Which personal pension?

atush

They aren't looking for people w/o sense, just people with money.

Given the rise in cheap execution only services, and the tendancy for claiming for mis-selling, I am assuming (but am not one) that IFAs can no longer be bothered with the bottom end of the market.

dunstonh

Given the rise in cheap execution only services, and the tendancy for claiming for mis-selling, I am assuming (but am not one) that IFAs can no longer be bothered with the bottom end of the market.

I was reading that there was something like 300,000 advisers, insurance agents etc in the late 80s. There are now around 30,000. Probably end up being around 20,000 after RDR. The IFAs that are planning on being around post RDR cannot focus on the bottom end of the market and dont need to. However, it is very easy to turnaround a personal pension for £500 in funds costing 0.20% if the person knows what they are doing. If its an inexperienced individual then the time spent isnt worth it for many IFAs as it ceases to be easy as you have to explain far more take on a greater liability.

I had a new client recently that was turned away from another IFA as he didnt have enough wealth. In this case, his invested wealth was £250k. That particular IFA focused on the £1 mill plus.

Can we also maybe compare it to a unicorn on a stick? Sorry to be cynical, but if IFAs are now on the hunt for those with more money than sense, how does your man in the street access the pension you describe?

You are not going to find them by limiting your research to wealth management firms or chartered financial planners. They are not interested in £500 cases. City based firms are also likely looking for higher value clients. Rural tends to be less.

It is harder to find IFAs willing to do the small stuff but the family IFA, where there is one, will often do it.

vaporate

dunstonh wrote: »

Yes. However, whether it is right good for you or not is hard to day.



Pretty much one of the worst stakeholder pensions going. It only gets awards from media outlets it advertises with or customers that have it who dont realise how poor it is but vote for it as they have it.

There is no one best pension for everyone. You can limit it a bit. Stakeholder pensions are for people that dont care about investments and want simple before quality and are looking at small contributions or very short timescales. Personal pensions are for larger contributions, can be cheaper or more expensive than a stakeholder and allow a much greater investment choice (and often increased features). A SIPP is for your experienced investor looking for near unlimited investment choice.

Just to add my experience so far with pensions at age 25.

I chose the Aviva balanced managed lifestyle S2 fund, stakeholder.

Now, Aviva personal pension require net contribution of £160 per month, gross £200. stakeholder a minimum £16 net.

Due to the state of the economy and job cuts, having to pay 160 a month seems too high incase of losing your job.

So I chose the stakeholder, albeit I have paying in so far 160 net £200 gross a month for the last 3 months when I opened it.

What I do is just pay via direct debit £80 net, £100 gross and send a cheque once every month for another contribution.

I started the pension when the Footsie 100 was taking a hammering and seeing my fund go up and down by £8 here and there, a few heart stoppers lol. A small amount of course but when you are used to simple savings accounts beforehand you know what I mean. Felt like throwing money into a fire. I'm aware that this works in your favour though when buying more units at a cheaper rate.

Still, rather have a private pension than not.