Take Control of Your Pension: Why One Business Owner Stopped Relying Solely on His Financial Adviser
- Alpesh Patel
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Most people don't spend much time thinking about their pension. They contribute every month, receive the occasional annual statement, perhaps attend a review meeting with their financial adviser, and assume everything is moving in the right direction.
But what if someone asked you a simple question: Do you actually know why your pension owns the investments it does? For many people, the honest answer is no.
That was certainly true for Ed.
A successful entrepreneur who had spent decades building, growing and selling businesses, Ed was used to making important commercial decisions. Yet when it came to one of the biggest financial assets he would ever own; his pension, he realised he had become almost entirely reliant on someone else.
He wasn't looking for investment tips.
He wasn't chasing the latest stock.
He simply wanted to understand what was happening to his retirement savings.
His journey offers valuable lessons for anyone considering whether it's time to take a more active role in their own financial future.
Why More Investors Want to Take Control of Their Pension
For years, Ed did what many people do. He appointed a financial adviser, attended regular reviews and trusted that his pension was being managed professionally. Yet over time, a nagging feeling developed. The reports kept arriving. The meetings continued.
But the results didn't seem to match what he believed was happening in the wider stock market.
"I'd been a bit disappointed with my IFA for a number of years," Ed explains. "I didn't really find anything that was an alternative and I didn't have the confidence to do my own thing." It's a feeling many investors will recognise. Not necessarily dissatisfaction with an adviser, but uncertainty.
Questions like:
Is my pension invested the right way?
Why are these funds being chosen?
Could I understand this better if I learned more?
These weren't questions Ed expected someone else to answer forever. Eventually, he decided he wanted to answer them himself.
Why Ed Didn't Rush Into the Decision
One thing that stands out about Ed's story is that he wasn't an impulsive investor. Quite the opposite. He spent almost a year researching before joining the Great Investments Programme.
He first discovered Alpesh Patel through TraderMind before watching YouTube videos, following Instagram posts and reading educational content. Then he did something many investors overlook. He tested what he was learning. Rather than immediately transferring his pension, he started applying some of the ideas inside his Stocks & Shares ISA.
"I started following some of the ideas and putting them into my ISA. When I started getting the results I expected and that doesn't always mean things going up, because some investments went down too, but they behaved how I expected, that's what made me think, actually, I can move my pensions across."
There's an important point hidden inside that comment. Notice Ed doesn't describe success as "everything went up." Instead, he talks about understanding why investments behaved the way they did. That's what gave him confidence. Education came before action.
Healthy Scepticism Isn't a Bad Thing
Ed is also refreshingly honest about his doubts. In fact, there was a moment when he almost decided not to proceed. While researching online, he came across misleading information that made him wonder whether he was looking at something genuine.
"I thought, is this just another internet scam?" he recalls with a laugh.
It turned out to be unrelated, but it reinforced something important.
Good investors don't switch off their critical thinking.
They ask questions.
They verify information.
They take their time.
Looking back, Ed is pleased he did exactly that. Rather than making an emotional decision, he kept researching until he was comfortable with what he had found.
When Business Experience Meets Investing
Ed has spent much of his career building businesses. "I've been running companies since I was eighteen years old. I set them up, grow them and sell them." Running a business had taught him how to make decisions based on research, experience and judgement.
Ironically, he realised he hadn't applied the same mindset to his pension.
Instead, he'd accepted that investing was something only professionals truly understood.
The Great Investments Programme didn't encourage him to ignore expertise. Instead, it helped him understand it. That difference mattered.
The Biggest Change Wasn't the Portfolio, It Was Confidence
If you ask Ed about the greatest benefit of joining the programme, he doesn't begin by talking about returns. He talks about confidence. "I think the most valuable thing I've got out of this process is to trust the information on the programme, but also trust myself a bit more."
That confidence didn't come from trying to predict markets.
It came from understanding them better.
Learning how to assess companies.
Understanding why certain investments appeared on research lists.
Recognising that investing is a process rather than a series of guesses.
Perhaps just as importantly, he found reassurance in the community around him. "When you've never done this before and you've got no formal training, it is quite a leap for people," he says. Having access to experienced investors and being able to ask questions helped transform something that once felt intimidating into something genuinely enjoyable.
Rethinking What Investment Risk Really Means
One of the biggest mindset shifts wasn't about taking more risk. It was about understanding risk differently. "The knowledge you have previously is probably a little bit too safe," Ed explains. "By risk, I don't mean going crazy. I mean being more honed in and knowledgeable about your ability to do this stuff."
Many investors equate being cautious with leaving everything to someone else.
Ed came to a different conclusion. He realised that understanding investments, asking questions and making informed decisions could actually make him feel more comfortable, not less.
The Investment That Changed His Thinking
Long before joining the programme, Ed had already begun questioning some of the recommendations he was receiving. After researching a US investment fund himself, he asked his adviser to include it in his portfolio. The adviser wasn't enthusiastic.
Eventually, the investment significantly outperformed many of the others. That experience stayed with him. "When it was outperforming everything he was doing, that's when I said, 'I can do this.'"
But he also recognised there was a difference between instinct and structured investing.
"What I didn't have was the detailed knowledge - the Value, Income, Sortino and all those things. That's what adds the value." That structured approach was what he had been looking for.
📄 Read Ed's Full Case Study
Ed's story goes into much greater detail than we can cover in a single article.
If you'd like to learn more about his journey from spending almost a year researching before joining, to taking greater control of his family's pension you can read the full case study below.
Taking Control of His Pension Changed More Than His Investments
Today, Ed manages around three-quarters of his family's pensions. He shares that his invested assets grew from approximately £520,000 to around £700,000 over that period, while recognising this reflects his own experience and should not be regarded as typical or guaranteed.
Yet when he talks about the experience, he rarely focuses on the number. Instead, he talks about ownership, understanding and responsibility. "I'm enjoying doing it," he says. "I think it's really worth getting control of your finances. They're really important. Your retirement fund is a very important stage of life and I think everybody should take a bit more control of that themselves and have a bit more responsibility for it." That mindset may be the biggest return of all.
Three Lessons Every Pension Investor Can Learn
1. Take your time.
Ed spent almost a year researching before making his decision.
Understanding your investments is more important than making quick decisions.
2. Education builds confidence.
Learning how investing works doesn't mean you have to become a professional fund manager. It means you're better equipped to understand the decisions affecting your future.
3. Your pension deserves your attention.
For many people, their pension will become one of the largest financial assets they ever own. Taking an interest in how it's invested isn't about doing everything yourself.
It's about asking better questions, understanding the answers and becoming a more informed investor.
Final Thoughts
Perhaps the most memorable part of Ed's interview comes right at the end.
When asked whether he would recommend the Great Investments Programme, he doesn't launch into a sales pitch.
Instead, he gives advice that reflects the way he approached the decision himself.
"Absolutely, I'd recommend the programme. I was a very nervous joiner. I took my time over it and did a lot of research... go through the learning, work through the modules and build your knowledge."
That's an important distinction. Ed isn't encouraging people to hand over responsibility.
He's encouraging them to become more engaged with one of the most important financial decisions they'll ever make.
Because taking control of your pension doesn't necessarily begin by changing your investments. It begins by changing your understanding.
Important Note
This article is based on the personal experience of one Great Investments Programme member. Individual experiences and outcomes will vary. References to portfolio values reflect one client's own experience and are not typical or guaranteed. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This content is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Investments can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you originally invested.
Alpesh Patel OBE
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