Pension fund loses value

[STEINER]

Just got annual statement re a single premium pension fund I established about 5 years ago.

Its down in value about 9% this year, in 2010 it had roughly 9% growth and overall since it began it has lost nearly 30% in value.

I will of course review it all with Aviva. Does anyone here have any advice re my options with it?

 

[pconsidine]

There have been two recent reports in the UK (One presented to the Treasury and Work and Pensions today) saying that the charges attaching to pensions almost exactly matched fund growth in the most recent years in which there was fund growth (In other words, they were not even taking into consideration the catastrophic losses in the last 3 years). The earlier of these reports pointed out how Dutch and Danish funds with far lower costs than their UK counterparts were able to produce pension income 50% greater. The consensus seems to be that Irish fund-managers are even more expensive than their Irish counterparts, and that the latter have an even worse record of losing their clients money.
The Observer on Sunday 18th December 2011 carries the gory details.

 

[LDFerguson]

Just got annual statement re a single premium pension fund I established about 5 years ago.

Its down in value about 9% this year, in 2010 it had roughly 9% growth and overall since it began it has lost nearly 30% in value.

I will of course review it all with Aviva. Does anyone here have any advice re my options with it?

Evidently your pension policy invests in a fund that is medium or possibly high-risk. You would, presumably have chosen this type of fund as it offers the potential for higher returns over the long term than low risk funds.

Has your attitude to risk changed in the past five years?