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Pension Dilema
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monetarily_confused
Posts: 2 Newbie
I have two small 'frozen' pension plans from past employers. I don't currently contribute to a personal pension as the company I work for chose Equitable Life to invest employees pensions into. Say no more. I am extremely concerned about my 'investments' with the current problems in the financial markets. Who knows. Wall Street could have crashed as I write this. The knock on effect here could be devastating. Personally, I dont want to put my money at risk. I want to get it out and either invest it in a place I have chosen and where I can feel confident, or take the money, and pay off some of my mortgage. One pension has a transfer value of 19k the other 10k . I am 51 and have initiated a third party to investigate this for me but they say it could take up to three months to get any response from my pension providers which I find very strange. I need some answers now. However, having trawled my way through this forum, I am feeling quite dispondent. IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN GIVE ME GOOD SOUND ADVICE? Most people on here seem to get contradicting advice which goes into a full blown argument.
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Comments
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There are a number of options available to you but to find out which is best suited a comparison has to be made known as a transfer value analaysis (TVA) report.
As the frozen benefits come from final salary schemes the only people legally allowed to do such are I.F.A.'s qualified with a G60 certificate. In order to comply with the regulations an I.F.A. has to look into the benefits of the schemes and the overall state of them including their funding levels not just the transfer values. Much of the information is only available from the schemes themselves so his questions would have been put to them and it may well take 3 months to get the answers he needs.
Theres a legal time limit in which a transfer value has to be given but as to the other information I dont think there is.
Basically nag your I.F.A. to nag them to reply is the only thing you can do for now.
If the schemes are not fothcoming with the answers (again i'm not sure of the current laws as to what they must disclose or even what has been asked as it's been 6 years since I last did transfers) then I see no problem with your IFA being able to make reasonable assumptions within a TVA and proceed.0 -
As a current IFA, I agree with Retired IFA. Since the "pensions scandal" of the early 90's a full-blown transfer evaluation has to be done if it is a Company Pension, rather than a Personal Pension or Group Personal Pension. If my company wanted to hand your details to someone else to do, to save us the time for instance, we would be charged £250 for each. If the people doing it are charging you a set fee for the work whether or not it works out best to transfer, that's fair. If you are asking them only to be paid IF it works out best and IF you proceed, they're doing the work speculatively so it is fair you pay more. Look on their Client Agreement to see their usual hourly rate to see what you should be paying for considerable work.
But you say they are only "small" plans so very small commission anyway! You don't need an answer now, you need the right answer as soon as it comes. These jobs are very complicated, need pages of info from the old company schemes which can take ages to get all of. One slip and the person advising you - who has to have spent time to be more qualified than a basic IFA - has a mis-sale complaint against him and a fine.
If you don't like the rules and the consequent delays - instituted for consumer protection - look up the address of the Financial Services Authority.
Sorry to be seemingly non-helpful in an attempt to help you understand where the real world lies on this one.Have I been helpful? The Thanks button is just here :T
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I'd like to say a big thankyou to Retired I.F.A and Smithson55. You have both been most helpful. The information you have given and explanation to the length of time it might take to come to fruition is now understandable.
Thanks again!0
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