Pension lost €4k this month

G

gvn1509

Registered User
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9
Hi

I have a standard pension and chose the default investment option when setting it up. I rarely look at it but i did today. I see my payments and my employers payments are all correct.

I knew the value was about 40k.

Then I saw this:

Current Value €35,897
Value at 31/12/2015 €40,251
Value at 31/12/2014 €32,093

Anybody know why it would go from 32k last year, to 40k on 31/12/15 and since there has been a deduction of over 4 grand.

I can see an itemized Investment Return of €-4,333. Any advice would be appreciated on this.

Thanks
 
Pensions are long term investments. If you have a robust investment strategy, you should not check your pension fund every day. That's a recipe for behavioural error.
 
The best advice is probably do nothing.

How many years do you have left to retirement.

In terms of the investment performance. From €32k to €36 in two years is not bad. Though of course that is only a snapshot, even if a 2 year snapshot.
 
My pension fund lost something along the lines of 35% in 2008, but last year, my €50k investment had risen in value to €75K at one stage. Stock markets are performing badly at the moment, so of course investments will lose value. They ebb and flow. But if, like me, you have 30 years or more to retirement I wouldn't be too worried about it! If you are close to retirement, that's a different story!
 
And even if you're close to retirement, it's less significant than it once was.

With the option to ARF now available to virtually everyone, the investment time horizon for (say) a 35 year old is no longer 30 years. It runs until the date of death of the ARF holder or his/her spouse.
 
Do not panic!

After years of relatively stable and consistent growth we have welcomed in the New Year with the return of market volatility. This is normal in the stockmarket. Of course, it doesn't help when firms like RBS say "The world is doomed" and "sell everything except high quality bonds".

What you have at the moment is a paper loss. If you sell and move into cash, you will have an actual loss. Leave it where it is and don't look at the fund values for another year.

Markets go up and markets go down. You can't have one without the other.

Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Gordon Gekko said:
And even if you're close to retirement, it's less significant than it once was.
Click to expand...

Very valid point. I understand this causes some difficulties for Trustees of DC plans in attempting to design a "default" investment strategy.
 
Thanks for all the feedback folks. Many many years to retirement yet, but was just wondering if what i saw coulda been a mistake. Now I can see its not!
 
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