Pension money

tadworth

i had a pension plan in 1990 that i stopped after just £1000 paid in, i asked equitable life if i could get my hands on it now, but they said no. Is there any way i could get it ?

£1000 in 25 years when i'm 65 will buy one pint, and a pack of crisps !

atush

Not unless you are 55 or so ill you are likely to die in the next year.

But if you spent it now if you could, you wont even be able to afford a package of crisps and a beer in the pub as you will be too poor.

What other pensions have you amassed since this one? what do you intend to retire on if not?

tadworth

I don't understand what the big deal is over a thousand pound, i know Equitable life is having a hard time, but it will cost them more to admin this amount than they will make from it. The scrooges.

jamesd

The problem is the law. They aren't allowed to pay out any of the money until you are at least 55 years old.

dunstonh

I don't understand what the big deal is over a thousand pound, i know Equitable life is having a hard time, but it will cost them more to admin this amount than they will make from it. The scrooges.

What you want them to do is unlawful. It would also put you at risk of prosecution for tax fraud from HMRC (unlikely on £1000 but it would see a significant penalty and give HMRC an excuse to take a look at you) as well as the firm being subject to fines and regulatory actions that would go well into the millions of pounds. If that makes them scrooges then i cannot blame them.

atush

EL were also forced by the regulators to get out of equities in and into less volatile investments. So they aren't scrouges really. And i am pretty sure you can transfer this pnsion into another one.

Biggest item for you is, do you have another one or are you planning on being poor?

Zelazny

tadworth wrote: »

i had a pension plan in 1990 that i stopped after just £1000 paid in, i asked equitable life if i could get my hands on it now, but they said no. Is there any way i could get it ?

£1000 in 25 years when i'm 65 will buy one pint, and a pack of crisps !

Except that presumably it is invested, and the value will likely increase by more than inflation.

The law says that unless certain very specific conditions exist (serious ill health, for example), you can't gain access to any pension benefits until at least age 55. This is the downside that you agreed to by putting the money into a pension and getting tax relief on it.

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3447527 for more information.

srcandas

I have 4 private pensions:

Pru with profits 65k
Reassure 50k
Aegon/Scottish Eq 60k
scottish widows 2.5k

In August I will be 60 and as you can imagine I am being pestered by them as the possible decision date falls due.

Now I do not want any investment advice. I don't weant taking lump sum advice. I know about shopping around.

I do however want logistic options advice - the mechanics. Can I delay (and what if any are the penalties), is the with profits ok to leave running or are their pernalties?.

Now when I talk to the companies some get all "can't say, have you an IFA?"

Should I just pester them and stuudy the small print?
If I get an IFA to do this will they do it fixed price?
What might it cost?

Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Cheers :beer:

dunstonh

Now when I talk to the companies some get all "can't say, have you an IFA?"

To give advice, comment or opinion then you need to hold the FSA permissions to do that. Most insurers no longer have that permission. IFAs do.

Should I just pester them and stuudy the small print?

Depends on what you are looking for.

If I get an IFA to do this will they do it fixed price?

It is logical to get an IFA in as its a no brainer. If the IFA gets better terms then you win. If the IFA doesnt get better terms then the providers, instead of keeping the commission for themselves, they will pay it to the IFA.

Fee based IFAs have their own fee models. Some will do fixed fee either as an amount or percentage (with maybe a cap and collar)

What might it cost?

On those values, almost certainly less or at worst the same as if you were to do it yourself with a more limited selection.

Neverland

You should be able to get a transfer in form from one of your other pension providers to move the value of the fund with Equitable to one of your other plans

It might be a bit complicated because it is with Equitable but I would just be persistent

Fund managers/administrators don't make the process easy so they can keep earnings fees from your funds

I used to have a patchwork of pensions with about six different companies from different ex-employers plus personall pension schemes

I just consolidated it all into one low cost self invested SIPP I managed myself

I went from paying £5-7,000 a year in fund administrator, fund manager and IFA charges to about £100 a year through making direct investments I chose myself

I think you can easily save yourself £1-2,000 a year going the same route

jamesd

You should be able to get them to describe the features of their own products. It may take significant perseverance to continually say that you're not after advice, just a description of the product that you already have.

There may well be times, like at the chosen retirement date, when market value reductions don't apply to any with profits investments.

Do not just transfer. There can be very valuable guarantees associated with existing pensions and it is vital that you find out whether there are such guarantees before transferring. You can end up with twice the payout level from a guarantee as you can get in the open market today.

If you can't get answers about guarantees it'll be worth paying an IFA on fee basis to sort it out and get things consolidated if there aren't guarantees to protect. The value of your pension pots is high enough to make this cost-effective, though do shop around because IFA charges and services vary.