Pension taking a hit

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Trivia

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I’m 8 years out from retirement. My pension has dropped from 860k to 710k in the last couple of years. It’s split between medium and high risk. Rang the pension advisor who manages the pension fund at the beginning of the year when it started to lose value to ask should I move to low risk. The advice I got was to hold tough and to ride it out, it’s impossible to know when it will rise and I’d miss out on an upward swing. He told me there was little difference between the medium and high risk and the fund was being managed. It will gain value over the long run. I’m feeling nervous. Any advice?
 
With most people now opting for an ARF rather than annuity does this change the standard advice of de risking approaching retirement? Feels like even if there was only two or years to retirement that staying in mostly equities might be okay as retirement no longer crystallises a position like it once did,
 
I understand the idea of taking an 8 year investment view. However if you are intending to invest the residual 75% into an ARF on retirement, then perhaps you need to take an investment time horizon that looks beyond the 8 years to retirement. So how do anticipate investing the ARF?
 
Thanks for your replies. I definitely want to withdraw 25% cash on retirement and then reinvest the remaining amount to an ARF fund.
 
The recent inflationary spike has been tough on all our pension fund balances.

Year to date, global equities (MSCI World) are down around 15% in euro terms. But, somewhat unusually, government bonds (EGBI) are down almost as much. There’s really nowhere to hide.

So what to do?

Grit your teeth and hope for better days. There’s not really anything else you can do.
 
As well as taking on board the advice you're being given (I agree with Gordon) it can be helpful to understand *why* you're feeling the way you do.

I would sum it up as: people know they should buy low and sell high when investing, but your instincts will often lead you to do the opposite, you will feel euphoria when things are going good and want to pile in more (which can lead to buying into bubbles) and feel like quitting when things have gone down even though this is the time to 'buy low'.
 
DazedInPontoon said:
As well as taking on board the advice you're being given (I agree with Gordon) it can be helpful to understand *why* you're feeling the way you do.

I would sum it up as: people know they should buy low and sell high when investing, but your instincts will often lead you to do the opposite, you will feel euphoria when things are going good and want to pile in more (which can lead to buying into bubbles) and feel like quitting when things have gone down even though this is the time to 'buy low'.
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If its okay I'll give my tuppence.

When we pass 50 our lives seem to change, in most cases our children are heading or are in adulthood and the focus shifts away from them to us the parents.

Many of us have a pension and we start the road of understanding what that few bob we have been squirreling away for 20,25,30 years, now we want to know what this " pot of gold" will provide in our latter years.

Some of us realise we may not have enough, we increase our contributions via AVCs and despite the tax advantages of doing this the net pay is still reduced and despite years of getting by with mortgages, children etc we are nervous and despite knowing that this is a savvy financial move.

We have based our future lives on having a pension, we might be paying off the mortgage with the lump sum, we want to travel we want to create a " bucket list" and tick off each item, but we need our pension.

If those funds are less than we thought then our future is not going to be what we want or it "might'nt " be.

While people know the risks of investment in anything, when those people see their investments, especially their pension reduce in value, anxiety develops.

The majority don't have the level of understanding of financial stuff that is apparent on this forum and they probably thought that what goes in comes out, rightly or wrongly.

I typed using " we" but it's my wifes pension that will be our main pension and I try and forecast the future years to retirement, obviously it's our point of view and appreciate others will have different views and circumstances.
 
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Trivia said:
I’m 8 years out from retirement. My pension has dropped from 860k to 710k in the last couple of years. It’s split between medium and high risk. Rang the pension advisor who manages the pension fund at the beginning of the year when it started to lose value to ask should I move to low risk. The advice I got was to hold tough and to ride it out, it’s impossible to know when it will rise and I’d miss out on an upward swing. He told me there was little difference between the medium and high risk and the fund was being managed. It will gain value over the long run. I’m feeling nervous. Any advice?
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To start with one would need to know what exactly what the allocation are and how well it is tracking the benchmark mark. And in addition, the asset allocation for your total wealth. Only then can you figure out your total exposure and make decisions on rebalancing.

If your pension advisor also manages the fund their advice is not worth much because there is a conflict - in times like these they need to manage the fund float carefully….
 
Hope its ok to hop in here as my husband(58) and myself(55) are asking the same questions re. our Exec Pensions. We are hoping to retire in the next year to 18 months and are worried about the hit on the funds this year. My husbands main policy was close to 580k and is down to nearer 500k. This fund can be cashed in from aged 55 .
We opened 2 new funds (one each) in the last few years and the normal retirement age on these is 60.There is 117k in my fund (down from 135 since Jan) and 30k in my husbands. Should we (1)keep paying into this pension but move into a cash fund to safeguard the figure and perhaps get some interest on it for the next year or so, as interest rates are now rising or (2) cash in the main fund and focus on the other 2 funds for the coming few years until we fully wind up the company (approx 2 years).
Many thanks
 
My pension fund is down about 12% so far ,its all in equities and higher risk profile mixed asset funds. How are other people getting on?
 
joe sod said:
My pension fund is down about 12% so far ,its all in equities and higher risk profile mixed asset funds. How are other people getting on?
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From the start of the year, mine is down about 2% to the end of March. I'll be checking again at the end of this month. Will most likely be down more however doesn't bother me as is a long term investment and I'm getting cheap units.
 
MelF said:
I don't understand this. 'Items that you want and need.' Does this relate purely to the pension?
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Items on sale and you buy more than you need right now because they are going cheap.

Same with stocks. The share price of quality companies are cheaper than usual, so buy more. The price will go up in the future.
 
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