Growth AVC....Grim Month

Hawkey99 · Post by **Hawkey99** » 13 Oct 2018, 16:53

Looking like an awful month for the growth AVC so far down over 3%.

Still its only have way through so fingers crossed for a 2nd half recovery.

heapsy · Post by **heapsy** » 13 Oct 2018, 17:20

Hawkey99 wrote:Looking like an awful month for the growth AVC so far down over 3%.

Still its only have way through so fingers crossed for a 2nd half recovery.

That's why I invest in the Balanced and Cautious funds at the same time. Too much risk putting all your eggs in one basket, as they say.

Post by **RobertT** » 13 Oct 2018, 17:33

Hawkey99 wrote:Looking like an awful month for the growth AVC so far down over 3%.

Still its only have way through so fingers crossed for a 2nd half recovery.

Stock markets have gone down over the last month and the last few days in particular. The FTSE100 for example has gone down around 500 points in October alone.

We've had a bull market for the best part of 10 years, it could be time for the bear to take over? In the short term it means our funds might lose value, but over a longer period it might represent a good buying opportunity.

Post by **RobertT** » 13 Oct 2018, 17:34

heapsy wrote:That's why I invest in the Balanced and Cautious funds at the same time. Too much risk putting all your eggs in one basket, as they say.

I recently changed from 100% in the Growth fund to equal investments into Growth, Cautious and Balanced. It seems it was a good time to try and preserve my gains? Time will tell!

heapsy · Post by **heapsy** » 13 Oct 2018, 17:49

RobertT wrote:
heapsy wrote:That's why I invest in the Balanced and Cautious funds at the same time. Too much risk putting all your eggs in one basket, as they say.
I recently changed from 100% in the Growth fund to equal investments into Growth, Cautious and Balanced. It seems it was a good time to try and preserve my gains? Time will tell!

Think so. Mine are tapered. Growth £56, Balanced £35, Cautious £25. With Bonus plan invested in Life Style.

Hawkey99 · Post by **Hawkey99** » 13 Oct 2018, 19:33

Can you also change the money already invested ??

Snurgs · Post by **Snurgs** » 13 Oct 2018, 19:55

Yes you can. just phone the pensions line and they will send out the forms . i Did it recently to change everything to lifestyle . basicly 8 years from your chosen retirement date it gradually invests in safer funds untill your paying into a cash fund only . Hope this helps
Keith

Post by **RobertT** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:00

Hawkey99 wrote:Can you also change the money already invested ??

Yes that's what I have done.

I no longer pay into Flexiplan because I'm at the 25% limit as discussed in another thread, and I don't want to carry on paying in if I'm just going to end up paying tax on it.

So I've made my overall AVC investment safer, in a similar way to choosing the lifestyle option, and tried to keep hold of my gains over the last few years. By doing that I shouldn't be as affected by any major stock market falls as I would have been if I'd stayed solely in the Growth fund.

I've redirected by AVC contributions to my personal pension, which i plan to drawdown between the ages of 55-60 to fund early retirement, and between 60-67 to supplement my NRA60 & NRA65 until my state pension kicks in.
It does mean missing out on PSE, but overall I'll be keeping more of my money myself, rather than giving it back to the taxman.

Snurgs · Post by **Snurgs** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:08

RobertT wrote:
Hawkey99 wrote:Can you also change the money already invested ??
Yes that's what I have done.

I no longer pay into AVC's because I'm at the 25% limit as discussed in another thread, and I don't want to carry on paying in if I'm just going to end up paying tax on it.

So I've made my overall AVC investment safer, in a similar way to choosing the lifestyle option, and tried to keep hold of my gains over the last few years. By doing that I shouldn't be as affected by any major stock market falls as I would have been if I'd stayed solely in the Growth fund.

I've redirected by AVC contributions to my personal pension, which i plan to drawdown between the ages of 55-60 to fund early retirement, and between 60-67 to supplement my NRA60 & NRA65 until my state pension kicks in.
It does mean missing out on PSE, but overall I'll be keeping more of my money myself, rather than giving it back to the taxman.

This is a bit confusing to me now . How does that work ? ive got £37,000 between bonusplan and flexiplan . should i carry on paying in or stick the weekly payment elswhere

Post by **nataddick** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:08

With less than 2 years to reach NRA65, I moved my total Flexiplan AVC from 100% Cautious to 50/50 Cautious/Cash. I phoned PSC for forms and sent them back by return.It then took 10 days before the switch showed up on my Zurich account.Plan to switch the balance to Cash fund around age 64.

Post by **RobertT** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:17

Snurgs wrote:This is a bit confusing to me now . How does that work ?

How does what work?

ive got £37,000 between bonusplan and flexiplan . should i carry on paying in or stick the weekly payment elswhere

That would depend on how much in percentage terms your £37k is in relation to your overall RMPP value, and what your intentions for the money are.

But don't stop paying into Bonusplan as that would mean you're terminating your membership of the RMPP

Post by **RobertT** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:19

nataddick wrote:With less than 2 years to reach NRA65, I moved my total Flexiplan AVC from 100% Cautious to 50/50 Cautious/Cash. I phoned PSC for forms and sent them back by return.It then took 10 days before the switch showed up on my Zurich account.Plan to switch the balance to Cash fund around age 64.

I'm aged 50 so don't intend to go too cautious just yet. I just sent them a letter saying what I wanted to do and they arranged it all - no forms needed.

Snurgs · Post by **Snurgs** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:24

RobertT wrote:
Snurgs wrote:This is a bit confusing to me now . How does that work ?
How does what work?

ive got £37,000 between bonusplan and flexiplan . should i carry on paying in or stick the weekly payment elswhere
That would depend on how much in percentage terms your £37k is in relation to your overall RMPP value, and what your intentions for the money are.

But don't stop paying into Bonusplan as that would mean you're terminating your membership of the RMPP

ok i can see i have much to learn . For a start i havent seen an overall RMPP value for some time . Do you mean if your avcs are worth more than 25% of the overall RMPP you should redirect payments elsewhere ?

Post by **RobertT** » 13 Oct 2018, 20:43

Snurgs wrote: ok i can see i have much to learn . For a start i havent seen an overall RMPP value for some time . Do you mean if your avcs are worth more than 25% of the overall RMPP you should redirect payments elsewhere ?

As a rough guide if you multiply your yearly pension by 20, then add on your AVC's and DBCBS, add on your standard lump sums(section B). That will give your overall RMPP value.

Section C example: NRA60 = £5k, NRA65 = £3K, AVC's = £60k. Makes a grand total of £220k.

If your AVC's are likely to be worth more than 25% of your overall RMPP value, then it might be time to reconsider your options. In the example above that would be £55K

Snurgs · Post by **Snurgs** » 14 Oct 2018, 08:49

Thanks very much for your reply .That's much clearer . Any idea when the next statements are due ?