pension

celt120

Hi
i have a pension with the Pearl Insurrance,and due to ill health,i was going to take it on my 50th birthday,which is next week,but according to the Pearl,i have not enough in the pension,to pay me a monthly pension,they say,i can transfer my money,under section 32,to another pension provider,and can take money out this way, i really do not understand this,and who can i transfer the pension to,to obtain this, i would be very grateful,for any replies please.

Thank you

dunstonh

i really do not understand this,

In very basic and simplistic terms, you dont have a personal pension at the moment. You have a section 32 buy out bond which is a type of pension but has retained benefits that are guaranteed to be paid out at the scheme age whether the fund value has enough to pay it or not. In the case of Pearl, its probable that the scheme age is 60 and the fund is nowhere close to exceeding or meeting the guarantees.

If you want to take it early, Pearl only offer their in-house options and that basically is use the scheme itself. However, the scheme hasnt got enough money in it. So, if you dont mind losing what is probably a very large amount of money, you can transfer the pension to a personal pension to buy an annuity or income drawdown.

Considering you have ill health and the probability that the cost of transfer is going to be signficant, its probably a good idea to get a local IFA to see you to run through the pros and cons. If you then decide to go ahead the IFA can use the enhanced life annuities to get you better terms than you can get yourself (most of the enhanced providers will only transact through an IFA and not direct to consumer).