Pension savers should focus on the long term outlook rather than "panic" over the state of their retirement funds, an expert advises.
Pension savers should not "panic" over the state of their retirement funds in the light of recent events, a specialist at Killik warned today.
According to the pensions expert, the current short and medium term economic outlook should not lead to people abandoning their pension plans. This is because retirement savings tend to be invested over the long term, meaning that the markets are likely to have recovered by the time most hit 65.
The comments come in the wake of a report from financial advisors at Hargreaves Lansdown, released earlier this week. The new data shows that around 20 percent of pension funds' value has been lost over the past 12 months.
This is mainly due to the fact that the funds have exposure to the stock markets, which have fallen in the credit crunch. Indeed, around ten percent of value was found by Hargreaves Lansdown to have been lost in the past month alone - due to the worsening of the crisis.
Malcolm Cuthbert, managing director of financial planning at Killik & Co and Hannah Edwards, head of new clients at Killik & Co, said: "We are getting an awful lot of calls from clients who are worried about where they are investing, but if you are looking over a ten to twenty year time period - which a lot of pensions are - then don't panic, just ride out the wave."
Killik is also currently advising that over-50s are more careful with their savings, however. Mr Cuthbert added: "There is an argument in keeping going with regular investments during the whole thing. The only exception to that I would add is when you are near retirement, if you are within five years or even perhaps seven or eight years, it is worth looking again at what you have got."
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