Aviva vs Zurich for pension

[Herbie]

I am trying to decide between Aviva and Zurich as I'm transferring an existing pension away from a previous employer's DC scheme. I have a couple of policies (old BOBs) with Zurich and am happy with both customer service and fund performance. Aviva has been offered as an alternative for the new funds as they offer a slightly lower AMC and they have a different fund offering to Zurich so it might add a bit of diversity to my investments.

Zurich seem to be better regarded for fund performance and customer service. Would you see a major difference between them?

Also, I'm around ten years out from retirement. I'd like to maximise returns over than period and, should the market take a dive around the time that I retire, am happy to take on any sort of work to tide me over and help minimise my dependency on the funds. My current fund choices are almost entirely equity-based and I'm comfortable with market fluctuations. All that said, I know that the sensible thing to do is to lower equity exposure somewhat as retirement approaches. Should I be looking at more diversified funds from either provider, and if so, which ones? Something like the Aviva Fixed Allocation funds maybe?

 

[GSheehy]

What's driving the desire to move from a company that you're happy with service and fund performance from?

What's the differential in AMC? Will there be 'new' early exit charges on the Aviva product?

What type of (asset mix) fund/s are you thinking of investing in with the post-retirement product (ARF)?.


Gerard

www.prsa.ie

 

[Gordon Gekko]

It never ceases to amaze me when people who are happy with a product or service have their head turned by someone else.

If you’re lucky, your experience with Aviva will be good. If you’re unlucky, it’ll be bad. Where you are currently is good. Therefore, you should stick with Zurich.

 

[Herbie]

Apologies - I worded that badly. The scheme that I'm planning to move is with a third insurance company (i.e. not Zurich or Aviva). I'm not happy with that third company in terms of customer service and because the company scheme has a very limited and somewhat poor range of funds. I have some policies from previous employments with Zurich and my experience with them has been good so they would normally be my preferred option. Aviva is a second option which is slightly cheaper and offers the prospect of different fund offerings.

@GSheehy, the difference in AMC between Zurich and Aviva is small, 0.2% at most. It's not a major factor, just a feature, along with an alternative fund choice. In terms of asset mix, I'm not sure. I like the growth prospect of equities, I can accept the volatility that comes with that but have one eye on my ten year timeline to retirement and am wondering if I should be more prudent, and if so, what asset classes I should invest in. Zurich's pure bond funds seem to give a very limited return, close to zero over the last five years. I am already invested in their Dynamic fund, Performance fund, Indexed Top Tech 100 and Indexed Global Equity funds with my other pensions with them. Lower risk funds that I've looked at don't seem to offer that much of a safety net on market drops and limited gains on the market gains. Something like the Aviva Fixed Allocation funds (e.g. Fixed ESG 60 or Fixed ESG 80) seem to have offered a decent return with an asset mix.