etc.

If they teach financial intelligence, politics and eithics at school, a lot of political parties would be in trouble.

financial advise is just that... advise, it takes someone with experince to give suitable advise to someoneone. There's forecast and backdating software now a days that can show you how your "plan" may fair in the future or would have worked in the past.

no matter what company I've worked for, no one has sat me down and explained the pension scheme or how to make the most of it. You ask around and most of the people that's in it themselves don't know. They are just going for the "we are in the same boat" mentally if that person is ok.. then I will be...

Legally a lot of people that work in finance selector won't... it's like a lawer giving out free legal advise, they can get sued if a legal agreement is not in place covering them from such actions.

 

[413x]

No one teaches you this stuff.... it's how they keep the poor - poor...
By all means, I was taught how to do a budgets, balance sheets etc, heck I could programme an application to do it while at collegue and that's what a lot of finance departments know to that level or a higher level but no one told me about pensions, investments, isa etc.

If they teach financial intelligence, politics and eithics at school, a lot of political parties would be in trouble.

financial advise is just that... advise, it takes someone with experince to give suitable advise to someoneone. There's forecast and backdating software now a days that can show you how your "plan" may fair in the future or would have worked in the past.

no matter what company I've worked for, no one has sat me down and explained the pension scheme or how to make the most of it. You ask around and most of the people that's in it themselves don't know. They are just going for the "we are in the same boat" mentally if that person is ok.. then I will be...

Legally a lot of people that work in finance selector won't... it's like a lawer giving out free legal advise, they can get sued if a legal agreement is not in place covering them from such actions.

I go on and on about it.
Can't understand why with all the crap you get taught at school there couldn't be time devoted to personal finance.

It would be best at gcse/6th form.

But there's nothing more universally useful in life than this.

 

[moon man]

I'd need too much money to travel in retirement. Ie.. My wage won't be enough to retire and do that stuff.

My next holiday is 4k. There's no way if I retired early I could earn enough to pay for stuff like that and retire.

My daughters the same not a right wad like me she did a month in NZ over Xmas and done longer in south America ect.
I do think you would absolutely love the Camino though, pretty life changing, cost me £1200 Inc spend and travel for the best part of 2 months (walk took 33 days iirc)

 

[jaybee]

This week I've tracked down 4 different old pots. 1 with legal and general, and 3 with Standard life.

The standard life ones all with the same employment period look like this:
1: DC type pension flexible retirement plan spanning 2004 - 2012
2: DC type pension flexible retirement plan spanning 2012 - 2013
3: "Contracted In Money Purchase" - This one just has one single transaction in 2007 that says "transfer payments" and £600.

Any ideas what the number 3 one is above and how it came about?

I remember the company changing the pension scheme one time, probably around 2007. The pot 2 is because the company rebranded under a different name and we came under a European head office instead of UK.

 

[booyaka]

This week I've tracked down 4 different old pots. 1 with legal and general, and 3 with Standard life.

The standard life ones all with the same employment period look like this:
1: DC type pension flexible retirement plan spanning 2004 - 2012
2: DC type pension flexible retirement plan spanning 2012 - 2013
3: "Contracted In Money Purchase" - This one just has one single transaction in 2007 that says "transfer payments" and £600.

Any ideas what the number 3 one is above and how it came about?

I remember the company changing the pension scheme one time, probably around 2007. The pot 2 is because the company rebranded under a different name and we came under a European head office instead of UK.

If I was stabbing in the dark - It would have been a contracted out payment of NIC contributions, maybe just one year. Since Contracting Out disappeared in 2011 from memory, they had to be renamed the plans as CIMP's not COMP's

Lots of schemes around that time were contracted out schemes and Std Life used to separate the NIC contribution and the normal employer/employee contributions into 2 separate plans as historically you couldn't use your Contracted Out money to get tax free cash, it was only income/pension. That's all gone now so effective In/Out money is all the same now.

 

[EvilRob]

I put most of my wages into my pension, I then keep a portion in cash and shares.

You can only put 60k but you can't go below your tax free allowance. £72570 is the limit, what you can earn if you want to survive on tax free wage allowance.

It is very important not to go over 84k, if you do you need to look for another provider that is not linked and port over the cash.
Shares are normally returned but I still don't trust the system.

If you place 60k then you should open up new accounts with unrelated providers.

Very interesting approach. Would you mind walking through your current age, retirement age and investment->retirement income plan?

 

[413x]

I believe my total pension pot is only... 70k..I'm 38... RiP retirement!
I think I've found them all.


Oh. Just an FYI.
I forgot about a big one.. A 44k one. And one of the details was "beneficiaries" and it was listed as my ex!

Obviously I set it up at the time, didn't think much of it.. Never changed it.

Make sure you check this!

 

[ddoubleep]

RTFT

Tax on your private pension contributions

Tax you pay and tax relief you get on contributions to your private pension - annual allowance, lifetime allowance, apply for individual protection

www.gov.uk

"

Claiming tax relief yourself​

In some cases, you need to claim tax relief on pension contributions yourself. You’ll need to make a claim if:

• "

This was good to know as only recently found out that any workplace pension contributions that were relief at source can be added to the tax return including the 20% relief to further get you under the 40% threshold thus leaving any further amount to get you under going into a SIPP.

Example or watching this

 

[Vanquish-Storm]

I do check mine from time to time and shed a little tear - not sure why I check as I wont be retiring any time soon!

It is interesting to see how the money (or lack of it) is going though

 

[NotAGolf]

I believe my total pension pot is only... 70k..I'm 38... RiP retirement!
I think I've found them all

I'd estimate that is better than a decent chunk of the population at that age.

Oh. Just an FYI.
I forgot about a big one.. A 44k one. And one of the details was "beneficiaries" and it was listed as my ex!

 

[413x]

I'd estimate that is better than a decent chunk of the population at that age.

Looks like the average UK pension pot at retirement is 70k!

Thats shocking.

With home ownership falling, pension age increasing, future is going to be really grim for many.
I guess if you can work you'll just have to.
And if you can't? I guess it's a life in benefits. Can't imagine what the benefits Bill is going to end up at.

I'm guessing not good!

 

[Moley]

I believe my total pension pot is only... 70k..I'm 38... RiP retirement!
I think I've found them all.


Oh. Just an FYI.
I forgot about a big one.. A 44k one. And one of the details was "beneficiaries" and it was listed as my ex!

Obviously I set it up at the time, didn't think much of it.. Never changed it.

Make sure you check this!

You have 30 years to grow that pot. If you don't add to it yourself but invest in something that gets you 6% annualised growth (global index funds) it'll be circa £400k when you're 68.

 

[danlightbulb]

I believe my total pension pot is only... 70k..I'm 38... RiP retirement!
I think I've found them all.


Oh. Just an FYI.
I forgot about a big one.. A 44k one. And one of the details was "beneficiaries" and it was listed as my ex!

Obviously I set it up at the time, didn't think much of it.. Never changed it.

Make sure you check this!

You're ok.

I was 40 when I reconfigured my pension funds in 2020 and I had around £80k then. Upped my contributions substantially since then and being in better funds I now have £140k and still probably 20 - 25 years left contributing.

The bigger your pot gets the more it grows. Most of the growth is back ended which is why market performance just before retirement matters so much.

Just got to pay in as much as you can (I'm 12% at the moment with my employer putting 6%), and hope the funds perform well. With a good wind it's possible for me to reach a million. Probably won't happen but it could.

 

[413x]

I'm in process of moving stuff out of garbage funds and into good ones.
Fortunately I checked the 40k one and it's done really well. But it's not a typical aviva/lgen job.
The others are all quite small. So although they've been languishing it's not hurt too much. I think I've found 7 individual pots.

Tbh I've only really been able to contribute well since buying house. As that's when salary increased enough too.
I've just started putting in 7 (5 matched).

As said. I don't want to compromise my good years too much. So I'm not going crazy.


The house will be paid off too. And don't need to worry about leaving anything when I go. So hopefully I can get on track without missing out on the now.