zurich pension plan ...any good...???

building

my partner took out a pension plan but he stopped paying into it a few years ago. it says that there are death benefits on the plan and that the policy is unit linked. anyone know anything about Zurich and their pension plan. do you think he should start repaying into it? thanks in advance.

whiteflag_3

If its an old Allied Dunbar plan (most likely) they have many contracts with different terms depending on when you took them out, therefore impossible to give a direct answer.

In my experience their plans have higher than average charges and less flexibilty than the newer pension plans. I would recommend you get advice from an IFA before making any moves.

dunstonh

<aol mode on>
me too
<aol mode off>

I do a lot of pension transfers and come across Zurich a number of times and some have been worth keeping and others have been worth transferring.

dunstonh

Got a Zurich pension transfer enquiry response in the post this morning. Appears to be an ex Dunbar pension.

Having done a transfer analysis, a stakeholder, even on zero commission terms (and therefore cheapest annual management charge) and with a fund based discount cannot come close on the projections given by Zurich.

I was surprised at that as the list of charges shows all sorts (monthly fee, increased charges on capital units etc). However, the projections came in nearly 10k higher with Zurich on like for like basis. I think the main reason is that the the bulk of the charges on this plan were front loaded and got better as time went on and the transfer penalty of over 10% to move it elsewhere.

So, don't just look at the list of charges and compare as they may heavy but in some places but are not bad in others. I certainly wouldnt consider transferring one of these without a transfer analysis being doing (TVAS).