A quick pension question if I have a defined benefit pension and a SIPP. My understanding is the yearly amount to be paid by the defined benefit pension will be multiplied by 20 to calculate towards the lifetime allowance. If that was £400k and I had £400k in the SIPP could I tax the entire tax free sum of £200k from the SIPP and keep the full defined benefit pension?
Thanks for any advice
Golfie is probably your man, but yes you certainly used to be able to do that, but worth checking that nothing has changed rules wise as I haven't looked into that for some years and may depend on the type of DB scheme as to if any is protected etc.
Thanks Rob7Lee i have a little way to go. I was thinking of looking to exit the defined scheme if I was allowed to by FCA (I think it’s them happy to be corrected if not) but most advice is not too. There are pro’s and cons I am looking at all options.
just know I won’t be investing in shares with my track record anything I touched turned to rubbish,RBS, Telewest and the Just Group come to mind.
Many have exited DB schemes, me being one back in 2014 and so far it's done very well for me doing so but helped by the high multiplier Barclays were paying to release you/them at that time. But you'd certainly need to take advice as it's not right for everyone plus there is a cost for a report etc. There's no harm in getting a transfer value from the scheme and then talking to an advisor so you know what's what.
Buying individual shares is risky, better sticking to funds, ETF's etc.
Just got my numbers from Barclays as well. Wish I had done it sooner, but determined now to retire this year.
A quick pension question if I have a defined benefit pension and a SIPP. My understanding is the yearly amount to be paid by the defined benefit pension will be multiplied by 20 to calculate towards the lifetime allowance. If that was £400k and I had £400k in the SIPP could I tax the entire tax free sum of £200k from the SIPP and keep the full defined benefit pension?
Thanks for any advice
Sorry, bit late to the party on this one but I'll try to answer the best I can.
Firstly your DB scheme. If you take pension benefits from the Scheme then at the point of taking them (known as a crystallisation benefit event) the annual income is multiplied by 20 for LTA purposes. If there is any tax free lump sum taken at the same time then that is factored in too. So, £20k pa = £400k. If say there was a £60k lump sum then total figure for LTA purposes would be £460k. This is then calculated in percentage terms against the LTA. So £460k / £1080000 (approx figure of LTA) is 42.5%. This means you have 57.5% of the LTA remaining to be used against your SIPP. As mention above though, any Transfer value is likely to be much higher than the 20x figure and so you definitely need this figure before even contemplating what to do.
Onto your Sipp. When you come to take benefits from this it will then be subject to another LTA check &(assuming nothing has changed to LTA limits) you can crystalise the remaining 57.5% without any excess tax charge.
However.
The tax free element from your SIPP is limited to 25% of the value of your SIPP and not 25% of your LTA.
However (part 2)
The 25% tax free element IS limited to 25% of the LTA when taking benefits from a DB scheme. I have clients with DB schemes that when calculated are in excess of the LTA. Even though they can comutate income for a larger lump sum they cant take more than £270k (£1,080,000 x25%) as a TOTAL lump sum regardless of where its coming from. I have a few clients who have private pensions of £200k + that they cant access the tax free element without incurring a 55% tax charge as they have already taken their DB schemes & are over the LTA.
I would advise ANYONE who has DB schemes & private pensions that look like they will be approaching the LTA to take advice well before they start thinking about taking any benefits from either schemes as timing could well be key in making sure you can access as much tax free cash as possible.
Came on here to say that it's the third day in a row the FTSE100 has gone up. Now above 6900 & up almost 3% on the week. Also been a bounce in US funds & BG funds starting to rise again.
Came on here to say that it's the third day in a row the FTSE100 has gone up. Now above 6900 & up almost 3% on the week. Also been a bounce in US funds & BG funds starting to rise again.
All looking good, my SIPP's at an all time high again!
Got some absolute shocking shares in my sipp, my Dad has always done the dealing for my brother and me but his health has gone downhill massively in last couple of years and now dementia is setting in so I am now looking taking it over, due to going through a divorce which was finalised last August never really thought much about it, however I haven't the time to to buy and sell individual shares and also due to the fact there really is fuck all in the sipp, I have transferred the ones that were in profit or had a little loss to AJ Bell growth fund, however I have a couple of stocks showing a loss of about a grand each Lloyds and Icap, but some also horror's Costain down about £5k and Esken down about £2k, and when you only have about £38k in there that is a massive loss, really after some advice due to the fact they are that much down, should I let them ride or take the hit, also I bought some Walmart shares the day I took it over , about £2k and they have gone up 7% in about a month , but wondering whether to flog them and put them in the fund and just let someone else do all the investing for me now. I know this is a small amount but my ex worked for Asada so we took the sharesave every year and were accumalating a tidy amount which was basically a retitement fund until she couldn't keep her knickers on.
Got some absolute shocking shares in my sipp, my Dad has always done the dealing for my brother and me but his health has gone downhill massively in last couple of years and now dementia is setting in so I am now looking taking it over, due to going through a divorce which was finalised last August never really thought much about it, however I haven't the time to to buy and sell individual shares and also due to the fact there really is fuck all in the sipp, I have transferred the ones that were in profit or had a little loss to AJ Bell growth fund, however I have a couple of stocks showing a loss of about a grand each Lloyds and Icap, but some also horror's Costain down about £5k and Esken down about £2k, and when you only have about £38k in there that is a massive loss, really after some advice due to the fact they are that much down, should I let them ride or take the hit, also I bought some Walmart shares the day I took it over , about £2k and they have gone up 7% in about a month , but wondering whether to flog them and put them in the fund and just let someone else do all the investing for me now. I know this is a small amount but my ex worked for Asada so we took the sharesave every year and were accumalating a tidy amount which was basically a retitement fund until she couldn't keep her knickers on.
If you have no experience or inclination of share trading then my advice (as an IFA) is to just get rid of them all & put the money into a decent balanced managed fund. Yes, you might lose on a few but this could be made up by the gains made in the managed fund. Also, who's to say the shares won't fall further & the losses get bigger. Waiting for individual shares to go back to what you paid for them is a mugs game......unless you know what you are doing.
Consolidate now & move on. Once done you might want to take advice on the new fund (or funds) - but that is a conversation for another time.
Ps. Are you sure it's a Pension & not an ISA or a general investment account ?
Got some absolute shocking shares in my sipp, my Dad has always done the dealing for my brother and me but his health has gone downhill massively in last couple of years and now dementia is setting in so I am now looking taking it over, due to going through a divorce which was finalised last August never really thought much about it, however I haven't the time to to buy and sell individual shares and also due to the fact there really is fuck all in the sipp, I have transferred the ones that were in profit or had a little loss to AJ Bell growth fund, however I have a couple of stocks showing a loss of about a grand each Lloyds and Icap, but some also horror's Costain down about £5k and Esken down about £2k, and when you only have about £38k in there that is a massive loss, really after some advice due to the fact they are that much down, should I let them ride or take the hit, also I bought some Walmart shares the day I took it over , about £2k and they have gone up 7% in about a month , but wondering whether to flog them and put them in the fund and just let someone else do all the investing for me now. I know this is a small amount but my ex worked for Asada so we took the sharesave every year and were accumalating a tidy amount which was basically a retitement fund until she couldn't keep her knickers on.
Agree with Golfie, get rid of those two and put them in a decent fund or two.
Re Walmart and buying shares in general. It's really not worth buying individual shares in just a couple of £k. What dealing fee's are you paying? It's likely it's costing you 1.5% of the value to buy and sell them so you pretty much need a 2% swing upwards to break even.
Got some absolute shocking shares in my sipp, my Dad has always done the dealing for my brother and me but his health has gone downhill massively in last couple of years and now dementia is setting in so I am now looking taking it over, due to going through a divorce which was finalised last August never really thought much about it, however I haven't the time to to buy and sell individual shares and also due to the fact there really is fuck all in the sipp, I have transferred the ones that were in profit or had a little loss to AJ Bell growth fund, however I have a couple of stocks showing a loss of about a grand each Lloyds and Icap, but some also horror's Costain down about £5k and Esken down about £2k, and when you only have about £38k in there that is a massive loss, really after some advice due to the fact they are that much down, should I let them ride or take the hit, also I bought some Walmart shares the day I took it over , about £2k and they have gone up 7% in about a month , but wondering whether to flog them and put them in the fund and just let someone else do all the investing for me now. I know this is a small amount but my ex worked for Asada so we took the sharesave every year and were accumalating a tidy amount which was basically a retitement fund until she couldn't keep her knickers on.
Agree with Golfie, get rid of those two and put them in a decent fund or two.
Re Walmart and buying shares in general. It's really not worth buying individual shares in just a couple of £k. What dealing fee's are you paying? It's likely it's costing you 1.5% of the value to buy and sell them so you pretty much need a 2% swing upwards to break even.
What I was wondering though was am I going to make back £7k by adding £2300k back into a fund, Esken was previously Stobart and seem to own regional airports obviously the last year has hit them hard and was wondering once restirctions are lifted whether this would have a much more positive effect of price, again Costain share price fell 75% in one day last year, seems they have had a major restructure.
Got some absolute shocking shares in my sipp, my Dad has always done the dealing for my brother and me but his health has gone downhill massively in last couple of years and now dementia is setting in so I am now looking taking it over, due to going through a divorce which was finalised last August never really thought much about it, however I haven't the time to to buy and sell individual shares and also due to the fact there really is fuck all in the sipp, I have transferred the ones that were in profit or had a little loss to AJ Bell growth fund, however I have a couple of stocks showing a loss of about a grand each Lloyds and Icap, but some also horror's Costain down about £5k and Esken down about £2k, and when you only have about £38k in there that is a massive loss, really after some advice due to the fact they are that much down, should I let them ride or take the hit, also I bought some Walmart shares the day I took it over , about £2k and they have gone up 7% in about a month , but wondering whether to flog them and put them in the fund and just let someone else do all the investing for me now. I know this is a small amount but my ex worked for Asada so we took the sharesave every year and were accumalating a tidy amount which was basically a retitement fund until she couldn't keep her knickers on.
If you have no experience or inclination of share trading then my advice (as an IFA) is to just get rid of them all & put the money into a decent balanced managed fund. Yes, you might lose on a few but this could be made up by the gains made in the managed fund. Also, who's to say the shares won't fall further & the losses get bigger. Waiting for individual shares to go back to what you paid for them is a mugs game......unless you know what you are doing.
Consolidate now & move on. Once done you might want to take advice on the new fund (or funds) - but that is a conversation for another time.
Ps. Are you sure it's a Pension & not an ISA or a general investment account ?
Deffo a sipp golfie, I have a scottish widows stocks and share isa that had for about 18 years now, just putting £60 a month into.Although stopped for a year whilst divorce was going through.
Got some absolute shocking shares in my sipp, my Dad has always done the dealing for my brother and me but his health has gone downhill massively in last couple of years and now dementia is setting in so I am now looking taking it over, due to going through a divorce which was finalised last August never really thought much about it, however I haven't the time to to buy and sell individual shares and also due to the fact there really is fuck all in the sipp, I have transferred the ones that were in profit or had a little loss to AJ Bell growth fund, however I have a couple of stocks showing a loss of about a grand each Lloyds and Icap, but some also horror's Costain down about £5k and Esken down about £2k, and when you only have about £38k in there that is a massive loss, really after some advice due to the fact they are that much down, should I let them ride or take the hit, also I bought some Walmart shares the day I took it over , about £2k and they have gone up 7% in about a month , but wondering whether to flog them and put them in the fund and just let someone else do all the investing for me now. I know this is a small amount but my ex worked for Asada so we took the sharesave every year and were accumalating a tidy amount which was basically a retitement fund until she couldn't keep her knickers on.
Agree with Golfie, get rid of those two and put them in a decent fund or two.
Re Walmart and buying shares in general. It's really not worth buying individual shares in just a couple of £k. What dealing fee's are you paying? It's likely it's costing you 1.5% of the value to buy and sell them so you pretty much need a 2% swing upwards to break even.
What I was wondering though was am I going to make back £7k by adding £2300k back into a fund, Esken was previously Stobart and seem to own regional airports obviously the last year has hit them hard and was wondering once restirctions are lifted whether this would have a much more positive effect of price, again Costain share price fell 75% in one day last year, seems they have had a major restructure.
That is the problem with owning individual shares - the chance of big gains but also big losses. You could hold onto those shares for years without ever getting all you money back. In all reality if you held them for a couple more years you'd probably get back 70%-80% but there is no guarantee. What I can guarantee though is that by taking the hit now the money will be invested in a more balanced fund that has the potential for better & more consistent growth - without the big ups & downs that owning individual shares gives you.
My staged sell off of holdings in the two tech funds worked a treat last week, but the question then is, as always, what to do with the cash? Given my age I am generally looking to reduce risk. my natural default option is stick it in Vanguatd Life Strategy, but I'd be interested in other options for a fairly solid low risk (compared with tech focused) fund.
My staged sell off of holdings in the two tech funds worked a treat last week, but the question then is, as always, what to do with the cash? Given my age I am generally looking to reduce risk. my natural default option is stick it in Vanguatd Life Strategy, but I'd be interested in other options for a fairly solid low risk (compared with tech focused) fund.
Surely you can do better than a Vanguard Life Strategy fund. Plenty of multi-asset funds knocking about in the Mixed Investment sectors.
My staged sell off of holdings in the two tech funds worked a treat last week, but the question then is, as always, what to do with the cash? Given my age I am generally looking to reduce risk. my natural default option is stick it in Vanguatd Life Strategy, but I'd be interested in other options for a fairly solid low risk (compared with tech focused) fund.
Define low risk? Personally one (or more than one) of the lifestyle funds you could do worse, but not really sure what else you have or when you wish to draw etc.
I use the lifestyle funds, predominantly as a holding place for shortish periods.
My staged sell off of holdings in the two tech funds worked a treat last week, but the question then is, as always, what to do with the cash? Given my age I am generally looking to reduce risk. my natural default option is stick it in Vanguatd Life Strategy, but I'd be interested in other options for a fairly solid low risk (compared with tech focused) fund.
Define low risk? Personally one (or more than one) of the lifestyle funds you could do worse, but not really sure what else you have or when you wish to draw etc.
I use the lifestyle funds, predominantly as a holding place for shortish periods.
Well, I had the tech funds in both SIPP and regular portfolio, so the *low risk* requirement is more for the SIPP. I just checked and Vanguard Life Stratgey 20% and 40% account for 31% of my SIPP, and currently cash accounts for another 17%. Although I am now 67, I don't currently see the need to do anything with the SIPP for a couple of years. So I could look for some reasonable growth, but a lot less volatility than the two tech funds.
Outside the SIPP, I wonder what general sectors/themes people fancy now, if tech is considered to be a bit "toppy"? I'm not sure I buy the "UK is undervalued" story, although I did buy a Vanguard FTSE250 ETF, denominated in euros in my Degiro account, and it has done quite well so far. I've also done very well so far buying funds in the "Sustainable" sector although some of their holdings leave me feeling a bit cynical about it. I have nothing Asia-Pacific focused, and only a bit of a Japanese fund, in the SIPP. As for the US I just have a tracker fund, in both portfolios - I didn't fancy investing specifically there while Trump was in office.
My staged sell off of holdings in the two tech funds worked a treat last week, but the question then is, as always, what to do with the cash? Given my age I am generally looking to reduce risk. my natural default option is stick it in Vanguatd Life Strategy, but I'd be interested in other options for a fairly solid low risk (compared with tech focused) fund.
Define low risk? Personally one (or more than one) of the lifestyle funds you could do worse, but not really sure what else you have or when you wish to draw etc.
I use the lifestyle funds, predominantly as a holding place for shortish periods.
Well, I had the tech funds in both SIPP and regular portfolio, so the *low risk* requirement is more for the SIPP. I just checked and Vanguard Life Stratgey 20% and 40% account for 31% of my SIPP, and currently cash accounts for another 17%. Although I am now 67, I don't currently see the need to do anything with the SIPP for a couple of years. So I could look for some reasonable growth, but a lot less volatility than the two tech funds.
Outside the SIPP, I wonder what general sectors/themes people fancy now, if tech is considered to be a bit "toppy"? I'm not sure I buy the "UK is undervalued" story, although I did buy a Vanguard FTSE250 ETF, denominated in euros in my Degiro account, and it has done quite well so far. I've also done very well so far buying funds in the "Sustainable" sector although some of their holdings leave me feeling a bit cynical about it. I have nothing Asia-Pacific focused, and only a bit of a Japanese fund, in the SIPP. As for the US I just have a tracker fund, in both portfolios - I didn't fancy investing specifically there while Trump was in office.
The UK is definitely "undervalued". A webinar I attended this afternoon had UK equities at 56% of its 15 year high. All other global markets were above 90%, with Europe & Japan the next lowest at 92%. The US is of course at 100%.
The consensus is still to invest in China & to a lesser degree other Asian economies as well as emerging markets. My thoughts, in a 60/40 portfolio, is to have around 22% UK, 18% US, 8% Europe & the remaining 12% split between China, Japan & emerging markets.
In the UK I'd go for small and mid-cap and again the consensus is to look at value over growth stocks. My favourites at the moment are Artemis UK select, Octopus Micro cap and if you can stomach the 5% charge any of the Premier Miton UK funds.
State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
The NatWest scheme would have seen you contracted out for that period.
State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.
After you stop working, I believe you can make voluntary class 3 contributions to bring you up to the full pension.
You'll should only need an extra year's worth of contributions to get you there. No idea whether this would be worthwhile though!
State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
The NatWest scheme would have seen you contracted out for that period.
State Pension query: Despite having 38 ‘Full Years’ of NI contributions and no gaps, why is it that the forecast says I need to pay in for another 4 years to achieve the maximum state pension, currently £179.60? It says I currently would get £159 which is a significant reduction over a year/retirement lifetime. That would mean I will have paid in for 42 full years against the requirement to pay in for 30 full years. I checked my NHS payslip and that even confirms my NI Contribution code as ‘A’ which means I am not contracted out. Prior to joining the NHS, I worked for Natwest for 18 years solid and was part of their non-contributory pension scheme.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
NatWest was almost certainly Final Salary and DB scheme hence they would have contracted you out. You have to have full number of years contracted in, to get max pension.
An even fuller answer. The basic state pension is based on "contracted in" service. By being in an DB scheme your employers have "guaranteed" a certain level of pension income & thus you are "contracted out" of part of the state pension. The lines have been blurred due to the change in the state pension & it now being "all compassing" - whereas in years gone past it was split between "basic" " contracted in" & even "graduated". Remember SERPS & contracting out.
Comments
Firstly your DB scheme. If you take pension benefits from the Scheme then at the point of taking them (known as a crystallisation benefit event) the annual income is multiplied by 20 for LTA purposes. If there is any tax free lump sum taken at the same time then that is factored in too. So, £20k pa = £400k. If say there was a £60k lump sum then total figure for LTA purposes would be £460k. This is then calculated in percentage terms against the LTA. So £460k / £1080000 (approx figure of LTA) is 42.5%. This means you have 57.5% of the LTA remaining to be used against your SIPP. As mention above though, any Transfer value is likely to be much higher than the 20x figure and so you definitely need this figure before even contemplating what to do.
Onto your Sipp. When you come to take benefits from this it will then be subject to another LTA check &(assuming nothing has changed to LTA limits) you can crystalise the remaining 57.5% without any excess tax charge.
However.
The tax free element from your SIPP is limited to 25% of the value of your SIPP and not 25% of your LTA.
However (part 2)
The 25% tax free element IS limited to 25% of the LTA when taking benefits from a DB scheme. I have clients with DB schemes that when calculated are in excess of the LTA. Even though they can comutate income for a larger lump sum they cant take more than £270k (£1,080,000 x25%) as a TOTAL lump sum regardless of where its coming from. I have a few clients who have private pensions of £200k + that they cant access the tax free element without incurring a 55% tax charge as they have already taken their DB schemes & are over the LTA.
I would advise ANYONE who has DB schemes & private pensions that look like they will be approaching the LTA to take advice well before they start thinking about taking any benefits from either schemes as timing could well be key in making sure you can access as much tax free cash as possible.
At this rate of growth and with the cash I have invested I think I'll be able to retire in 2095.
Consolidate now & move on. Once done you might want to take advice on the new fund (or funds) - but that is a conversation for another time.
Ps. Are you sure it's a Pension & not an ISA or a general investment account ?
Re Walmart and buying shares in general. It's really not worth buying individual shares in just a couple of £k. What dealing fee's are you paying? It's likely it's costing you 1.5% of the value to buy and sell them so you pretty much need a 2% swing upwards to break even.
Obviously I haven't, probably due to losing 2 working days for easter.
What I was wondering though was am I going to make back £7k by adding £2300k back into a fund, Esken was previously Stobart and seem to own regional airports obviously the last year has hit them hard and was wondering once restirctions are lifted whether this would have a much more positive effect of price, again Costain share price fell 75% in one day last year, seems they have had a major restructure.
Deffo a sipp golfie, I have a scottish widows stocks and share isa that had for about 18 years now, just putting £60 a month into.Although stopped for a year whilst divorce was going through.
I use the lifestyle funds, predominantly as a holding place for shortish periods.
Outside the SIPP, I wonder what general sectors/themes people fancy now, if tech is considered to be a bit "toppy"? I'm not sure I buy the "UK is undervalued" story, although I did buy a Vanguard FTSE250 ETF, denominated in euros in my Degiro account, and it has done quite well so far. I've also done very well so far buying funds in the "Sustainable" sector although some of their holdings leave me feeling a bit cynical about it. I have nothing Asia-Pacific focused, and only a bit of a Japanese fund, in the SIPP. As for the US I just have a tracker fund, in both portfolios - I didn't fancy investing specifically there while Trump was in office.
The consensus is still to invest in China & to a lesser degree other Asian economies as well as emerging markets. My thoughts, in a 60/40 portfolio, is to have around 22% UK, 18% US, 8% Europe & the remaining 12% split between China, Japan & emerging markets.
In the UK I'd go for small and mid-cap and again the consensus is to look at value over growth stocks. My favourites at the moment are Artemis UK select, Octopus Micro cap and if you can stomach the 5% charge any of the Premier Miton UK funds.
Bit worrying as I plan to retire in just over 3 years time at the age of 58.
I phoned the Government Pensions department who aren’t willing to talk to me about it because I am not close enough to retirement.
Help? Reassurance? Any similar experience of this anyone? Suggested solution? Does it sound right to you?
Ring them again and insist, because that is the only way you will get the answer.