Gyroscopic Investing

I have already setup my PP funded by my spare income but I now want to move onto phase 2 but I have a problem.

Phase 2 aims to allocate the money held in my works pensions (1 with Fidelity, 1 with Scottish Widows) to the closest match I can get for PP. The problem I have is its almost impossible to get a match with the funds available to me, Gold is usually the one not covered, any ideas. I can post up the available funds if that helps answer the question.

Anyone else face this problem or could help?

Just do the best you can with the options available to you. Turn it into a 50/50 Boglehead-style portfolio if you can, and make use of any especially good pension-ish options you have. For example, if you have access to some kind of government guaranteed "stable value" fund that pays you 3% on your cash within the pension, jump on that (assuming you have reasonable faith in the UK government).

Mase, can you tell us a little about yourself? Are you young or nearing retirement age? Are you looking for financial stability or for growth in your investments?

If you're like most of us, your workplace retirement plan is large compared to your after-tax savings.  It's very difficult to incorporate the workplace plan into the PP in this situation.  Several of us have tried and given up.

I second the suggestion to implement a straightforward passive investment allocation that minimizes fees.  There are several good lazy portfolio options spelled out in the Boglehead wiki.

Mid 30s, deep down I know these pensions are rigged to take away as much commission from my pot as possible but it's in 5% salary match and higher rate tax advantages. It's a small pot now but I'm not rich (yet).

There are very similar equity options and also long term bonds. There is a cash fund but nothing on gold.

I was thinking about property to replace the gold hedge

Other option would be to put it all into cash fund and wait for the bubble to burst.

Boglehead is new to me, time for some reading 

sophie wrote: If you're like most of us, your workplace retirement plan is large compared to your after-tax savings.

I'm also in this camp.

I used to consider it my VP and invest it Bogleheadedly. However, recently my thinking on this changed. I considered what I would do if I left my job and was no longer constrained in how I could deploy the money. I don't have any plans to do so in the near term, but realistically I'll probably change jobs within the next 5-10 years.

I realized that if I changed jobs, I would roll my 401k into an IRA. Having more options, I could invest it in PP assets.

So what I'm doing now is holding 25% of my VP in stocks and 75% in a stable value fund. When I leave my job, the 25% stocks will simply be added to my PP. If I had something like TLT available in my 401k, I'd do 25% stocks, 25% TLT, 50% stable value.

In short, I realized that my timeframe for this money was actually <10 years (since I would be investing it differently at that point), so it didn't make sense to invest it in a long term way.

Any chance of giving up keeping the gold in retirement accounts and just holding a few gold coins?
It seems better than giving up on gold altogether.

That's the only option I could think of but it would make rebalancing extremely difficult.

mase wrote: I was thinking about property to replace the gold hedge.

I would not vote for this. Real estate and gold can sometimes move in unison but they are not the same thing at all. I like Dualstow's gold coin solution. Yes, it may not be perfect for rebalancing but it gives you exposure to that asset, and I think in the best form (bullion vs. ETFs).

I am from the UK, 25/75 what average returns would I be looking at.

mase wrote: I am from the UK, 25/75 what average returns would I be looking at.

3.6% real.

Real (after inflation) annual return over the last 50 years
STK 5.7%,
BND 2.9%.


Or have a look at transferring it into a SIPP when you change jobs or sooner if your employer will pay into a sipp.