Temporarily stopping AVCs

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Leitrim

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As pensions are not doing very well at the moment should I refrain from paying my100euro in AVCs for the moment and wait until things settle down, just pay in the minimum plus what my company is paying. Since the start of January about 500 quid is lost already, that money would be better off in my pocket. Opinions please.
 
In general I think pensions are doing quiet well just now. The market had a good run into end of 2023 and have at least held their own so far in January. Which fund are you in?
 
When will you know that "things have settled down"? Nobody rings a bell.
Depending on the fund you invest in, markets will always have some volatility. You need to forget about month to month volatility. It will always be there.
So it about time (in the market), not timing. Nobody can time the market all the time. Invest whatever you can afford and ignore short-term volatility.
 
Leitrim said:
As pensions are not doing very well at the moment should I refrain from paying my100euro in AVCs for the moment and wait until things settle down, just+ pay in the minimum plus what my company is paying. Since the start of January about 500 quid is lost already, that money would be better off in my pocket. Opinions please.
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Pensions are doing well now (about time), but if they weren't, as you believe, it would be the right time to increase contributions instead of stopping them.
 
How old are you? How long have you go to retirement?
But if you are going to be looking at the value every week/month and worrying about it, you will drive yourself crazy. The one certainty in investment, is that it will be volatile. There will be good months/years and bad months/years.
My advice: take the benefit of the Employer contribution, invest your contribution also and forget about it.
You will get a benefit statement each year ( you can have a quick look). Assuming you are not expecting to retire in the near term, forget about short term volatility.
 
Leitrim said:
As pensions are not doing very well at the moment should I refrain from paying my100euro in AVCs for the moment and wait until things settle down, just pay in the minimum plus what my company is paying. Since the start of January about 500 quid is lost already, that money would be better off in my pocket. Opinions please.
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1) Don’t look at it every day; you’ll drive yourself crazy.

2) When you’re making contributions, you should welcome weakness, because you’re buying in cheaper.

3) That €500 is probably only €300 net of tax relief, but that’s not the point.

Keep contributing as much as you can, stop looking at it all the time, and take a long term view. And as an aside, markets have been doing great lately, so make sure you’re invested in a global equity fund.
 
I think you might have mentioned a Lifesight/WTW fund (in a deleted comment).

If it is them - particularly if you're looking at the phone app they seem to have a problem in calculating the gain. In my case what they do in that calculation is assume my January payment should be in there - but it's not yet.

i.e they take
gain = value now - value on 1/1/2024 - value of this months contrib
it should be
gain = value now - value on 1/1/2024

I noticed this when it was showing a loss for me despite clearly being a higher value than on 1/1/2024

They should stop (mis)calculating gain and just show the value of the fund.

Regardless of that a bad month, which this most certainly isn't, is not a reason to reduce AVCs.
 
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