ROYALMAILCHAT

Dunravern · Post by **Dunravern** » 02 Jul 2018, 09:51

I'm aprouching 54 years old with the intention of retiring at 60 if possible.im a section c member with 30 years service and have been paying into the bonus and flexi Avc plans both invested in the growth fund Has anybody got any advice or experience on wether it's a good idea to move these funds into the lifestyle fund or leave them in the growth funny

Sputters2017 · Post by **Sputters2017** » 02 Jul 2018, 11:51

Just got my avc projection . Both are £60 down on the annual pension estimate since 2015 .. cant understand why

Post by **RobertT** » 02 Jul 2018, 14:52

Dunravern wrote:I'm aprouching 54 years old with the intention of retiring at 60 if possible.im a section c member with 30 years service and have been paying into the bonus and flexi Avc plans both invested in the growth fund Has anybody got any advice or experience on wether it's a good idea to move these funds into the lifestyle fund or leave them in the growth funny

Any advice you get is likely to be subjective, as it will depend on personal circumstances and attitude to risk to a large degree.

My advice would be to read the 'guide to AVC's' on the pensions website(available here) and come to your own conclusion, or take the advice of an IFA.

Post by **RobertT** » 02 Jul 2018, 14:53

Sputters2017 wrote:Just got my avc projection . Both are £60 down on the annual pension estimate since 2015 .. cant understand why

The estimated value of your fund and the pension it may provide(if you choose to buy an annuity) is based on certain assumptions such as the rate of inflation and the rate of return on the investments. Those variables can change, so the estimated value of your fund/pension will also vary.

For example: The assumed rate of annual growth of the investments on my AVC statement was 6.50% in 2015, but has gone down to 4.75% this year.

How everything is worked out is explained in the statement!

BeamishStout · Post by **BeamishStout** » 02 Jul 2018, 15:04

Sputters2017 wrote:Just got my avc projection . Both are £60 down on the annual pension estimate since 2015 .. cant understand why

Stock markets were much lower in March 2018 (when statements are valued at) so my current AVC values are actually about 6.5% higher than they were then! Of course it depends what funds you have put them in as well. You can find out current values online via the corporate Zurich website.

Rumple · Post by **Rumple** » 02 Jul 2018, 15:38

My AVCs are in the flexi-growth. They lost money in the last 12 months.

Post by **RobertT** » 02 Jul 2018, 16:36

Rumple wrote:My AVCs are in the flexi-growth. They lost money in the last 12 months.

Stock market investments go up and down – some years will be good and others not so good!

You may well have lost money in the last 12 months(based on the March valuations), but the last 9-10 years have largely been positive.

Alexei · Post by **Alexei** » 02 Jul 2018, 22:38

I received my annual statements for Bonusplan & Flexiplan today. Both AVCs are showing as losing money, but logging on to the Zurich pensions portal shows that they are both up