Pension transfer

military_medium

Sorry to bring this topic up again - I realise it's been discussed before, but I haven't been able to find an answer to my question on previous threads.

Basically, I have just moved jobs, and have a small pension pot from my previous employer that I have to decide what to do with. I was only there a couple of years, and the pension's current value is approx £2,500, and £2,800 has been paid into it. Should I just leave it where it is, or should I transfer it to my new scheme (which is with the same pension provider - Aegon Scottish Equitable)? Given the amounts involved, it hardly seems worthwhile getting a financial advisor involved. If I want to transfer it, do I have to pay someone to do it, or is it easy enough to do myself?

Any help would be much appreciated.

david78

I assume the pension with your old employer is a money purchase plan or stakeholder pension. If so, it would be a simple matter to transfer the pension to your new pension provider. This would put all your pension money in one pot.

You don't need an IFA (the amount's way too small); it's just a matter of filling in a transfer form from Aegon/Scottish Equitable (easy enough). Of course you will have to pick a fund or selection of funds to invest the transferred money in from Scottish Equitable's range (you could pick the same fund as now).

Schnorbitz_2

Do have a close look at what the fees are on funds held with the two providers. If you're a long way from retirement, this can have a bit of an effect. But, then again, you may be confident that a provider with a higher fee is able to outperform another provider with a lower fee, even after the fee deductions.

military_medium

Thanks for the help folks - much appreciated. I shall look into transfering it across. Basically, it seems that I just have to weigh up the loss of £300 if I transfer it with the hassle of having seperate pensions. The choice of funds in both schemes is very similar, if not exactly the same. Is that right?

Thanks again.

brianrhill

You may also be entitled to a refund of your own contributions (short service refund lump sum) if you were there less than 2 years, and this could be put into your new company scheme. Should be relatively straightforwards to work out the figures involved.