Management Charges and Fund Options - seeking guidance

Hi all,

I recently received my annual Zurich pension fund statement. This is from old employment and contains a relatively small sum (circa 25-30k). I have since joined public service (post 2013) and retirement is at least 30yrs away!

This ‘additional’ pension fund is very much set ‘set and forget’ but I’m conscious that I want to have it ‘set correctly’ before forgetting…

Currently the breakdown is;

Dynamic Pension & Invest. with a 1.25% management charge per annum
Indexed Top Tech 100 with a 1.39% management charge per annum

From my limited financial knowledge, and admittingly with the help of AI, I have concluded that these management charges may be quite high by market standards.

I have arranged a meeting with the associated financial advisor/broker to discuss any options I have available. Any advice on how to approach this or what questions would be prudent. The broker is the one I inherited via my previous employment who would have assisted with that occupational scheme.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Opus14 said:

I have concluded that these management charges may be quite high by market standards.

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Opus14 said:

I have arranged a meeting with the associated financial advisor/broker to discuss any options I have available.

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What kind of "advisor"? If they're a tied agent then they're likely to be basically a sales person.

Many thanks for your reply ClubMan, I will have a good read through that other thread however a lot of the financial heavy jargon tends to go over my head so I don't know if 'execution only' would be an effective option for me to look at.

To be honest I don't know what kind of advisor he is although your description of a tied agent does sound accurate as previous meetings have felt rather 'sales-pitchy'.

Opus14 said:

so I don't know if 'execution only' would be an effective option for me to look at.

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If you read the thread that I linked and others like it you should get a better idea if execution only is appropriate for you.
In my opinion it should be for many people if they focus on (a) minimising charges and (b) sticking their pension into mostly or all equities - possibly a low charges index tracker and resisting any temptation to try to micromanage it.
But if execution only is not a runner then you should probably try to get an independent professional advisor (not a tied agent) to give you advice for an agreed fee rather than a commission.

Opus14 said:

I don't know what kind of advisor he is although your description of a tied agent does sound accurate as previous meetings have felt rather 'sales-pitchy'.

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You should be able to look up what sort of intermediary they are.

The solution to your problem is a product with lower charges.

If you can't DIY and 'buy' the product you want then someone is going to 'sell' you the product. Therefore, there's going to be a sales pitch.

I'd say the advisor is a broker, not a tied agent

Gerard

www.execution-only.ie