SIPP & Investments

My DC pensions have now been transferred to my SIPP. Yay!

The downside has been the drop in fund prices so my transfer has already resulted in a loss of value of approx £2k – so disheartening. That’s the issue with a transfer and immediate investment – you take the hit based on the timing. My timing was off 😦

I cannot touch it for another 5 years so they have some time to recover. It’s not worth much and really needs to grow considerably to make it a viable income source at 55. That just leaves my DB pension which I am not touching (and can’t touch until SPA) and my current employer DC pension. I will just keep pushing money into the SIPP and employer pension and try to pick up the tax relief advantages while they last.

With the budget on Monday, the scaremongers are out pushing rumours of pensions being the target area and get top-ups in now while you can. If you haven’t used up your previous year’s allowances you can use that to top up so surely that’s not a big issue for some.

Once I leave my current employer I will transfer that pension into my SIPP too. Which is getting close just because of the stress – mainly due to the ‘sh*’ I have to put up with. It’s a bit toxic to say the least and the bullying nature of the management has surfaced again recently – wonder if they all suffer from SAD as it seems to get worse at this time of year. I got the ‘you are incompetent’, ‘how can I trust you’ type barrage of abuse the other day. I had to sit in a meeting and put up with the venting aggression from the senior management, I wasn’t the only one on the receiving end but after a while you just get sick of it. I can completely appreciate the current media coverage on NDAs and their use to pay people to leave rather than tackle the issue of bullying/harassment in a business. My employer has no HR department so you have nowhere to go other than just resign. Sounds a bit like Westminster. Plus how do you tackle bullying when its the senior managers in the chair? (Its unprofessional and I am getting sick of it – I have never worked anywhere like it. Its seen as ‘the-norm’ and accepted practice, fear prevails).

I have another meeting next week which contains bad news. I am expecting another barrage of abuse. I am considering just getting up and walking out saying ‘If I am so bad sack me, I will go and clear my desk and leave now’ – the positive – it would mean I wouldn’t be held to doing 3 months notice.

How do you stand contract-wise/legally if you have to give 3 months notice but want to leave immediately? Its laughable but then you feel they have brought it on themselves and deserve it. What’s the point of ‘FU money’ if you don’t use it to escape a bad situation.

I have watched my investments going down as the markets react to the global instability. I keep investing but with talk of a crash it makes you feel nervous of investing and seeing your account balances drop each time rather than grow or remain level. My accounts were all red when the last crash happened, I was working so just didn’t worry and just kept thinking, I’m investing for the long-term, they will recover. It’s a slightly different feeling when you may be about to pull the plug and rely on your funds to support you just as they plummet into the red. I am trying to diversify but it doesn’t seem to be enough at the moment to balance the roller coaster ride.

I need to have a really good look at my finances, if I do leave my age will prevent me getting another job. It shouldn’t be but it is, ditto looking of a part-time role. They just don’t exist as quoted in the Guardian article : Stress/Part-time working.

I know I sound ‘doom and gloom’ its just the time of year with the clocks changing and the SAD environment. I just feel like hibernating…..