Stick or Twist

• How often do you check the performance of your investments?
• How much are you paying in fees?
• Do your current investments meet your objectives and are you on track to achieve them?
• Has your attitude to risk changed and do your investments reflect that?

For many people, the honest answer is:

“Not for a long time… and I’m not really sure.”

This is not a criticism. We all live busy lives and many people simply don’t know where to begin. But these questions matter, and over the long term they can have a significant impact on your financial outcomes. You have worked hard to build your savings and investments, so letting them drift off course can be costly.

Default funds, life styling… and potential pitfalls

We often meet new clients who have accumulated multiple pension plans through different employers. My record is a client with 13! Workplace schemes typically allocate contributions to a default fund, usually selected out of convenience rather than preference. A large number of these defaults use life styling strategies. These automatically reduce equity exposure as you approach a predetermined retirement age, switching towards lower risk assets such as gilts or cash. That might be fine if:

• your retirement age is accurate
• you intend to use your pension to purchase an annuity.

However, many people have changed their planned retirement age over the years or are now considering flexi access drawdown, where remaining invested for longer is still important. In these scenarios, a default life styling fund may no longer align with your objectives, well before we even consider performance, fees, or risk profile.

Under Consumer Duty, providers must ensure their strategies remain appropriate, but that does not guarantee the default is still right for you.

Older pensions and with profits funds

Some older pension plans still rely on with profits funds, which smooth returns by adding annual bonuses based on underlying performance. While they can cushion short term volatility, bonuses in recent years have often lagged the performance of mainstream investment funds. These funds may still suit some investors, but in many cases, they no longer provide the growth or flexibility required for modern retirement planning.

Why fees and transparency matter more than ever

Charges can vary widely between providers, platforms, and investment types. With current cost-of-living pressures and the FCA’s continued focus on fee transparency, understanding what you pay is critical.

Even a small difference in fees, compounded over time, can significantly erode your long-term returns. Clients are increasingly aware of:

• platform fees
• fund management charges
• transaction costs
• the value for money comparisons now highlighted under Consumer Duty.

Knowing the true cost of your investments is essential to making informed decisions.

Stick or Twist?

With thousands of funds available across countless sectors and geographies, ranging from passive trackers and active managers to risk-managed multi-asset portfolios, discretionary models, and a growing landscape of sustainable investments, making the right choice can feel overwhelming.

Add in emerging trends such as technology driven investment solutions, increasing regulatory scrutiny, and the need for ongoing suitability assessments, and it’s clear the investment world is more complex than ever.

So where do you start?

How we help

At Crowe Financial Planning, we:

• help clients understand what they currently hold
• review their objectives, preferences, and risk profile
• assess whether their existing approach is still suitable
• independently research the market to recommend the most appropriate options
• provide ongoing monitoring and proactive adjustments to keep them on track.

We also help clients consider whether consolidating multiple pensions could improve clarity, reduce costs, or enhance performance, while ensuring all decisions respect regulatory safeguards and are genuinely in your best interest.

Take the next step

Why not arrange a no obligation review with us?

Gaining clarity and confidence about your financial future could be one of the smartest decisions you ever make.

A pension is a long-term investment, and your eventual income may depend on the size of the fund at retirement, future interest rates and tax legislation.