Value of pension has fallen

C

cremeegg

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I have a PRSA with Standard Life. Some years ago an employer was offering to match my contributions, so I thought why not. I left that employment some years later and there have been no contributions since.

I have never paid much attention to it since then, every year I get a statement and there is usually a small increase sometime a nice increase in value. This year however there has been a small decrease in value. It is invested in a tick the box, middling low risk fund, global, managed, consensus, passive, managed, blah, blah.

My question is, is this normal at the moment, are pensions generally having a bad time, or is it just me. Thanks for any insights
 
It is normal that the value fluctuates in all directions - my self and many other had the same experience at least once.
 
Merowig said:
It is normal that the value fluctuates in all directions - my self and many other had the same experience at least once.
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I understand that, but I thought the last year was reasonably good for markets and I am a bit concerned that there has been a fall in my pension. The last time this happened, it happened to everyone's pension. I am just asking are other pension pots suffering or is it just me.
 
It depends where your pension is invested what fund (or funds) you are in. And what costs are as well involved (I assume 1% AMC and thats it?)

An overview of funds is available at [broken link removed]

Others are also "suffering" to different degrees - it is not just you.
 
Sarenco said:
It really depends on what markets you are talking about - eurozone equities were down, eurozone bonds were up.
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I don't really know what markets I am talking about. I don't have time to develop and maintain an informed opinion about markets.

I just gave my money to SL and asked for it to be invested in a pension, said I want moderate to low risk.

Sarenco said:
in any event, this performance calculator might help:-

https://www.rubiconic.ie/calculator/
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That is brilliant thank you.
 
With "moderate to low risk" you will likely, at best, receive moderate to low gains. So a small decrease in value isn't a big surprise e.g. the S&P 500 has been trading more or less sideways for over a year and a half.

You don't need to develop an informed opinion about markets, but you do need to be much clearer on what you are invested in and the likely returns and risk being taken. That's up to you to do.
People spend more time agonising over the prices of petrol and forget the bigger things like pensions!
 
The Standard Life Funds are listed on their website here

Click on the 'Cumulative Performance' tab and you'll see how the fund/s have done over various periods. The 1 yr figures don't make happy reading but it's basically the same for all competing companies.
 
aristotle said:
You don't need to develop an informed opinion about markets, but you do need to be much clearer on what you are invested in and the likely returns and risk being taken. That's up to you to do.
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Of this PRSA about 60% is in SL Managed and 40% in SL Cash. I have other assets aside from my pension, as they may be more risky, I am looking to the pension for low risk.
 
SL cautious managed fund would be a medium risk option.

Here's the full list of SL funds ranked in order of their riskiness/volatility:-

[broken link removed]
 
cremeegg said:
Of this PRSA about 60% is in SL Managed and 40% in SL Cash. I have other assets aside from my pension, as they may be more risky, I am looking to the pension for low risk.
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The managed fund can have up to 70% in equity. It also has 10% in UK property which got hammered over Brexit. Then the cash fund is probably returning less than the management fee on the contract, so the value of that fund is going down too.

In this low interest environment, there will have to be trade offs. If you want low risk, be prepared for no return. If you want to make a few quid, you are going to have to take some investment risk.

How long is your investment term?


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
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