Pointless Pension Pot?

seven-day-weekend

annandalex, I'm not a Pensions Expert, just a 'little person' like you.

The people who have answered have given you their considered advice, which is, in your own interests, you ought to see a IFA so that you don't make expensive mistakes.

I think they are saying that none of the things you suggest in your first post is very good idea, because you don't really understand all the details.

They are trying to HELP you! You don't have to take their advice, but you can't really expect them to advise you to do something which may be a very bad idea.

I would take their advice and see an IFA (make sure they are totally independent), who WILL want paying for their expertise - but why shouldn't they be?

I hope you get things sorted.

barnaby-bear

annandalex wrote: »

Hi, sorry I should have said £3,000 out of £15,000 total. I'm sure you will say that is an acceptable loss - as did the Pensions Advisory Service on the phone today. However, to me it isn't and I'd like to prevent any further loss during the coming year either by freezing it and, as I said moving my investment to something safer or taking it now. I'm just not sure if either of those has any benefit over the other.

Leaving it until the end of the term, even if things improved dramatically I don't see around £50 month, less tax, going very far.

I have a phobia about IFAs I'm afraid (don't take it personally!) - from bad past experience and ... I presume they would also have their own charges for their 'professional' advice?

The fall will mean your unit price has gone down i.e. what you put in now will buy a lot more and IF you believe recovery in 8 years likely the investments you put in now could be worth a larger proportion than last years....

stemjoly

If you really need the money then take the pension.
If you don't need the money but are worried about the value falling further, speak to L&G or your IFA about finding a fund that won't fall in value (but you won't benefit if markets recover).
If you don't need the money now but think stock markets will recover, leave the fund alone until it looks healthier (it might have a bit further to fall but stock markets will recover eventually).
If you think that stock markers will recover then anything extra that you pay in will benefit from that recovery - but then you need to take your pension or move to a safer investment after the recovery rather than leave your money at risk.

I think that you need to make sure that you understand the risks/rewards of saving into a pension scheme before you commit more money. Arguably your financial adviser should have made sure that you knew how it all worked before you paid any money over.

annandalex

Sorry about going off in a tangent with this post but I have now been told that as I was eligible to join the Teachers Pension scheme at the time of starting the L&G personal pension I should have been advised to join that. We're talking 15 years ago when staff were not automatically put into it or given the option to opt out. The L&G advisor who sold me the pension knew that I worked part-time as a Lecturer (and still do 15 years on) on top of my full-time job.

I am still eligible to join TPS and the college are sending me the forms so can anyone provide answers to the following?

1. Might there be a case here of being mis-sold the personal pension?
2. Should I be able to transfer the personal pension into TPS?
3. Would this be a sensible thing to do?

I do have an appointment with an IFA in a couple of weeks but would like to have your opinions anyway. Thanks.

dunstonh

Might there be a case here of being mis-sold the personal pension?

Maybe,maybe not. YOu say you worked there part time on top of your full time job. The personal pension was probably documented as being against your full time earnings. 15 years ago you had to verify earnings into a pension and take copies of pay slips and no doubt they used your main earnings. The part time job may not have allowed enough income to do a personal pension. Of course, better advice would have been to join the main scheme on the part time income and use a personal pension against your other earnings.

1. Should I be able to transfer the personal pension into TPS?

Thats a bit too specific to answer. You may not be able to do it either. There are pros and cons depending on the terms offered and you intended retirement age and if you want to phase your income or not.