It's time for me to start thinking about consolidating all the workplace pensions that I have accumulated over my working life; I've probably got 6 or 7 different pension pots on the go at the moment, all with different fund managers. Does anybody have any recommendations as to the best way to do this? Is Pension Bee a decent option? Are there better options out there?
I am not a financial advisor or work in the industry, but I can tell you my situation.
It was very simple to consolidate all but 1 of my pensions into 1 pension provider. Two of the pensions (including the largest pot) were with Scottish Widows who also seemed to offer the most decent online service and flexibility of some control of funds for a novice like me.
They had a form on the Scottish Widows pension site that I completed with all my other pension account details (name, accountno etc..) and Scottish Widows did all the work. Was very very simple and complete in a couple of weeks. As it was pension to pension there were no fees, no taxes to pay, very seamless and did not seem to cost me anything materially for doing so.
Some gotchas I was warned about:
1. non Stakeholder pensions (final salary, some specific SIPPS setups) are complicated and you should consult a financial advisor 2. make sure the provider is one you want to be with for an extended period of time. Sometimes it is better to leave your eggs in more than one basket, but each to their own and only you can make that decision.
It's great I can track the majority of my pension portfolio in one place and the economies of scale mean I can potential earn much more in the 20+ years I have left to work
BallardMan I have a Scottish Widows pension. Are you able to view all you pension details online and switch funds online? SW tell me with mine they can’t do it (it’s not a stakeholder personal pension).
Scottish Widows have at least 3 mainstream personal pension plans as well as ones they acquired when they bought Clerical Medical. They have a Stakeholder, a Personal Pension & their "Retirement Account". The latter is their flagship flexible Drawdown plan & I imagine is the one that you can do online. The other 2 are old & antiquated, don't have much fund choice & I certainly wouldn't be using them to consolidate any other pension plans I might have.
The Retirement Account is ok, but not my favoured pension plan by any means. I have a couple of clients in one & a few still in the old Personal Pensions (which I am trying to get them to move, but you know what people are like regarding change 😔) but there are better providers & better pensions out there, as well as using a platform. At the very least make sure you are in a "flexi-access drawdown" plan & not a bulk standard PP or Stakeholder. And anyone who tells you to go for a SIPP isn't worth talking to, unless you are wanting to trade daily or buy individual shares or ETF's.
It's time for me to start thinking about consolidating all the workplace pensions that I have accumulated over my working life; I've probably got 6 or 7 different pension pots on the go at the moment, all with different fund managers. Does anybody have any recommendations as to the best way to do this? Is Pension Bee a decent option? Are there better options out there?
I consolidated a number into Fidelity (including one DB pension) but have subsequently moved to Interactive Investor for the large part as fee's were cheaper, worth comparing fee's based on your overall fund size and also the type of funds you want to invest in. Personally I wouldn't use a PensionBee type but i'm quite active with mine, trading fairly regularly.
As golfie says, an IFA if you are UK based, not sure how it all would work if you don't have a UK address?
I would warn Red_Pete_in_Dubai against dealing with any Brits out there in Dubai who claim to be IFAs. I am surprised if he hasnt already been cold called by some. They are completely unregulated and completely unscrupulous. Same DNA as football agents. I heard some real horror stories. One name that crops up is De Vere. Funny enough that name has cropped up in one of our Dossiers too!
But what the hell to do? These regulations hang out to dry all of us traitors who betrayed our country by choosing to settle abroad. In my case it turned out that my decision to keep my UK bank account, registered first to my Mum’s address and now my sister’s, was a golden one. If there is any way to do that, do it. Even if you have to assert that you have moved back home. It is not against the law to move back and then decide, sod it, I prefer Dubai after all, after 6 months. Skirting round the regulations? Yeah, you bet. But it is as nothing to what these arseholes get up to - and they are nearly always British, or certainly their firms are. Doubt they pay any UK tax though.
@Red_Pete_in_Dubai I'm not an IFA but have some pensions experience. I did something similar as you intend with IFA 5 years ago and transferred from 4 providers into one pot. I was advised not to transfer my DB at that time which I am drawing. We transferred into Scottish Widows , who have a whole range of funds at decent charges. We chose them for a mixture of reasons. Flexible Drawdown an option, ability to control online and equally importantly for me was the ability for me as a client to control rather than through IFA. This meant I had one initial set up fee with IFA but not an annual charge. Most fund managers won't let an individual do this but has to be done through an IFA. This means I can drawdown each year without approval or fees from IFA. I intended to put my into funds and leave them rather than regular switching and are mostly in index linked funds. I will have a review and probably due one as it is 5 years but very happy with what I set in place.
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
Well done you! But don't forget at the moment it's a paper profit until you crystallise it!
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
Well done you! But don't forget at the moment it's a paper profit until you crystallise it!
True...but it’s the age old issue of when! Will they continue to go up...? When will they stop... I generally buy and hang on for capital growth...
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
Well done you! But don't forget at the moment it's a paper profit until you crystallise it!
True...but it’s the age old issue of when! Will they continue to go up...? When will they stop... I generally buy and hang on for capital growth...
I'm the opposite, normally set an amount of profit, if it reaches, I sell.
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
Well done you! But don't forget at the moment it's a paper profit until you crystallise it!
True...but it’s the age old issue of when! Will they continue to go up...? When will they stop... I generally buy and hang on for capital growth...
Tip someone once gave me was set a sell price of 10 % less than the current share price. Obviously as the share price goes up, you move the sell price up accordingly. That way you never lose all your gains.
Wish I had followed that advice on numerous occasions!
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
Well done you! But don't forget at the moment it's a paper profit until you crystallise it!
True...but it’s the age old issue of when! Will they continue to go up...? When will they stop... I generally buy and hang on for capital growth...
Tip someone once gave me was set a sell price of 10 % less than the current share price. Obviously as the share price goes up, you move the sell price up accordingly. That way you never lose all your gains.
Wish I had followed that advice on numerous occasions!
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
That’s an excellent return well done you @ cafe-west, also good to see FTSE now over 6000, lockdowns and US election might have a downward effect but there are still bargains out there, another pharma Avacta are heavily rumoured to be involved in Operation Moonshot as a saliva based test 👍👍
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
Well done you! But don't forget at the moment it's a paper profit until you crystallise it!
True...but it’s the age old issue of when! Will they continue to go up...? When will they stop... I generally buy and hang on for capital growth...
Tip someone once gave me was set a sell price of 10 % less than the current share price. Obviously as the share price goes up, you move the sell price up accordingly. That way you never lose all your gains.
Wish I had followed that advice on numerous occasions!
Th only problem with trailing stop loss is the need to continually review.
"Cavendish Online Investments Ltd has been acquired by Fidelity International" is this bad news? I have started investing some pension money in Fidelity Funds via Cavendish for their low fees.
"Cavendish Online Investments Ltd has been acquired by Fidelity International" is this bad news? I have started investing some pension money in Fidelity Funds via Cavendish for their low fees.
I doubt its bad news. Just Fidelity wanting to have another "arm" to their online services. Strange that you have Fidelity funds out of all the 1000 odd funds that you can have. If you want to make sure you are 100% safe then switch funds to another fund manager.
The performance of Novacyt shares have been stunning this year. From 14 at the start of the year to 652 today - not sure how much further it can go.
Now up to 847 - somebody must have made a fortune.
Cannot remember who recommended NOVACYT on here but many thanks. My £630 investment (March) is now worth £4350!! Not rich but a fantastic return. Of course I wish I'd bought more but not complaining...
That’s an excellent return well done you @ cafe-west, also good to see FTSE now over 6000, lockdowns and US election might have a downward effect but there are still bargains out there, another pharma Avacta are heavily rumoured to be involved in Operation Moonshot as a saliva based test 👍👍
I still think there is more growth in the Novacyt share price - won't hit its peak for some time. Will be plenty more demand for its products.
"Cavendish Online Investments Ltd has been acquired by Fidelity International" is this bad news? I have started investing some pension money in Fidelity Funds via Cavendish for their low fees.
I doubt its bad news. Just Fidelity wanting to have another "arm" to their online services. Strange that you have Fidelity funds out of all the 1000 odd funds that you can have. If you want to make sure you are 100% safe then switch funds to another fund manager.
apologies, it is a Fidelity account with investments in about half a dizen different funds, just one of which I think is a Fidelity fund
"Cavendish Online Investments Ltd has been acquired by Fidelity International" is this bad news? I have started investing some pension money in Fidelity Funds via Cavendish for their low fees.
I doubt its bad news. Just Fidelity wanting to have another "arm" to their online services. Strange that you have Fidelity funds out of all the 1000 odd funds that you can have. If you want to make sure you are 100% safe then switch funds to another fund manager.
apologies, it is a Fidelity account with investments in about half a dizen different funds, just one of which I think is a Fidelity fund
You've confused me even more. Were you with Cavendish, that has just been bought by Fidelity, or with Fidelity originally (which if so why the post).
I'm going to do some research and workout what to do with my successful US based funds, what with the election pantomime coming up.
Firstly, don't sell out of America entirely. Sure, pear back your exposure if you want to, maybe by taking the gains you've made over the past 12-18 months or even taking another 20% out too - but have some exposure to the US.
As for where then to put that money - depends on where you might be underweight in your portfolio or where you think it's worth a punt. The UK is still more than 20% off where is was at the start of the year. Brexit (deal / no deal) is still weighing heavy on everyone's minds but its got to be resolved one way or t'other soon and short term either scenario will make money somewhere (currency & overseas earnings on large FTSE stocks). I invest in an Absolute Return fund as a hedge for this (Argonaut) but there are other funds & strategies.
Bonds are currently out of favour - all my fixed interest funds have fallen over the past couple of weeks but you have to have something on this space for balance & diversification. Keep being told that High Yield is the place to be although I don't see it myself.
That then leaves Asia (China & Japan mostly) and Europe as the major other economies / areas to invest. Again, depends on how much exposure you have to these regions- usually I go for no more than 15%-18% combined in the big 3 just mentioned - and that probably includes a bit of emerging markets too.
Interesting stuff about America. I think we've established it was you who tipped the Baillee Gifford America fund on here. (If so, I definitely owe you a beer or two!) I dipped my toes in the water back in November last year at 8.49. I went past my knees in January this year at 9.47 and then up to my waist in June at 12.14. Todays close is 17.91. Unbelievable.
You posted that you had sold some of your clients' holdings a few months ago as they were getting too big a percentage of their funds. Understandable but I'm glad I didn't follow suit at the time! But the question is how long can the rise in this fund go on? Is it time in your view - and anyone else who reads this - to take profit?
Talking of Baillee Gifford Funds, their performance over a whole range of funds is unbelievable. I've a long term holding in the Global Discovery Fund. That's up nearly 50% over 6 months. My investments in the Positive Change Fund & Pacific Funds have also soared over recent months. What on earth is this company doing that makes so many of its funds successful?
Finally, I have no UK holdings at all at the moment apart from a small holding in the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund (and I've sold much of that off in recent months). The UK market may well still be 20% off its peak but I really can't see anything that would make me want to go back into it in a big way at the moment.
I'm going to do some research and workout what to do with my successful US based funds, what with the election pantomime coming up.
Firstly, don't sell out of America entirely. Sure, pear back your exposure if you want to, maybe by taking the gains you've made over the past 12-18 months or even taking another 20% out too - but have some exposure to the US.
As for where then to put that money - depends on where you might be underweight in your portfolio or where you think it's worth a punt. The UK is still more than 20% off where is was at the start of the year. Brexit (deal / no deal) is still weighing heavy on everyone's minds but its got to be resolved one way or t'other soon and short term either scenario will make money somewhere (currency & overseas earnings on large FTSE stocks). I invest in an Absolute Return fund as a hedge for this (Argonaut) but there are other funds & strategies.
Bonds are currently out of favour - all my fixed interest funds have fallen over the past couple of weeks but you have to have something on this space for balance & diversification. Keep being told that High Yield is the place to be although I don't see it myself.
That then leaves Asia (China & Japan mostly) and Europe as the major other economies / areas to invest. Again, depends on how much exposure you have to these regions- usually I go for no more than 15%-18% combined in the big 3 just mentioned - and that probably includes a bit of emerging markets too.
Interesting stuff about America. I think we've established it was you who tipped the Baillee Gifford America fund on here. (If so, I definitely owe you a beer or two!) I dipped my toes in the water back in November last year at 8.49. I went past my knees in January this year at 9.47 and then up to my waist in June at 12.14. Todays close is 17.91. Unbelievable.
You posted that you had sold some of your clients' holdings a few months ago as they were getting too big a percentage of their funds. Understandable but I'm glad I didn't follow suit at the time! But the question is how long can the rise in this fund go on? Is it time in your view - and anyone else who reads this - to take profit?
Talking of Baillee Gifford Funds, their performance over a whole range of funds is unbelievable. I've a long term holding in the Global Discovery Fund. That's up nearly 50% over 6 months. My investments in the Positive Change Fund & Pacific Funds have also soared over recent months. What on earth is this company doing that makes so many of its funds successful?
Finally, I have no UK holdings at all at the moment apart from a small holding in the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund (and I've sold much of that off in recent months). The UK market may well still be 20% off its peak but I really can't see anything that would make me want to go back into it in a big way at the moment.
I have from BG&Co
American Strategic Bond European Positive Change
They have certainly performed well (Bond the worst at about 5%)
Strangely I sold the last of my LT UK Equity today!
I tend to trade relatively frequently taking profits, it's done me OK so far and I think we have many ups and downs still to come.
It's time for me to start thinking about consolidating all the workplace pensions that I have accumulated over my working life; I've probably got 6 or 7 different pension pots on the go at the moment, all with different fund managers. Does anybody have any recommendations as to the best way to do this? Is Pension Bee a decent option? Are there better options out there?
I am not a financial advisor or work in the industry, but I can tell you my situation.
It was very simple to consolidate all but 1 of my pensions into 1 pension provider. Two of the pensions (including the largest pot) were with Scottish Widows who also seemed to offer the most decent online service and flexibility of some control of funds for a novice like me.
They had a form on the Scottish Widows pension site that I completed with all my other pension account details (name, accountno etc..) and Scottish Widows did all the work. Was very very simple and complete in a couple of weeks. As it was pension to pension there were no fees, no taxes to pay, very seamless and did not seem to cost me anything materially for doing so.
Some gotchas I was warned about:
1. non Stakeholder pensions (final salary, some specific SIPPS setups) are complicated and you should consult a financial advisor 2. make sure the provider is one you want to be with for an extended period of time. Sometimes it is better to leave your eggs in more than one basket, but each to their own and only you can make that decision.
It's great I can track the majority of my pension portfolio in one place and the economies of scale mean I can potential earn much more in the 20+ years I have left to work
BallardMan I have a Scottish Widows pension. Are you able to view all you pension details online and switch funds online? SW tell me with mine they can’t do it (it’s not a stakeholder personal pension).
Sorry for the delay on this response (I did not get a notification you had replied). Yes and Yes to your questions. I fact I have 2 x Scottish Widows pensions (active and previous) and I can view and control the funds they are both invested in. I can also see my pension balance via the Halifax app (same company).
I'm going to do some research and workout what to do with my successful US based funds, what with the election pantomime coming up.
Firstly, don't sell out of America entirely. Sure, pear back your exposure if you want to, maybe by taking the gains you've made over the past 12-18 months or even taking another 20% out too - but have some exposure to the US.
As for where then to put that money - depends on where you might be underweight in your portfolio or where you think it's worth a punt. The UK is still more than 20% off where is was at the start of the year. Brexit (deal / no deal) is still weighing heavy on everyone's minds but its got to be resolved one way or t'other soon and short term either scenario will make money somewhere (currency & overseas earnings on large FTSE stocks). I invest in an Absolute Return fund as a hedge for this (Argonaut) but there are other funds & strategies.
Bonds are currently out of favour - all my fixed interest funds have fallen over the past couple of weeks but you have to have something on this space for balance & diversification. Keep being told that High Yield is the place to be although I don't see it myself.
That then leaves Asia (China & Japan mostly) and Europe as the major other economies / areas to invest. Again, depends on how much exposure you have to these regions- usually I go for no more than 15%-18% combined in the big 3 just mentioned - and that probably includes a bit of emerging markets too.
Interesting stuff about America. I think we've established it was you who tipped the Baillee Gifford America fund on here. (If so, I definitely owe you a beer or two!) I dipped my toes in the water back in November last year at 8.49. I went past my knees in January this year at 9.47 and then up to my waist in June at 12.14. Todays close is 17.91. Unbelievable.
You posted that you had sold some of your clients' holdings a few months ago as they were getting too big a percentage of their funds. Understandable but I'm glad I didn't follow suit at the time! But the question is how long can the rise in this fund go on? Is it time in your view - and anyone else who reads this - to take profit?
Talking of Baillee Gifford Funds, their performance over a whole range of funds is unbelievable. I've a long term holding in the Global Discovery Fund. That's up nearly 50% over 6 months. My investments in the Positive Change Fund & Pacific Funds have also soared over recent months. What on earth is this company doing that makes so many of its funds successful?
Finally, I have no UK holdings at all at the moment apart from a small holding in the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund (and I've sold much of that off in recent months). The UK market may well still be 20% off its peak but I really can't see anything that would make me want to go back into it in a big way at the moment.
My favourite 2 UK equity funds at the moment are MI Chelverton UK Growth & SDL Free Spirit.
Baillie Gifford run a number of top performing funds (like you I have no idea how they do it). Others not already mentioned are their UK Equity Alpha fund, their Managed Fund (in the mixed asset sector) & their Pacific fund (Asia ex Japan). I have to be selective in my clients portfolios otherwise it might look like I work for them or tied to them in some way...lol.
Listening to Jupiter Asset Management today about their Jupiter Merlin range (again mixed asset funds) and they were saying that fixed interest in general was not a great place to be & for the "safety" element in their portfolios they were holding Gold instead (as much as 10% in their Conservation portfolios). Some was in ETF's and some in Gold / Gold mining funds.
Also Japan has done well since the recovery - up 20% I believe over the past 6 months. Good job I invested 5% of my SIPP into the First State Japan focus fund.
I'm going to do some research and workout what to do with my successful US based funds, what with the election pantomime coming up.
Firstly, don't sell out of America entirely. Sure, pear back your exposure if you want to, maybe by taking the gains you've made over the past 12-18 months or even taking another 20% out too - but have some exposure to the US.
As for where then to put that money - depends on where you might be underweight in your portfolio or where you think it's worth a punt. The UK is still more than 20% off where is was at the start of the year. Brexit (deal / no deal) is still weighing heavy on everyone's minds but its got to be resolved one way or t'other soon and short term either scenario will make money somewhere (currency & overseas earnings on large FTSE stocks). I invest in an Absolute Return fund as a hedge for this (Argonaut) but there are other funds & strategies.
Bonds are currently out of favour - all my fixed interest funds have fallen over the past couple of weeks but you have to have something on this space for balance & diversification. Keep being told that High Yield is the place to be although I don't see it myself.
That then leaves Asia (China & Japan mostly) and Europe as the major other economies / areas to invest. Again, depends on how much exposure you have to these regions- usually I go for no more than 15%-18% combined in the big 3 just mentioned - and that probably includes a bit of emerging markets too.
Interesting stuff about America. I think we've established it was you who tipped the Baillee Gifford America fund on here. (If so, I definitely owe you a beer or two!) I dipped my toes in the water back in November last year at 8.49. I went past my knees in January this year at 9.47 and then up to my waist in June at 12.14. Todays close is 17.91. Unbelievable.
You posted that you had sold some of your clients' holdings a few months ago as they were getting too big a percentage of their funds. Understandable but I'm glad I didn't follow suit at the time! But the question is how long can the rise in this fund go on? Is it time in your view - and anyone else who reads this - to take profit?
Talking of Baillee Gifford Funds, their performance over a whole range of funds is unbelievable. I've a long term holding in the Global Discovery Fund. That's up nearly 50% over 6 months. My investments in the Positive Change Fund & Pacific Funds have also soared over recent months. What on earth is this company doing that makes so many of its funds successful?
Finally, I have no UK holdings at all at the moment apart from a small holding in the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund (and I've sold much of that off in recent months). The UK market may well still be 20% off its peak but I really can't see anything that would make me want to go back into it in a big way at the moment.
My favourite 2 UK equity funds at the moment are MI Chelverton UK Growth & SDL Free Spirit.
I moved some into MI Chelverton UK Equity Growth B Acc a few months back, just checked and up 11.7%.
Probably read about it on here as can't remember why I chose that one!
@Golfie like I said I think, Cavendish charge a lower fee for using the Fidelity platform than Fidelity themselves, Cavendish are just the gateway, I guess they are technically the "adviser" though have nothing to do with them other than opening the account.
Is anyone else's pension flying at the moment? Since I transferred providers on 17th July i'm up 11.74%.
My SIPP had once again hit it's all time high. Up 30% since the low of late March.
I am also well into record territory despite actively reducing risk in recent months, due to my age. But I can't tell you how much I am up since mid July, or late March, since Hargreaves Lansdowne platform does not allow me to look at total SIPP performance over time :-( Which is lamentable, really.
Comments
The Retirement Account is ok, but not my favoured pension plan by any means. I have a couple of clients in one & a few still in the old Personal Pensions (which I am trying to get them to move, but you know what people are like regarding change 😔) but there are better providers & better pensions out there, as well as using a platform. At the very least make sure you are in a "flexi-access drawdown" plan & not a bulk standard PP or Stakeholder. And anyone who tells you to go for a SIPP isn't worth talking to, unless you are wanting to trade daily or buy individual shares or ETF's.
But what the hell to do? These regulations hang out to dry all of us traitors who betrayed our country by choosing to settle abroad. In my case it turned out that my decision to keep my UK bank account, registered first to my Mum’s address and now my sister’s, was a golden one. If there is any way to do that, do it. Even if you have to assert that you have moved back home. It is not against the law to move back and then decide, sod it, I prefer Dubai after all, after 6 months. Skirting round the regulations? Yeah, you bet. But it is as nothing to what these arseholes get up to - and they are nearly always British, or certainly their firms are. Doubt they pay any UK tax though.
I'm not an IFA but have some pensions experience. I did something similar as you intend with IFA 5 years ago and transferred from 4 providers into one pot. I was advised not to transfer my DB at that time which I am drawing.
We transferred into Scottish Widows , who have a whole range of funds at decent charges. We chose them for a mixture of reasons. Flexible Drawdown an option, ability to control online and equally importantly for me was the ability for me as a client to control rather than through IFA. This meant I had one initial set up fee with IFA but not an annual charge. Most fund managers won't let an individual do this but has to be done through an IFA. This means I can drawdown each year without approval or fees from IFA. I intended to put my into funds and leave them rather than regular switching and are mostly in index linked funds. I will have a review and probably due one as it is 5 years but very happy with what I set in place.
Wish I had followed that advice on numerous occasions!
I'd be a lot better off if I'd stuck firmly to that principle over the years. Also 'leave a bit of profit for the next bloke'
I have started investing some pension money in Fidelity Funds via Cavendish for their low fees.
Interesting stuff about America. I think we've established it was you who tipped the Baillee Gifford America fund on here. (If so, I definitely owe you a beer or two!) I dipped my toes in the water back in November last year at 8.49. I went past my knees in January this year at 9.47 and then up to my waist in June at 12.14. Todays close is 17.91. Unbelievable.
You posted that you had sold some of your clients' holdings a few months ago as they were getting too big a percentage of their funds. Understandable but I'm glad I didn't follow suit at the time! But the question is how long can the rise in this fund go on? Is it time in your view - and anyone else who reads this - to take profit?
Talking of Baillee Gifford Funds, their performance over a whole range of funds is unbelievable. I've a long term holding in the Global Discovery Fund. That's up nearly 50% over 6 months. My investments in the Positive Change Fund & Pacific Funds have also soared over recent months. What on earth is this company doing that makes so many of its funds successful?
Finally, I have no UK holdings at all at the moment apart from a small holding in the Lindsell Train UK Equity Fund (and I've sold much of that off in recent months). The UK market may well still be 20% off its peak but I really can't see anything that would make me want to go back into it in a big way at the moment.
Fortune 82nd Minute said:
I have from BG&Co
American
Strategic Bond
European
Positive Change
They have certainly performed well (Bond the worst at about 5%)
Strangely I sold the last of my LT UK Equity today!
I tend to trade relatively frequently taking profits, it's done me OK so far and I think we have many ups and downs still to come.
Baillie Gifford run a number of top performing funds (like you I have no idea how they do it). Others not already mentioned are their UK Equity Alpha fund, their Managed Fund (in the mixed asset sector) & their Pacific fund (Asia ex Japan). I have to be selective in my clients portfolios otherwise it might look like I work for them or tied to them in some way...lol.
Listening to Jupiter Asset Management today about their Jupiter Merlin range (again mixed asset funds) and they were saying that fixed interest in general was not a great place to be & for the "safety" element in their portfolios they were holding Gold instead (as much as 10% in their Conservation portfolios). Some was in ETF's and some in Gold / Gold mining funds.
Also Japan has done well since the recovery - up 20% I believe over the past 6 months. Good job I invested 5% of my SIPP into the First State Japan focus fund.
https://www.bailliegifford.com/en/uk/individual-investors/literature-library/funds/oeics/bulletins/monthly-oeic-fund-focus/
Flick through the brochure. It lists all their funds and performance.
Over the last 6 months (to August):-
American Fund Up 75.9%
Long Term Global Growth Fund Up 66.6%
Global Stewardship Fund Up 52.5%
Positive Change Fund Up 51.7%
Global Discovery Fund Up 46.9%
Pacific Fund Up 39.3%
As Golfie no doubt advises his clients past performance is no guide to future performance but those are some big increases!
Probably read about it on here as can't remember why I chose that one!