Pension changes - any advice welcome please

Radarjet

Hello All,

Personal finance not being my strong point I thought I would ask for some opinions before making any changes.

I have a stakeholders pension with my company which was with NPI and they have moved it now to Standard Life. I contribute £120 and the company contributes £233 a month and the current balance is £ 13,000ish. That will all stay ISQ.

I'm 40 - just !

I also have a NPI AVC of £75 a month which hasn't been moved with the company one. It's balance is about £ 5000.

So :
Should I keep it with NPI and continue to pay it?
Should I move it to Standard Life or elsewhere like Virgin tracker /Isa ?
Should I leave it and freeze it and pay the £ 75 into overpaying my mortgage ?
Should I leave it and freeze it and pay the £ 75 into an Isa ?


Or anything else I've not thought of ..

Many thanks indeed for your opinions

Radar

dunstonh

Should I keep it with NPI and continue to pay it?

NPI are one of the weakest financial services companies out there. Depending on your charges and options on the plan, it may be worth moving/ceasing. A review of this plan would be recommended.

I think you may be confused somewhere. You cannot be paying into a group stakeholder pension with your employer and have a running avc at the same time. AVCs are designed for full occupational schemes and not stakeholder.

Depending on the correct information, you may or may not be able to transfer the AVC.

Should I move it to Standard Life or elsewhere like Virgin tracker /Isa ?

You cant move it to an ISA and what made you pick standard life or a tracker? It could be that the NPI is in their tracker fund and would be no different to standard life.

Should I leave it and freeze it and pay the £ 75 into overpaying my mortgage ?

If you want lower income in retirement, then yes.

Should I leave it and freeze it and pay the £ 75 into an Isa ?

Depends. That is too specific to be answered here. For all we know you could be getting maximum tax relief and increased childrens tax credit thanks to this pension which you wouldnt get with an ISA. There are pros and cons with ISAs and pensions and at various times it will be suitable to do either one or even both.

foot_loose

Radarjet wrote:

Hello All,

Personal finance not being my strong point I thought I would ask for some opinions before making any changes.

I have a stakeholders pension with my company which was with NPI and they have moved it now to Standard Life. I contribute £120 and the company contributes £233 a month and the current balance is £ 13,000ish. That will all stay ISQ.

I'm 40 - just !

I also have a NPI AVC of £75 a month which hasn't been moved with the company one. It's balance is about £ 5000.

So :
Should I keep it with NPI and continue to pay it?
Should I move it to Standard Life or elsewhere like Virgin tracker /Isa ?
Should I leave it and freeze it and pay the £ 75 into overpaying my mortgage ?
Should I leave it and freeze it and pay the £ 75 into an Isa ?


Or anything else I've not thought of ..

Many thanks indeed for your opinions

Radar

what happens to your pension if your company goes bust be for your 65??

dunstonh

what happens to your pension if your company goes bust be for your 65??

Being a unit linked stakeholder (as it almost certainly is), it wouldnt matter.