standard life payout

bootman

No I have not had any voting forms through from standard life.

The pension is not occupational my previous company closed this scheme aslo with standard life back in 2002. All the employees then had to transfer the funds into this new set up 'group personal pension fund' which as I said previously the policy number still remains the same .

All that has changed really from me filling out the forms to change to a personal pension is the paying in details. Direct from my bank account instead of deducted on my payslip and my new employers details to contribute.

So if things had not have changed do you think I would have received voting forms or my employer? who actually was the member me or my employer.

EdInvestor

So if I understand you correctly, there was formerly a company occupational money purchase pension scheme at Std Life, of which you were a member, and this is now closed ( with the contributions remaining at Standard Life?) You would not have been a Standard member via this scheme, regardless of whether or not your money was in the WP fund.The trustee of the company pension scheme would be the member.

And now, new contributions are going into a new Group personal pension scheme, same company, and also at Standard Life?

Are any part of your contributions to the new GPP going into the With profits fund?



[It's probably going to be wise if you run through what's happened with the company trustee people I suspect.]

dunstonh

When standard life change you from a GPP member to an individual pension plan, the policy number is changed. The letter at the start is changed to a "K" i believe. This is the letter that indicates individual plan.

bootman

My pension was under a group personal pension plan from June 2002 to December 2004. My plan number started with the letter 'k'.

I moved to a new employer and I advised I already had a pension of my own and they agreed to pay a % a month directly to it. They do not contribute to any other employees pensions.

The scheme is now personal and no longer a Group plan as I asvised standard life I wanted to carry on with the plan myself. My letter of the plan is still 'K' as before.

There is no new scheme trustee as I am on my own.

But surely as the plan has always been in my name from 2002 same number as well why would they treat me as a new customer?

dunstonh

Strange that is was K in the first place as that is the letter for individual plans. It could be that it wasnt a true group scheme in the first place but each was an individual plan which the employer paid into (which virtually all stakeholders allow).

Normally a group PPP will make some reference to the company in the documentation so take a look at the original paperwork and see if it does for you.

bootman

All my documentation was worded with my employers name as the GPP. This has now been deleted so just my name appears but the plan was a 'K' and still is.

Should I not take their word that I have no rights as the plan number has not changed since the policy was taken out in 2002.

If they say I have in effect taken a new policy which I have totally arranged and sorted out directly with them on my own, why in the new schedule for my payments they have sent state that they will be paying commision to the financial advisor that set up the GPP for my previous employer.

EdInvestor

bootman

You haven't confirmed you are invested in the With profits fund.If you're not, the status of your policy/scheme/GPP is irrelevant.

Since there's no trustee to speak to, for clarification call the IFA you mention.

margaret_3

My endowment policy matures in August next year. Will I lose out as they might demutualise after then? Is there anything I can do to continue to be a member?
Margaret

EdInvestor

My endowment policy matures in August next year. Will I lose out as they might demutualise after then? Is there anything I can do to continue to be a member?

#You can roll over the proceeds of your endowment into a With profits bond.That will continue your membership.There is a risk in doing this though: Standard life WP bonds have no penalty free exit clause where you can withdraw your money (usually on the 5th or 10th anniversary of purchase). Thus, if Standard was to slap a Market Value Adjuster penalty on, you could lose money: or you could find yourself "trapped" in the bond waiting for the MVA to be lifted.

Depending on the size of your policy, you might consider reinvesting a portion but perhaps not all of the proceeds. Remember that the windfall comes in two bits- the flat rate (likely to be 500 quid) and the variable rate ( a percentage of policy value).Thus the "return on your investment" is higher for smaller amounts than bigger amounts due to the size of the flat rate. We won't know the percentage of the variable rate until closer to the time, as it depends on the stock market to a large extent.

System

My policy matures this month and in the paper work it says your membership will stop at maturity. If you re-invest through a Maturity with profits bond your membership starts when the new plan starts. There is therefore no continuous membership of the company. I assume that this means that there would be no windfall payout?