pension help needed 2 questions

sapman17

I had a relative who was a financial advisor who opted me out of the government pension into serps something called gan I have never earnt a fortune so from other advice on MSE is it true a should stay with it?
also i have over 10k just stuck in a friends provident in a with profit fund should this be moved to a new style pension and also i have a small ammount with norwich Union in one of the newer pensions can't remeber what there called though should i move in to 1 pension.
help v much appreciated.

dunstonh

I had a relative who was a financial advisor who opted me out of the government pension into serps something called gan I have never earnt a fortune so from other advice on MSE is it true a should stay with it?

Contracting out of SERPS (and later S2P) was generally a good move for most under 45s. Contracting out has now been abolished. So, there is no decision to make now. You are contracted in (if you were not already). As for the pension product you have, we cant say if its good or modern versions are better. Pensions are just like any product and they evolve and some old ones can appear poor quality compared to modern options but others will be absolute gems.

also i have over 10k just stuck in a friends provident in a with profit fund should this be moved to a new style pension and also i have a small ammount with norwich Union in one of the newer pensions can't remeber what there called though should i move in to 1 pension.

None of that can be answered without an analysis of the existing pensions against modern versions. You either need to do that yourself or get an IFA to do it for you.

jamesd

In general you look at the investments you want to use within the pension and the costs of holding them in each pension. Then you move to the pension that lets you do it at the best mixture of price and service for you. That might be a new pension.

You also need to check for guaranteed annuity rates that might be part of some older pension plans. For the with profit fund you should check for market value reductions though I'd hope that it's a unitised one with no penalties for moving it.

sapman17

thanks for your replies so there is no point moving the small one in to my larger pension or should i just get advice also just signed up to friends provident so i can learn more about them. my other pension is a norwich union stakeholder both
i can't afford yet to pay in to because of this crazy world