MyPension... knew I shouldn't have looked

[Sunsetboater]

Yep, couldn't bloody well help myself could I 😩... just checked and my personal pension has lost almost £7k since January. 😭

We were planning on drawing down the 25% tax free in 18 months and retiring early but that dream gone up in smoke now. 😭😭😭

How much is the percentage?

I'm not saying it's not concerning; but £7k relative to what size pot?

Pot as at 01/01/2020 was £66,400 so over 10% lost. I'm 57 and MDH similar age and pot size. His loss not as great as mine and I understand there's time for it to bounce back but it's scuppered our early retirement plans 😢.

Do you have any other pension provision?

Nope, got savings of about £26k from an inheritance. No mortgage or debt and own my own narrowboat.

Have been out for a nice walk with my dog and realised it's only money... It'll probably bounce back even but some people have lost so much more during this pandemic.

Lots of us in the same boat. Take a long view - it will probably bounce back eventually. And you’re still here on course to enjoy it. That’s a bonus.

My DH’s pension went down about £80k in two weeks at the beginning of March, £130k to about £50k! We are late 40s but we’re hoping to retire at 55. We do have other investments, and hoping this will recover over the years, but it’s a lot to get back. It’s just a terrible shock to the market, hopefully will recover.

@youandmeandmeandyou Wow, that's a big hit. I bet it'll mean a lot of folks have to put their retirement plans on hold. Just hope they don't raise the retirement age again... I'm knackered now at 56!

Yes it’s pretty bad, crap shares as well as a global pandemic! And yes bad for people who don’t have much time to wait before they’d need it. Fortunately we do have other investments, and we are healthy, so it could be worse.

Just checked mine and they are back up a bit already.

Without trying to destroy your plans, not sure you could have retired on a pension pot of £66k either at the age of 57.

I would sit tight and re assess in a year.

regrettably I agree that 66k is nowhere near enough to retire at 57, especially if you are going to reduce it by a further 25%. What are your plans?

I always knew it was questionable but our plans our pretty flexible. I forgot to mention that we also have a small flat that we rent out which brings in £450 pcm. We've been practicing retirement for last 3 years by working 6 months through the winter so we can go travelling during the summer months. We're also still contributing to our pensions monthly. We can live pretty frugally so so far so good.

As I said plan was to look at drawing down both our pensions in 18 months and continue cruising around UK waterways full time until either money runs out (in which case we'd go back to work) or we make it through to 67 and state retirement kicks in... By that time we'll probably too old and knackered to need much anyway.

@Meandyouandyouandme - blimey? That's an incredible loss... are you sure?

My pot was £142k early March. It went down to £117k and is now up to £130k. It's linked to my banking app so I see it daily.

OP - it will recover, just might take a little while.

@NoSoapAndGory, sadly yes, gone down even more now, just looked it’s about £35k now at one point it was going down £5k a day!

That's really terrible
Is it a high risk fund?

Don't be disheartened. I agree it's really hard to see that happen however it doesn't necessarily mean your retirement plans are scuppered. The markets will probably recover - we just don't know the timescales. You potentially already have enough time for your pension to recover its value and the other positive is it sounds like you have the time (and the health) to delay your retirement plans slightly if you need extra time for your pensions to recover. The people who are in really dire straits are the people who have to take their personal pension now. The other thing I would say is have you considered getting financial advice about your retirement plans / finances? I don't mean this negatively but things seem pretty tight to me.

@NoSoapAndGory not really sure, my DH manages it himself buying and selling shares, it had gone up loads, and was doing really well. Then he stopped bothering as much and wasn’t watching the market, and they’ve nose dived. He said there was a profit warning on some of the shares, obviously it wasn’t lying

I'm 60 and retired at 58.
I am bracing myself to look online at my investments. I know its going to be grim.

Oh dear, regretting clicking this thread because it made me look too. Mine crashed a fair bit in March but has recovered slightly in April. Still a way to go before it is back to December 2019 level though :-(

Sounds like he’s wasn’t diversified enough Mean.

Even if you did your plan in 18 mths
After you’ve cruised around etc, if you fell on hard times you could sell the flat ? Plus you’ve got extra 26k saving

You could always rent your house out short term for extra money if pushed?

Enjoy you life now, live for today. Nobody knows what’s round the corner.!!
You could be saying to yourself wish we’d off done that now

Just think, there may be a chance we don’t even reach our state pension age!!

I took a bigger lump sum from my pension and smaller monthly pension
Enjoy it whilst I’m here, I’ve work for it

Why is he managing it himself, he's essentially playing the stock market if he's self managing, and it's with your retirement money, not extra cash - that's quite scary so close to your intended retirement age. Why is he doing that? Does he work in finance? I assume not based on the pot and attitude towards risk (most people's bog standard pensions reduce exposure to risky investments a few years before retirement age to avoid this exact scenario - significant losses without time to regain).

Sorry but it sounds like he's basically gambling with retirement cash here, I would be livid personally. And to future readers, if you are an enthusiastic ameteur either experiment with less important cash, or learn to invest per your risk appetite properly.

I'm constantly a bit flabbergasted that people try and do this stuff themselves so poorly, it's akin to someone saying they're drilling their own teeth and filler instead of visiting a dentist

Mine dropped at one point 20% but I have an above average risk strategy and I don't plan on drawing it down for sometime so hopefully it will bounce back. I also try and remind myself that any current investments will fingers crossed be buying low.