Basically, most pension companies only seem to offer three things - equities, bonds or money market.
With a very good chance that the FTSE may continue to go nowhere for this decade a la 1970s and 1930s and with the bond market possibly already topped and with money markets offering safe but piddling returns where does the investor go?
Is there a way of "persuading" one's pension company to move your cash into a more specialised fund they previously did not cover?
Thanks,
Roland.
"Roland Watson" wrote
... or Property, or Foreign (either Asia *or* Pacific *or* Oriental *or* US etc), or Ethical, or ....
Try looking around!
Well, Japan may be over its 13 year bear market, and the Russian and Indian stock markets have been doing very well. I think ethical funds still broadly reflect the economy. But looking around implies looking beyond one's pension fund company. Can funds be transferred between companies with minimal penalty?
Thanks,
Roland.
Can funds be transferred between companies with minimal
In general, no, although there are some pension companies which offer external funds of other companies (ususally with a higher annual fund management charge). Unless they do, a switch involves moving the whole scheme from one company to another. This can involve early exit penalties, but may not depending on the type of scheme (e.g. stakeholder or equivalent) and the deal with the ceding pension provider. You need to check the terms with the provider.
Rob Graham
I think it should in this case. The basic reason that you expect bull markets is that economies are growing, and that doesn't seem to have changed, the UK has I think not even had one quarter of negative growth in the last few years.
If you really want to invest in narrow areas then I think you should be looking at a SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension) rather than anything from a traditional provider - but you should also be prepared to take a substantially higher risk, which is usually not what people want for their pension.
Timing the exact top and bottom is certainly not something you should expect to be able to do, but that doesn't mean that you can't say in general terms when shares are low or high.
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