Virgin Stakeholder Pension...........

Sceptre

Has anyone had any experiences of Virgin Stakeholder Pensions, or any thoughts about them?

Would appreciate any feedback, good or bad.

JoeCrystal

Generally considered to be extremely bad as far I am aware of. Virtually any other pension schemes are better than Virgin Stakeholder Pension.

Cheers

Joe

Sceptre

JoeCrystal wrote: »

Generally considered to be extremely bad as far I am aware of. Virtually any other pension schemes are better than Virgin Stakeholder Pension.

Cheers

Joe

Had a feeling that might be the case.

Thanks for the reply Joe.

JoeCrystal

Sceptre wrote: »

Had a feeling that might be the case.

Thanks for the reply Joe.

I wonder why you got ? Is it because you already paid into one, going to open a private pension scheme or your employer chose this one and willing to contribute to it? Just curious, sorry if it is too rude.

Cheers

Joe

Sceptre

JoeCrystal wrote: »

I wonder why you got ? Is it because you already paid into one, going to open a private pension scheme or your employer chose this one and willing to contribute to it? Just curious, sorry if it is too rude.

Cheers

Joe

Not rude at all. I do have one. Many millions of years ago, after opting out of serps, my pension pot eventually ended up with Virgin. Some time later, I also started contributing to a Virgin stakeholder pension. I am not even sure why I made those decisions. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Anyway, whilst trying to get my finances into some sort of order, I asked Virgin to consolidate my two 'pots', which they did last week.

I now have a stakeholder pot with just over £35k in it. Tragically small I know. It clearly hasn't been a priority of mine.

After seeing some comments on the interweb, it seems that I have made some silly decisions.

I now need to transfer my pot to someone else to try and do something to improve my pension situation.

Any ideas?

dunstonh

Vigin has a strong brand that people will buy the name. The product itself is rubbish.

I now need to transfer my pot to someone else to try and do something to improve my pension situation.

Any ideas?

There is no one-size-fits-all best option. You have picked the worst previously. Do you think you will be any better this time?

Sceptre

dunstonh wrote: »

Vigin has a strong brand that people will buy the name.

That'll be the reason why I chose it then.


There is no one-size-fits-all best option. You have picked the worst previously. Do you think you will be any better this time?

Nope. I definitely cannot be trusted.

Question. Am I able to transfer the funds from my marvelous Virgin stakeholder pension to a personal pension with another provider, or am I now stuck with stakeholders until the bitter end?

jem16

Sceptre wrote: »

Question. Am I able to transfer the funds from my marvelous Virgin stakeholder pension to a personal pension with another provider, or am I now stuck with stakeholders until the bitter end?

You can transfer to a personal pension if you wish.

Sceptre

jem16 wrote: »

You can transfer to a personal pension if you wish.

Thanks jem. The reason I ask, is that I keep hearing that stakeholders have 'run their course'.

I have no idea what that means in the context of pensions. Is it because they are limited in choice of fund? Or something else?

jem16

Sceptre wrote: »

Thanks jem. The reason I ask, is that I keep hearing that stakeholders have 'run their course'.

I have no idea what that means in the context of pensions. Is it because they are limited in choice of fund? Or something else?

They are limited in fund choice.

However the main reason is the introduction of multi-charged personal pensions which can work out cheaper than the stakeholder depending on level of contribution and age starting. It did the job years ago but as far as charges are concerned has now been superceded.