I have 4 pensions and need help!!

EdInvestor

liverpoolcarl wrote:

Does most people agree with my IFA that its a reasonable idea to cancel my Weslyan pensions, transfer or defer them and increase my contributions to my new CM pension ??

As mentioned earlier no proper comment is possible on this without knowing

a) what funds the money is invested in and

b) what charges you are paying

and then comparing this with the CM funds and charges.

Has the IFA not given you this information?It should be part of any proper transfer analyis.

Advisors get paid upfront commission for recommending transfers, which eventually is charged to you, so you must always ask to see the justification for paying him this money.

liverpoolcarl

I have had a look at my Wesleyan documents and:

Personal Pension is 100% with profits fund (series 2) and charges are £46,900 over the full term which says it would be 1.1%

Stake Holder Pension is 100% managed fund (series 2) and charges are £11,500 over the full term which says it would be 1.1%

My IFA is awaiting for the transfer statements before he recomends anything to me, I am just doing my homework before hand so I completely understand.

EdInvestor

Are there any "external funds" available with the CM pension?

liverpoolcarl

Reading the book the funds I can choose form are Lifestyle Investment Programmes, Managed Funds, Equity Funds, Fixed Interest Funds, Specialist Funds, Fund of Funds Links and The With Profit Fund...

dunstonh

As its IFA advising you, you will not be expected to choose funds. Only when its tied adviser would you do that. You mentioned a sector spread further up which seems fine as a basic spread.

EdInvestor

OK Carl, here's a list of CM's available pension funds, including the external ones.

http://www.trustnet.com/pen/funds/perf.asp?sec=all&status=all&def=1&txtS=&txtSS=&sort=4&page=9&ss=0&columns=

Have a look at fund No 909 and fund No 946, and check them over at the Citywire site mentioned before ( look under "Equity Income" for the second fund.)This is the type of quality fund you want to aim for.

Now you may want to tell the IFA that you are keen on high perfromance funds and inquire whether the above funds are available with this pension and if so, what others are there, and if not, why not.

The fund universe contains around 5000 in total and around 90% of them are basically not up to much.It's really very worthwhile getting into the top 10 performers, the difference over a working lifetime will be massive.

There may be an extra charge to invest in this type of fund.This need not be a deterrent.After all a charge of 1.5% (rather than 1%)is important if the return is only 5%, but no problem at all if the return is 15%.

dunstonh

If its a GPP or GSHP then the full fund range may not be available. Often group schemes reduce the availability of funds as the average person isnt seeking advice before hand and too many funds puts the average person off. This can make them less beneficial to those seeking advice or having more experience with investments.

liverpoolcarl

Sorry edinvestor I am all very confused with them sites and don't really know what I am doing or looking for.

Are yousaying to consider not investing in the spread above and invest in some external funds ?

Back to my original pensions which I am still contributing to, is it best to transfer them and concentrate on my CM pension or keep 3 going ??

dunstonh

Are yousaying to consider not investing in the spread above and invest in some external funds ?

I doubt it as that isnt a bad spread and if that spread was recommended by your IFA, then I would be happy with that. Had the recommendation been a balanced managed fund or similar then I would have concerns. Sector allocation is the best way to invest and you have a range of sectors recommended suggesting your IFA knows what he is talking about.

Also, dont mix up internal and external with sector allocation. Internal is clerical medical equity income fund. External is Clerical Medical Invesco Perpetual Income fund. In other words CM are using Inv Perp's income fund within the pension. Both funds are in the same sector but one is managed by CM, the other is managed by Inv Perp.

liverpoolcarl

Thanks dunstonh, do you have any opinion on:
Back to my original pensions which I am still contributing to, is it best to transfer them and concentrate on my CM pension or keep 3 going ?