DH retiring in 5 years, pension falling down

[Sunrisingsunsetting]

Posting to get advice. Not sure if there is anything DH can do about it? His pension has dropped 50k with the market uncertainty Trump is creating

Mine is probably dropping too but it is small and I got longer to retire.

DH is 59 and I am 52.

I'm already in drawdown for mine and I'm just not going to look at it for 6 months; my pension funds have ridden out the crashes of the Dotcom bubble, 2008 and covid. It will balance back up again.

Pensions are a long term investment. The market will always recover. Markets have dropped 10% with Trump but dropped 30% during Covid. It always recovers! 5 years is long enough for his pension to recover.

We are in the same position and we are already retired. Pensions will always go up and down and just make sure before you retire you have leeway.
I know people love to do this but I am very against early retirement. Working beyond our retirement age has had a really good effect on our pensions and investments.

Similar situation but between us (DH and I) we are down circa £200k. Upside is that’s because our pot was significant to start with.

We have got a few years to go so are just sitting it out and hope the markets settle down.

Worst case we might push retirement back a few years but it’s not something we are thinking about right now.

If it makes you feel better mine is down 122K - it was £150K yesterday but it's rallied a bit overnight.

'FREE MONEY'

Yep - that's the only thing that got through to me in my happy twice-yearly chats with my Financial Advisor. So I paid the top-up bit for my state pension and will get the first installment this month. Now I just have to survive long enough to maximise the free money. Certainly I daren't look at my minute private pensions right now. Good luck, all.

Similar to my investments. I'm not looking. Have been through 2008 and 2020. I'd just given money to both my children as things were doing well. Glad I got it out before the crash. Daughter now investing hers whilst things are down

I know people love to do this but I am very against early retirement. Working beyond our retirement age has had a really good effect on our pensions and investments.

Well it's not exactly rocket science that contributing for longer, starting to draw later and leaving investments for longer would result in a positive effect on your pensions and investments.
For most people (me included) the decision to retire early is about much, much more than 'could I get a bigger pension pot', it's about every other aspect of life. I have plenty to live on now, why continue to work?

There’s really just no way to call it, in all likelihood 5 years will allow time to recover somewhat, but equally that’s not guaranteed.

Unless you’re retiring and cashing in on the next 12 months i wouldn’t worry too much. We are in exactly the same position except we took the opportunity this morning to actually buy shares, thought it might work out! If it doesn’t I’ll be working longer!

It is likley that this is all short term.

It is 5 years away, but he ought to consider he should be moving from higher risk assets to lower risk as he approaches retirement (probably not right now).

Not wishing to derail your thread OP but can I ask all those people who are advising moving to lower risk assets as you approach retirement - is that advice still correct if you are going to drawdown your fund rather than buy an annuity?

I am 56 and hoping to retire in the next 8-10 years but will move my fund to drawdown rather than buy an annuity so had assumed I would still need to bear an element of risk to maximise growth over time. Is this not correct?

Agree; it is not just about the money but having more time to do other things and not just be tight to 5 weeks annual leave.

My DC scheme has also fallen by around 100k in the last week or so which equates to about 15%. I’m not in the slightest bit bothered as investments are a long term game. I intend to pay in even more now that prices are low and will continue to do so until the market recovers.

Well, look at that OP. Trump has announced a 90 day pause on most tariffs and markets are bouncing back already.

I'm not a professional but I have been a pension trustee for many years (seen 5 crashes) and this is very sound advice. Don't lock in the losses by selling, the market will eventually recover, your DH has 5 years.

My brother is in similar position and was panicking. Our investments have also dropped significantly. I would advise you not to look and continue with current strategy. He still has 5 years and most markets correct well within that period. Holding a decent cash fund is advisable so you do not have to access the pension while this period of volatility is ongoing.

Your DH pension will hopefully have to last him another 20 to 30 years and there are likely to be several dips/crashes during that time period.

@Sunrisingsunsetting , we are also with RL and have seen around 60k losses over the last 2 weeks( medium risk strategy). We saw similar with the Liz Truss debacle and more with start of Ukraine war and Covid . They all recovered. It's definitely not the time to reduce risk or pay in less or your pot recovery will be slower. You have 5 years which is a significant amount of time . I would advise you not to look, but I am failing to take my own advice on that one ! .

really? Haven’t looked at the news lately

Unless he is going for an annuity, he has much longer to keep the money invested for. I just take out what I need each month, and leave the rest invested.

Yes. Now apparently it's a pause so everything could/will change again, but for the last hour or so, things have been looking up.

Well it is about money for you because you are the one worried about your investments. Before we retired my husband and I worked for ourselves. We were not limited to annual leave. It also allowed us to slowly retire. Long holidays are also expensive.

Well you’ve got 5 years for it to go up again. Imagine you are one of the people retiring this week.

I am similar @ £117k . I retired last year and am not panicking, markets recover .