pension transfers

bobi22

1. I have an occupational pension both I & my employer pay into. (3.9 & 5.1 % pro rata)

2. I have a personal pension with AXA that has had nothing added to for about 7 years. (had about 8 years worth of payments into it)

3. I was contracted out of serps in 1988 & therefore have this with a personal pension company. I am now contracted back into SS2.(from last yr)

Is it possible to transfer the serps pension fund & the Axa pension fund into my current occupational pension?

Is it worth doing?

EdInvestor

Is the occupational pension final salary or money purchase?

You might well be advised to move these pensions as, being old, they probably have high charges and the money may be in poorly performing funds.But it may not be sensible to put them into your occ pension.

First write to AXA and the other company asking for

1.Updated valuation
2.Transfer value
3.Annual charges payable
4.Fund(s) the money is invested in
5.What other fund choices there are
6.Any penalties to switch funds
6.Any guarantees attached to the policies

bobi22

Thanks Ed,

The occupational pension is Money purchase.

The Axa is in their General managed fund.
I have a valuation. (recent)
No guarrantees, etc.
I will find out the rest of the info for the Axa, I'm pretty sure the management charges are 1% (but will double check)

I am still unsure if I am able (legally) to transfer the old serps pot into either of these other pensions, or have to open a different one as it was serps money?

Thanks.

dunstonh

Is the "occupational pension" a group personal pension or COMP/CIMP (contracted out/in money purchase) scheme?

Is there any guaranteed minimum pension built into the scheme?

Occupational schemes can be very simple and just be group personal pensions (like normal personal pensions) but they can also be a little more complicated and fall under occupational pension rules rather than personal pension rules. Some of the benefits on the occupational pension side cannot always be that obvious and require careful analysis. Whereas a personal pension is a personal pension whether it is group or individual. That said, some employers do negotiate better terms than the normal retail product.

bobi22

Its a CIMP pension

The occupational scheme is contracted in, no guarrantees.
(life benefit of death in service - proceeds of the fund to date + twice annual salary paid to spouse)
Option of spouse or dependants pension (not taken)

My company pays any management charges direct.

Managed by BGI (lifepath fund)

I have the option to select to invest in any of the following funds if I want as well, or instead of the lifepath fund.

Aquila life 60:40 Global equity fund
Aquila Life Balanced fund
Aquila life over 5 yrs uk index linked gilt index fund
Aquila life cash fund

I should probably also point out that I an likely to just enter the upper tax bracket in the next two or 3 yrs.

bobi22

As an addendum to the previous post,
I have tried (and failed) to find Barclays Global Investors (BGI) "Lifepath" fund on the Citywire website. (To check performance)
Any clues on where exactly I should be looking?

ta,

EdInvestor

Bobi

The occupational scheme looks to be basically a selection of trackers, with fees paid by the company. That's fine. But If the AXA pension is charged at 1% and has access to any good external funds (even if they are charged a bit more) it may be better to pick some of those good funds and leave it outside for a bit of variety.

Where is the SERPS fund ( and ditto all the queries as for the AXA? )You are probably right that it cannot be moved into the occ schem and again it's probably not sensible to do so anyway.

Are you restricted as to the age you can take the occ scheme?