Review your investments

You're in control

You don’t need to be an expert to stay in control of your investments. You just need to know where your money is invested and what your options are.

There are a few things you should consider when reviewing your investments:

1. Your attitude to risk

Acknowledging how you feel about investment risk is important. There are no rights or wrongs, because the "right" funds to be in are the ones that you feel most comfortable with, or the ones that suit your particular situation.

As well as considering your attitude to investment risk, you should also consider how much risk you're able to take with your investments - keeping in mind your other financial commitments and personal circumstances.

Remember that the right funds to be in could change at different stages of your life too.

It's a personal choice, so find out how you feel about risk with our risk questionnaire.

2. Performance

This plays a big part in the size of your pension pot when you retire because the returns on your investments affect how your pension potentially builds up. It's important that you know how a fund is expected to perform. You can also look at past performance, which tells you how a fund has performed, although remember, even if a fund has performed well in the past, there's no guarantee it will continue to do so. Some funds can also be compared against a sector or benchmark index. But often it's more relevant to consider whether a fund has achieved its objectives.

There's a fact sheet for every fund you're invested in that sets out what its objectives are and how it has performed in the past. Remember, with investments, the value of a fund can go down as well as up and may be worth less than what was paid in. 

3. Timing

Investments need time to grow and a pension is normally a long-term investment.

Timing can also affect the amount of risk you might want to take with your investments. If you have a long time until you retire, you may be comfortable with slightly more risk - and the boost it may give your pension savings. However, if you’re only a few years away from retiring, you might not want to expose the money you’ve built up to as much risk.