# should I continue paying into fund



## pAnTs (21 Oct 2009)

I was looking for independant advice because I have no idea whether it's stupid to still be paying money into my Arklife PIP SSIA. 

I pay 50% into on both of these funds, 

AIB Multi Track Fund
Invests in widely diversified portfolio, which spans all major world stockmarkets and also provides exposure to Eurozone bonds.
The fund holds a portfolio of securities that provides exposure to more than 1700 companies.

AIB Managed Fund Series 2

Designed to invest in a carefully monitored portfolio of international shares, fixed interest securities, properties and cash deposits.
Profit through capital growth potential and reinvested income

Should I leave the money in the funds but stop paying into them or should I continue as I am. I don't need the money for the forseeable future so am just looking for the best long term return. 
Thanks in advance


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## Horatio (22 Oct 2009)

Funds imo are a waste of money, afaik most funds struggle to beat the market. I prefer to invest my savings in ETF's, stocks I know or fixed deposit accounts.

Fund managers take a nice hunk for their troubles every year regardless of whether your investment makes gains.


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## tyoung (23 Oct 2009)

Looking at an earlier thread you listed the charges as 3% initial and a 1.5% annual fee.
 This is way too high!
 I don't like the idea of balanced/managed funds(funds that invest in stocks bonds cash property). I think it adds opacity complexity and charges to the fund.
Remember part of this fund is in cash so paying those charges to put money on deposit is a joke. It's also likely that the charges represent about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of likely returns in the bond part of the fund.
 Like horatio I would prefer ETFs but they suit the lump sum investor better.
If I were you I would look for a low fee index tracker that passively tracks a broad index of stocks(e.g. euro 300 etc).
Such a fund would probably be more volatile(more ups and downs) than the current funds bacause it is 100% invested in stocks.
If you do not want to be 100% in stocks, then I would do as Horatio advises, and put that part of your savings in the best best fixed rate deposit account You can find.
Regards


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## pAnTs (29 Oct 2009)

Ok great thanks. So I should just cash it now then. So hard to know some people are saying leave it as is for another 10 years. I was thinking about just not paying anymore into it and setting up s new savings/investment somewhere else. I kind of need to sit down with someone who cdn explain everything to me, like saving/investing for dummies style!


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## zyxw (30 Oct 2009)

Can anybody give independent advice for a fixed fee and how much should this fee be?


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## Scooter (30 Oct 2009)

I am in a similar situation and am really not sure what to do. I have a PIP and PEP and the value has more or less halved over the last year or so (I’ve put in about 50k and it’s only worth 27K now). Some people say I should keep paying in as the funds are now buying cheap shares, so in theory the fund will be worth a lot more when things pick up again. That makes sense, but at the same time I feel I'm throwing good money after bad; you don’t lose half your savings with a standard savings account.

If I just leave the money there and stop paying into it, and the global economy picks up, does this mean I may one day get my money back or at least break even?


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## zyxw (30 Oct 2009)

I have a few different funds. My advisor from the bank tells me to keep paying into them for the same reason. We are buying shares at rock bottom prices. I started to pay €250.00 a month into a new one in 06. I have so far paid in €8,750.00. Today that is worth €4,780.00. It is very hard to have faith in his advice. Am I just naive?


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## nasher (31 Oct 2009)

I have put some money into my avc's in starting in feburary last just when the market had just bottomed out,so i checked the value of my fund last week and found to my surprise that the fund had only what i had put in (breaking even) so what happened to buying shares at rock bottom prices as far as i can see most of the indexes have gained up to 40% since march maybe we are naieve.


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## ixtlan (31 Oct 2009)

nasher said:


> I have put some money into my avc's in starting in feburary last just when the market had just bottomed out,so i checked the value of my fund last week and found to my surprise that the fund had only what i had put in (breaking even) so what happened to buying shares at rock bottom prices as far as i can see most of the indexes have gained up to 40% since march maybe we are naieve.



That is surprising. I have to ask the silly question... what kind of funds are the AVCs going into? Hopefully not cash or bonds?  If it's some kind of conservative fund that might explain it?

Ix


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## pAnTs (31 Oct 2009)

It's very hard to know what to do. Lots of people are saying the charge the bank are taking is way too high which worries me but reaaly with zero experience in all this I can't really go moving things around when I have no idea what i'm doing. Seems there's a lot of us out there! Stop paying in and start a new savings scheme and leave lump sum where it is or don't touch and leave well Aline for 10 more years whole still investing monthly. Arghhhhhh


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## nasher (1 Nov 2009)

ixtlan said:


> That is surprising. I have to ask the silly question... what kind of funds are the AVCs going into? Hopefully not cash or bonds? If it's some kind of conservative fund that might explain it?
> 
> Ix


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## nasher (1 Nov 2009)

i am not sure i can mention individual funds but its not cash or bonds im sure of that.


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## pAnTs (2 Dec 2009)

..


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## pAnTs (2 Dec 2009)

Scooter said:


> I am in a similar situation and am really not sure what to do. I have a PIP and PEP and the value has more or less halved over the last year or so (I’ve put in about 50k and it’s only worth 27K now). Some people say I should keep paying in as the funds are now buying cheap shares, so in theory the fund will be worth a lot more when things pick up again. That makes sense, but at the same time I feel I'm throwing good money after bad; you don’t lose half your savings with a standard savings account.
> 
> If I just leave the money there and stop paying into it, and the global economy picks up, does this mean I may one day get my money back or at least break even?



			 		  		 		 			 			scooter did you decide what to do???


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## Scooter (4 Dec 2009)

I'm still "saving" into the fund, as I really don’t know what else I can do. In theory as shares are cheap now, the fund managers are getting more shares with my money than they were a few years ago. That would suggest that when the economy is back on track and shares bounce back, I will be in a good position. That’s my rough opinion, but I haven’t really heard any alternatives.
I hope to buy a house in the next 6 months, so that will have a big effect on what money I have left to save or invest.


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