Pearl Prosperity Pension Plan - With Profits

louieamy

I have a Pearl Prosperity Penson Plan - with profits that I don't pay into anymore. The Guaranteed pension fund as at year 2026 is £4,801.02 with a transfer value of £4,493.34. I also have a Pearl Retirement Annuity - with profit with a guaranteed pension fund at year 2026 of £10,118 (no transfer value mentioned). No bonuses are being added to either. Would I be able to either transfer one into the other to make one "pot" rather than two tiny ones or would there be other companies that would let me transfer them both into. Any advice appreciated.:)

dunstonh

Would I be able to either transfer one into the other to make one "pot" rather than two tiny ones

No. Retirement annuity contracts ceased to be available for increments in 1988. Pearl stopped accepting increments on everything else (other than contracted increments) in 2003.

or would there be other companies that would let me transfer them both into.

That would almost certainly be a bad move on the RAC front. Most of Pearl's RACs have guaranteed annuity rates which are about 50% higher than the open market rate. The value is in that rather than the bonuses. i.e. any alternative would have to grow 50% just to stand still. Also, some of Pearls RACs have guarnateed minimum maturity values. These can be highly valuable.

louieamy

So my only option is to leave them both as they are? If that is the case at the moment they are telling me an annual pension in 2026 might be worth £190 and £971.33 on the other. Would I be able to take a lump sum on retirement on either or both of them. I do have a pension I am paying into at the moment which I am relying on for retirement.

itsmeeagain

I have a pearl plan, now phoenix life of around ¨£4000 pension fund

Can I cash this in and get the money.

jamesd

louieamy, even if you could take a lump sum from them it would be a bad idea. Better to use the guaranteed annuity rate to get higher annuity payout and to get lump sums from elsewhere. You won't get comparable annuity rates elsewhere unless you have health conditions that affect your life expectancy, like smoking, heart trouble, diabetes and such and even those might struggle to get a payout higher than a GAR from this sort of plan.

itsmeeagain, please start a new topic and say more about exactly what type of plan you have. In general if you are aged 60 or over you can take lump sums for whole pension pots if the total value of all of your non-state pensions is £18,000 or less. After one year from the first you can never do this again for the rest of your life. The value of any work final salary types that pay out an income is 20 ties the annual income for this calculation. Otherwise the limit is £2,000 maximum from up to two work final salary types and up to two personal pension types. What is sensible to do will depend on the specific plan and the rest of your financial circumstances, notably your other income sources and reason for wanting a lump sum.