The Bank of England Pension Fund is a private scheme, and therefore probably not the best for a like for like comparison. But I take your point! Having said that, as barometers go, it raised a few pension-geek smiles when it reduced its exposure to Gilts a few years ago and plumped for some inflation linked investments instead - the writing was on the wall! I'm an IFA and I'm in the Forces Pension Society because just as the BoE scheme members have people batting for
them, Forpen is the closest 'we' have. Well worth the very modest annual fee
and they make good coffee (look out for my spiffing ad in the next issue of Pennant too.
).
Finally, by way of info and not advice, for those higher earners - the Lifetime (pension) Allowance is reducing from £1.8 millions to £1.5 millions. Caution needs to be exercised when considering your options, but if you expect your total pension benefits to be worth more than £1.5 millions, you can apply for 'Fixed Protection' if it is in your specific best interests to do so. Fixed Protection means that your pension benefits are protected from any tax charge up to the value of £1.8 millions - this is not the same as not paying tax on pensionable income. But it could mean that you need to review things, especially if you're 2 or 3* and above and/or expecting a new job anytime soon..
The deadline for applying for Fixed Protection is now only weeks away - 5 April 2012.