Why is everyone worried about mortgages but no one worried about pensions?

[Icanstillrecallourlastsummer]

There's numerous threads with people wanting to pay thousands to get out of their mortgages, but noone seems concerned that pension funds are (or were, before urgent intervention from the BoE) on the brink of collapse as result of the mini-budget.

Anyone urgently cashing in on their pensions?

My DH is very worried about his pension. In his words last night "it has absolutely tanked". He hoped to retire in two years time but is now resigning himself to working longer.

Pensions go up and down - that is the nature of them. You have to take a longer term view on them. They will go up again.

Because for those of us in our 20s/30s we will be working til our 70s :) it's the definition of a 'tomorrow' problem.

Yes, the obvious answer is now vs future. But it's worrying isn't it, that people don't prioritise their pensions generally? We may be concerned now about our immediate finance because they are most pressing, and pensions seems far away, but with an aging population, and dilution of state pension, I do wonder what's going to happen in years to come.

Personally, I am dismayed by the news. I have prioritised my pension the last couple of years (despite being fairly young) to ensure I am not left high and dry in my late 60s, and it's worrying that all the investment could disappear.

I suspect if they're like me, we can only worry about so much shit at once tbh. I feel like I'll be lucky to make it to pension age, if Putin has anything to say about it.

Honestly everything is going to hell at the moment.

But you aren't wrong, OP. It's a legitimate worry.

for many with mortgages pensions are decades away & a lot of them are rubbish

It's still our money though and if they're fucking things up for it we should be worried. Not to mention angry. It's our fucking money!

Yep the same as this. I’m worrying about so many things if I add another one something else has to drop off.

I have a very small pension of just over £20k I use for drawdown, I have already taken the tax free sum out of it and it has lost about 10% in the last month, fortunately my main pension is final salary which I am taking so that's ok but I did mention to DH just this morning how bad the pension was and how worrying for people whose main pension was dropping like mine at the moment

If you remember the equitable life scandal - i think a lot of who had family members affected by it always felt a bit like a pension wasnt guaranteed anyway. Also people seemed to be affected by retiring during a rubbish moment in the markets. My FIL pension was worth more about 3 years before he retired as he thought he might retire early, but he worked one and then drew his retirement at a low point.

I dont know any better ways to save for retirement though.

Pension funds were about to collapse today!

I have no pension. So there’s nothing to worry about. I made peace with being skint in my old age a long time ago.

Pensions are a long term investment so by the time I retire this period of uncertainty should have gone. In the long term equity investments should increase - which most of my pension is currently as I am far from retirement.

The only people potentially concerned should be those approaching retirement and looking to retire in the next year maybe. Although with the market so volatile at the moment it would be hard to tell when to cash in.

People May have some of their pension invested in non-sterling assets so these are probably doing quite well atm.

Yes exactly.

If public spending continues the way it is, under the type of government we have state pensions will be non-existant in a couple of decades.

It's not that I want to add to people's plates of worry, but this is an awful direct consequence of the government's actions. And it's going completely unnoticed because it's part of a huge shit show that they are creating. I guess it just annoys me that they aren't being picked up on something that will cost people thousands of hard earned pounds.

I don't think anyone (certainly in HE, my sector) has any faith in having a liveable pension by retirement age (whatever the hell that will be when my time comes). I throw the minimum money in every month more in hope than expectation. Whereas to those with mortgages that is a clear and present danger RIGHT NOW. I think that explains the weight being given to each issue.

Your private pension, if genuinely a pension not just money you are investing for your retirement, should also be secure. In that it can't go bust.

Obvs if invested it can lose value but lots (most?) should be invested in whole world funds, ie not overly exposed to the UK market so will move based on what's happening round the world not just here.

My investments have dropped a fair amount. Its not nice but it should come back.

I don't know what you're talking about? I don't think there is any large issue with pensions. Yes markets are a bit down at the minute, but not exceptionally so, by historical standards.

I am taking my pension from funds I manage. Today my balance is down 15% from the all-time peak balance. During Covid it was temporarily down much more than that, and during the 2008 crisis I was down 60% at one point. I recovered from both previous declines, in fact I made out like a bandit from my trading during the covid crash, and my retirement income is currently up 25% up on what I expected it to be where I first retired back in 2019.

I work in pensions and I don’t really understand this story - most (defined benefit) schemes that I advise have seen their funding levels improve as gilt yields have been driven up, making it more realistic for the fund to secure benefits with an insurer (the ultimate prize for DB schemes). There has been no panic as far as I can tell, no talk of imminent “collapse”.

My own defined contribution pension has dramatically fallen in value, but I’m at least 15 years from retirement so am just riding the wave like I have down for the last 20 years.

My 25% figure is wrong, the correct figure is much higher...

@DawkinsOldSpot yes ofc in the long term ... But, the current round of disruptions started at the beginning of the pandemic - that's when mine lost value. It's been up and down since then (down rn obviously) , really for over three years. There's probably only been a few months when it gained proper ground. Retiring and accessing pension isn't something that you do spur of the moment - you need things in place, often practical things. Anyone in 2020 looking to retire within four years should have been worried, it turns out. It's a lot of uncertainty for a lot of people.

The issue is liquidity - massive immediate collateral calls on LDI investments requiring quick sales of other assets just as those asset prices were reducing. In particular long dated gilts, which the BoE is now committed to buying.

The news is reporting that pension funds were on the verge of collapse, and only saved by the BoE's emergnecy action.

1/49 now for CARE pensions with LGPS. 1/80 was pre-2008. Then it was 1/60 from 2008 to 2014.

I can read all of those words, and even know what they mean - but I still don’t really understand (but I’m just a lawyer!). They’re talking about it on Radio 4 now, saying the same thing as you.

Truss/Kwarteng really have fucked the country, haven’t they?

Anyone looking to retire from 2019 to around now would hopefully not be invested solely in equity! And be invested in more stable assets such a gilts or they may even be hedged against interest and inflation rate changes if they’re super savvy.

Also if someone was looking at drawdown at retirement then their equity investments would still have time to recover.

When I talk about my retirement I mean in 30 years. So for me personally I’m not worried about the impact this will have on my pension.