The FTSE

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My pension fund plummeted by around 20% at one point due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Checked earlier and it’s recovered all losses. While I’m sure there will be plenty more dips to come, it’s still surprising to see it get back to where it was so soon as the economic outlook isn’t exactly positive.
I'm putting off asking about my work pension as I've just been made redundant (I was hanging my boots up anyway) and living on SWMBO's newly matured NHS pension and mine from the RAF. I might enquire about the value just so see what it will pay me. I had decided to wait as the market is on its arse
 
RD Shell for more or less £9.50 plus div looking good now though.

Yes. Anyone who got in at those levels did well.

some other good ones out there too amongst the dross.

Naked Wines Price - £2.04 on 16 March. Today £4.10. 100% profit in 2 months.

Fevertree - £9 on 23 March £16.85 today - 87% up. (Having said that, they were £40 a year or so ago!)

Zoom - $68 1 Jan - $172 now. 153% up YTD.

It was a buyers market in March but unfortunately the emotional part of the brain kicks in for many and people tend to sell rather than buy and then buy when markets are high when they should be selling.
 
I'm putting off asking about my work pension as I've just been made redundant (I was hanging my boots up anyway) and living on SWMBO's newly matured NHS pension and mine from the RAF. I might enquire about the value just so see what it will pay me. I had decided to wait as the market is on its arse

If it’s stock market related you can take what you want from it when you want under the new rules. Bit by bit or up to whole amount. Just need to be careful of tax. No need to buy annuities any more if you don’t want to. They are still really poor value currently.
 
If it’s stock market related you can take what you want from it when you want under the new rules. Bit by bit or up to whole amount. Just need to be careful of tax. No need to buy annuities any more if you don’t want to. They are still really poor value currently.
Don't you have to justify taking more than 25%? I am sure I could justify it with our other pensions and SWMBOs condition which is life limiting but I wasn't aware I could take the lot
 
Don't you have to justify taking more than 25%? I am sure I could justify it with our other pensions and SWMBOs condition which is life limiting but I wasn't aware I could take the lot

If it’s a private pension, I think you can take the lot in one go but you’d get taxed to the hilt so it’s not advisable.
 
Don't you have to justify taking more than 25%? I am sure I could justify it with our other pensions and SWMBOs condition which is life limiting but I wasn't aware I could take the lot
You can take 25% of your total pension pot tax free from age 55.

After that you pay income tax on drawdowns (so first £12k pa tax free assuming no other income)

If you’re in an occupational private pension (defined benefit), you may be able to transfer your accrued benefits into a personal pension although Public Sector pension (teacher, NHS, armed forces, firemen etc) can’t be transferred out.
 
Don't you have to justify taking more than 25%? I am sure I could justify it with our other pensions and SWMBOs condition which is life limiting but I wasn't aware I could take the lot

Just be careful with the tax side of things. Pensions became like savings accounts with tax once they rules were changed.

There are also some older style pension contracts that have guarantees attached so need to check that too. Some have guaranteed annuity rates of 7-10-% which is pretty good and some have protected tax free cash where you can take more than 25% tax free. Don’t do anything rash without looking into what you have first.
 
Just be careful with the tax side of things. Pensions became like savings accounts with tax once they rules were changed.

There are also some older style pension contracts that have guarantees attached so need to check that too. Some have guaranteed annuity rates of 7-10-% which is pretty good and some have protected tax free cash where you can take more than 25% tax free. Don’t do anything rash without looking into what you have first.
I do need to get some advice... appreciate the comments on BM and at present there is no rush :-)
 
Not a good day for markets today after a rally that looked too good to be true and probably will turn out to be.

Dow Jones down 6% plus today on renewed economy/2nd wave fears.

UK and Europe down 4/5%

They have had a good run though and were almost at levels which indicated a slight blip rather than a full on economic disaster which this will be, at least in the short term.

Be interesting to see what then next week or so brings.
 
Not a good day for markets today after a rally that looked too good to be true and probably will turn out to be.

Dow Jones down 6% plus today on renewed economy/2nd wave fears.

UK and Europe down 4/5%

They have had a good run though and were almost at levels which indicated a slight blip rather than a full on economic disaster which this will be, at least in the short term.

Be interesting to see what then next week or so brings.
My annual pension statement came through last week and it was 20% less than the valuation I requested in January
Meanwhile my second policy which is mainly a property fund, the trading has been suspended as Aviva tell me at the moment there is no accurate way of true valuation!
 
My annual pension statement came through last week and it was 20% less than the valuation I requested in January
Meanwhile my second policy which is mainly a property fund, the trading has been suspended as Aviva tell me at the moment there is no accurate way of true valuation!

Is this a transferred out pension or still with the administrators?
 
I took early retirement last summer. My pension took a hit in February and March, and I was avoiding looking at it after that. I took the view that everyone would suffer in the economic downturn, and I resigned myself to some significant losses, like everyone else. If it meant going to work again to earn whilst my pension recovered, then so be it.

Imagine my relief when I logged back in a couple of weeks ago to find almost total recovery. It bottomed at just over 10% loss, and is now at about 2% down. My fund administrator is my new superhero.
 
I took early retirement last summer. My pension took a hit in February and March, and I was avoiding looking at it after that. I took the view that everyone would suffer in the economic downturn, and I resigned myself to some significant losses, like everyone else. If it meant going to work again to earn whilst my pension recovered, then so be it.

Imagine my relief when I logged back in a couple of weeks ago to find almost total recovery. It bottomed at just over 10% loss, and is now at about 2% down. My fund administrator is my new superhero.

This is similar to what my FA has told me about his client's portfolios. Maybe another smaller hit coming but long term it'll be okay.
 
so whats the smart thing to do? sell sell sell and wait for it to bottom out and re-buy? or sit and hope? Does anyone have a clue whats going to happen short term never mind long term?
 
so whats the smart thing to do? sell sell sell and wait for it to bottom out and re-buy? or sit and hope? Does anyone have a clue whats going to happen short term never mind long term?

The short term is a tough one to call. This week’s pull back was no great surprise. The NASDAQ hit it all time high this week which doesn’t make sense if you look where the economy is. The reason it’s up there is because the FED is printing money and they have zero interest rates, so once the worries of COVID pass the markets will rocket in my opinion.

So on one hand you have people wanting to get in early before that rally begins.There could literally be positive news about a vaccine next week and that would set them off.

On the other hand people are twitchy about a second wave so there could just as easy be a panic and people start to dump everything.

Personality I’m about 80% in with 20% cash. I’m not planning on needing the money any time soon so if it does drop I’ll buy on the dips and use that cash.

My advice would be to not shit your pants and sell everything if it drops back, or if it starts to rally not worry about missing out and jump in quick. It’s easy and in our nature want to sell when it drops and buy when it starts to rally, but that’s the opposite of what you should be doing. If you’re in for the long term you’ll be fine and sat on nice profits next year due to all the extra cash swilling around.
 
Would take some balls to invest in any airline company at the minute, you’ve no idea which ones will still be around next week
I bought shares in Qantas last week.
Very cheap. And there's no way Australian government would let the national carrier go bust.
 
The short term is a tough one to call. This week’s pull back was no great surprise. The NASDAQ hit it all time high this week which doesn’t make sense if you look where the economy is. The reason it’s up there is because the FED is printing money and they have zero interest rates, so once the worries of COVID pass the markets will rocket in my opinion.

So on one hand you have people wanting to get in early before that rally begins.There could literally be positive news about a vaccine next week and that would set them off.

On the other hand people are twitchy about a second wave so there could just as easy be a panic and people start to dump everything.

Personality I’m about 80% in with 20% cash. I’m not planning on needing the money any time soon so if it does drop I’ll buy on the dips and use that cash.

My advice would be to not shit your pants and sell everything if it drops back, or if it starts to rally not worry about missing out and jump in quick. It’s easy and in our nature want to sell when it drops and buy when it starts to rally, but that’s the opposite of what you should be doing. If you’re in for the long term you’ll be fine and sat on nice profits next year due to all the extra cash swilling around.

Thanks that's a nice summary, my approach is pretty cautious anyway at around 50/50 split, sat through the recent plummet expecting a couple of years to recover, and was pleasantly surprised when it took a fraction of that time to get back to pretty much where it was.
 
The short term is a tough one to call. This week’s pull back was no great surprise. The NASDAQ hit it all time high this week which doesn’t make sense if you look where the economy is. The reason it’s up there is because the FED is printing money and they have zero interest rates, so once the worries of COVID pass the markets will rocket in my opinion.

So on one hand you have people wanting to get in early before that rally begins.There could literally be positive news about a vaccine next week and that would set them off.

On the other hand people are twitchy about a second wave so there could just as easy be a panic and people start to dump everything.

Personality I’m about 80% in with 20% cash. I’m not planning on needing the money any time soon so if it does drop I’ll buy on the dips and use that cash.

My advice would be to not shit your pants and sell everything if it drops back, or if it starts to rally not worry about missing out and jump in quick. It’s easy and in our nature want to sell when it drops and buy when it starts to rally, but that’s the opposite of what you should be doing. If you’re in for the long term you’ll be fine and sat on nice profits next year due to all the extra cash swilling around.
The short term is a tough one to call. This week’s pull back was no great surprise. The NASDAQ hit it all time high this week which doesn’t make sense if you look where the economy is. The reason it’s up there is because the FED is printing money and they have zero interest rates, so once the worries of COVID pass the markets will rocket in my opinion.

So on one hand you have people wanting to get in early before that rally begins.There could literally be positive news about a vaccine next week and that would set them off.

On the other hand people are twitchy about a second wave so there could just as easy be a panic and people start to dump everything.

Personality I’m about 80% in with 20% cash. I’m not planning on needing the money any time soon so if it does drop I’ll buy on the dips and use that cash.

My advice would be to not shit your pants and sell everything if it drops back, or if it starts to rally not worry about missing out and jump in quick. It’s easy and in our nature want to sell when it drops and buy when it starts to rally, but that’s the opposite of what you should be doing. If you’re in for the long term you’ll be fine and sat on nice profits next year due to all the extra cash swilling around.

I've got a 6 figure pension pot with the Prudential in a balanced fund.. Have to say when this hit was seriously considered cashing out. Glad I didn't, well my adviser obvious said not to. Good advice this
 

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