Newbie pension question

r1cbm

Hi,

OK, (queue onslaught) I have absolutely no clue as to what a pension is, how they work or what I should be doing with regards to current situation. Good start eh…

So, my question is as follows…..

I am in my early 30’s, I had a pension with a company which was started at my first job by their pension advisor as my employer at the time would contribute an amount if I put the same amount in each month. After 4.5 years there, I left and don’t pay into it any more and moved to another company with the same situation. So now I have a pension that’s about 10 years old with a reasonable lump in there, that hasn’t been touched for 4 years. I have another one with a different company which I am paying into now.

What do I do with the old one? Can I move it across? Should I pay into it and have 2 running?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated J

R1

EdInvestor

Are they both "money purchase" pensions?

If so you need to look at the charges and fund choice of each plan to see if it is worth amalgamating them. It may be better simply to review the way the money is invested in the old one, switching to better funds if appropriate.Watch out for penalties and guarantees with With-profits pensions.

If the old pension is a final salary one, usually best to leave it as it is growing by inflation/5% every year (not frozen as many people think)..

r1cbm

Group personal pensions, just looking at the websites now.....

EdInvestor

Ok, proceed as above then, check fund choice and charges and transfer if the latest one is better (often the company will have negotiated a lower charge for a GPP, which you don't then get if you leave and the pension becomes a plain.individual PP. In other cases you retain the low charge.)

A decent pension should have a charge under 1% pa. and a wide choice of external funds from other fund management companies, not just the pension provider.

r1cbm

OK, just tried to register online here with the first plan
http://www.aegonse.co.uk/

Once I get the info in the post, I'll give them a call and see what I can do.