Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Is the "cash" in your pension fund safe?

There's been much talk of keeping the balance in your bank account/s below the insured limit - but if you are cautious and want to preserve the value of what's in your pension pot, how can you do it?

"Mish" reports a massive write-off by a money market fund manager, following losses with Lehman.

UPDATE:

If you have funds in a money market and it is not backed by only Treasury debt, you need to consider moving that money right here, right now. - Karl Denninger

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I put my SIPP entirely into Gilts, is that safe? Oh dearie me.

Sackerson said...

Government bonds are as safe as poss, aren't they? But so-called cash funds in pensions are often an amalgam of gilts, cash and "money market instruments". Oh, dear, we've had a look underneath now, best put the rock back down carefully.

Sackerson said...

... oh, and I don't suppose cash vested with a bank/building society within a pension fund is necessarily covered by the £35k guarantee - isn't it a share of an aggregated fund held on behalf of many policyholders? Best contact your pension manager to ascertain the exact status of your "safe" holdings.