At the risk of appearing to sit on both sides of the fence at the same time, I also agree that the funds Helen refers to are doing well - which pleases me as I am invested in most of them too. But if for eg, 10% of a 16% pa increase is made in the first 3 months of the year, and you then invest a lump sum, you not only make only 6% in that year, but probably see your investment dip into negative territory before bouncing back - given most funds propensity for volatility. Making regular contributions allows you to buy cheap when the fund is down whilst still providing very strong returns. From experience, I can testify it is a much less stressful way to invest and monitor your portfolio.
Kingpost. QROPS is a good product provided you set it up properly. Be particularly careful of the charging structure you sign up for. Royal Skandia (who provide my wrapper) have literally thousands of different charging structures and the first 8 years of charges are largely spent on paying back the commission that they paid to the IFA who set up my QROPS and 'sold' me the Skandia wrapper. The IFA commission is typically 7% of initial investment but your IFA will try very hard not to tell you this and there is therefore a lot of conflict of interest potential. It also helps if you know where you will be living in retirement. As a UK expat with my QROPS offshore and no plans to return to UK I will be spared UK taxation but subject to the tax laws of my resident country. Some countries will tax QROPS drawdown income whilst others will not. If you have any form of government pension (eg military) I strongly suggest you consider keeping it, even if it is subsequently taxed as it is yours for life and will only ever go up. A QROPS has a limited lifetime as it is a drawdown pension and when the pot is empty there is no more income from it so you really need another income stream to compliment the QROPS.
Last edited by BANANASBANANAS; 1st Jun 2014 at 08:30.