Transferring old pension help please

JennyW_2

I have a personal pension with Friends Provident which I no longer contribute to (I think it's worth about £12K). I currently have a company pension scheme with Norwich Union and thought it would be a good idea to transfer the FP one and make it one big pension fund? NU have now written saying that they don't think I have taken financial advise and that this would be a good idea prior to signing anything over as I could lose out (Not sure how I could lose out if I transfer over although I know there is an admin fee of around £600 which they would deduct from the transfer balance).

FP have given me a telephone number to call who list financial advisors in my area however is the advice going to cost me as I really cant afford it

I thought this would be quite straight forward, but obviously not.....

Thanks for any advice.

EdInvestor

Give us some more details about the pensions.

What funds are they invested in? What are the annual charges payable?

What is the current value, the transfer value and the nature of the transfer penalty in the FP one?

What other investment funds are offered by both pensions?

It may or may not be better to move the FP pension into the NU pension, it depends on the quality of funds offered, the charges payable and the penalties.It may be better instead to switch the FP money into better funds, and possibly also to try to negotiate a new deal on charges, if appropriate.

We can't give you specific advice but we can point you in the right direction as to where to look for the information needed to make a decision.

derrick

JennyW wrote:

I have a personal pension with Friends Provident which I no longer contribute to (I think it's worth about £12K). I currently have a company pension scheme with Norwich Union and thought it would be a good idea to transfer the FP one and make it one big pension fund? NU have now written saying that they don't think I have taken financial advise and that this would be a good idea prior to signing anything over as I could lose out (Not sure how I could lose out if I transfer over although I know there is an admin fee of around £600 which they would deduct from the transfer balance).

FP have given me a telephone number to call who list financial advisors in my area however is the advice going to cost me as I really cant afford it

I thought this would be quite straight forward, but obviously not.....

Thanks for any advice.

I have recently done something similar,moving a PP from Abbey Life to NU PP,(contracted out of SERPS, paid up) I used an IFA who was prepared to offer a commission split with me (70/30 in my favour) as no advice was to be given. this has now gone ahead and I am awaiting my cheque as soon as he has been paid the commission. there was no mention of any admin fee,and I have spoken to NU about this, as the pension with NU is already set up, therefore it is basically a lump sum investment.

The advice from an IFA should not cost anything if it is done on commission basis, but I would suggest that you do what I did, if you feel comfortable about not taking advice and talk to one who will do the commission split rebate on an execution onlytransfer.

JennyW_2

EdInvestor wrote:

Give us some more details about the pensions.

What funds are they invested in? What are the annual charges payable?

What is the current value, the transfer value and the nature of the transfer penalty in the FP one?

What other investment funds are offered by both pensions?

It may or may not be better to move the FP pension into the NU pension, it depends on the quality of funds offered, the charges payable and the penalties.It may be better instead to switch the FP money into better funds, and possibly also to try to negotiate a new deal on charges, if appropriate.

We can't give you specific advice but we can point you in the right direction as to where to look for the information needed to make a decision.

yikes :eek: will I find all this on a statement?

EdInvestor

will I find all this on a statement

Some yes, some no, probably best to write a letter with the questions.

dunstonh

Older pensions contain all sorts of things which could be beneficial. Whilst others can be very expensive and worth transferring.

You shouldnt transfer from one pension to another without doing a transfer analysis. You could be giving up more than you will be gaining from the new scheme.

FP did offer some guarantees on the plans in the past. Some of the pensions do have low charges and their fund range isnt too bad with a number of their plans. Particulary the low risk end of the scale.

As it currently stands, the FP PPP is probably better than the NU PPP with its lower charges and very similar fund range. Although I wouldnt pick either at this time.

EdInvestor

The trouble is that Jenny probably needs to pay a fee for this to make sure she gets a proper job done, and may well feel it's too expensive.

Re the guarantees DH mentions, these may apply if the old pension is invested in the With profits fund, so if it is, ask about them too.

MikeP_5

The guarantees may also include a guaranteed annuity rate depending on when the policy was set up - this may be higher than rates currently available, but then again it may not !

Happy to help if required.

dunstonh

Re the guarantees DH mentions, these may apply if the old pension is invested in the With profits fund, so if it is, ask about them too.

There are some unit linked contracts with guaranteed annuity rates. It's not safe to assume that unit linked does not have guarantees.

whiteflag_3

MikeP wrote:

Happy to help if required.

Mike , would you be helping in a professional capacity or working for free on behalf of board members?