advice please

foxybabe

Hey, this is the first time i have posted on this forum even though i have checked in a few times when i receive my moneysaving e-mail. I was hoping someone would be able to give me some advice. I have a pension that i pay £50 pounds a month into, it has been running for 15 years. What i am thinking of doing is freezing it and setting up a d/d for premium bonds for the same amount each month as the pension dosn't seem to be doing much. my hubby has a pension scheme which we were going to keep. what do you guys think?

cheers

Leeds_Fan_2

Is the pension money purchase or final salary? If its final salary, probably good to keep it going. If money purchase, there may be some better investment options - ISA's etc.

Also, wouldn't personally recommend premium bonds - pay off your mortgage or any interest charging debt if you are cashing in a pension.

foxybabe

you can't actually cash in your pension though can you? i thought you could only freeze them.

Leeds_Fan_2

Depends (I think). If you are in a money purchase scheme you can sometimes get to the cash as its basically an index linked investment. Is it a company pension scheme?

foxybabe

no, its a personal pension with abbey life

Leeds_Fan_2

Check with them and you may be able to. It would be key to taking the next decision as you may be able to reinvest the amount in a more efficient way. You may also be able to move the investment into a different fund with Abbey that may perform better. Worth a chat with them (and then probably an independent advisor (have a look in the savings and investments bit of this site is always a good place to start).

foxybabe

Thanks i'll get on the phone to them tomorrow

dunstonh

I have a pension that i pay £50 pounds a month into, it has been running for 15 years. What i am thinking of doing is freezing it and setting up a d/d for premium bonds for the same amount each month as the pension dosn't seem to be doing much.

Its not the pension that is doing nothing. Its the investment funds you have chosen.

Perhaps rather than saving into premium bonds, which in my opinion are a totally daft option for long term savings/investments, you should be looking at where the money is invested. Looking at the existing pension charges and doing a transfer analysis probably wouldnt be a bad idea either.

EdInvestor

Leeds_Fan wrote:

Depends (I think). If you are in a money purchase scheme you can sometimes get to the cash as its basically an index linked investment. Is it a company pension scheme?

The earliest you can get money out of a personal pension is aged 50.

If you leave a job within 2 years you may be able to get a refund of contributions from a company scheme.

paul666

> no, its a personal pension with abbey life
:eek:

I had one of these and the charges, even after contributions were stopped, were over 2%. The 'international' and 'property' funds didn't seem to be doing well either.

Abbey Life don't take on any new business and are unlikely to feel the need to perform well against their peers fund wise (OMHO)

As dunstonh says, you need to find out about transfer options ASAP.