Your annual statements?Is there a way to get more regular updates?
Timing the market is a mug's game.Taking the last 6 months into account, where the funds my pension is invested in took a decent hit and continue to do so, should I consider an index linked fund for a few months until things settle a bit?
That's like back a horse after he won the race assuming he's going to win the next one. You won't get any rewards for the growth that has already been achieved. You will probably lose a lot of money as well as drive yourself crazy trying to second guess the market.Possibly a commonly considered query so bear with me, I am signed up with my employer’s pension scheme that is managed / administered by one of the big pension firms who offer approx 20 different funds that can be invested in. Do other people actively track performance of funds etc and swap between them based on performance or do they blindly stick to a long term strategy?
Fees are the biggest drag on investment returns over the long run.Possibly a commonly considered query so bear with me, I am signed up with my employer’s pension scheme that is managed / administered by one of the big pension firms who offer approx 20 different funds that can be invested in
But if the occupational pension scheme charges are high then consider contributing the minimum amount that you need to get the maximum employer contribution and then maybe look for something like a low charges AVC PRSA, separate from the occupational scheme, for additional voluntary contributions up to your age related pension tax relief limit. (On the other hand, if you're buying or thinking of buying a home maybe prioritise that first).But remember if you are a member of an Employer scheme you realistically only can choose the funds available from that structure.
That rule of thumb never made much sense to me, and often seems to be parroted as received wisdom by many. Unless you are close to retirement, an all/mostly equities approach has a lot to recommend it over the medium/long term. And, even if you ARE near retirement, longevity and rolling a large chunk of the pension into an ongoing ARF investment may be a good reason to stay quite concentrated in equities even then. At the very least, a young person investing in their pension should try to avoid unnecessarily putting the brakes on long term gains with too cautious an investment strategy/asset mix (and high charges).For example there is a rule of thumb
60% equities and 40% bonds
100%. A 65 year old man has a life expectancy of 19 and a woman a life expectancy of 21. That's a long time.And, even if you ARE near retirement, longevity and rolling a large chunk of the pension into an ongoing ARF investment may be a good reason to stay quite concentrated in equities even then.
Any links to the several good threads on bomb out risks of an all equity strategy.There is bomb-out risk with an all-equity strategy (several good AAM threads on this) but over two decades it's hard to see how equities would underperform bonds/property.
And, as per some recent pension threads here, fund selection. In general, somebody with a while to go to retirement - and, arguably, somebody in this health and likely longevity about to retire and roll a significant chunk into an ARF - should probably be in a high/fully equities fund. And possibly an index tracker to eliminate often pointless additional active management charges.And, as always, past performance is no guide to future performance - so why even bother other than looking at fees and charges
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