We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that dates on the Forum are not currently showing correctly. Please bear with us while we get this fixed, and see Site feedback for updates.
Scottish Widows free standing AVC

savingpennies
Posts: 692 Forumite


Now that I have sorted out all our ISAs and other savings I want to address my husband's pension. Back in 1988 we dreamt of retiring in our 50's ( I know!) and my husband took out this FSAVC contributing £35.10 a month with £9.90 tax relief. It was originally taken out with tSB (later LLoydsTSB) and is now run by Scottish Widows. I have several questions about this pension:
a) Where can I find out what it is invested in and whether it is being invested well compared to others? On the yearly statement it does say 'managed pension fund' but that seems a bit vague.
b) If it's not what can we do about it? Can we cash it in? Would we lose the taax relief by doing so? Can we transfer it to a better fund/company? Can he transfer it into his company pension?
Sorry about all the questions, but I'm on a steep learning curve here.
a) Where can I find out what it is invested in and whether it is being invested well compared to others? On the yearly statement it does say 'managed pension fund' but that seems a bit vague.
b) If it's not what can we do about it? Can we cash it in? Would we lose the taax relief by doing so? Can we transfer it to a better fund/company? Can he transfer it into his company pension?
Sorry about all the questions, but I'm on a steep learning curve here.
Books - the original virtual reality.
Tilly Tidying:
Tilly Tidying:
0
Comments
-
a) Where can I find out what it is invested in and whether it is being invested well compared to others? On the yearly statement it does say 'managed pension fund' but that seems a bit vague.
You are in their manged fund which is in the balanced managed sector. Its a jack of all trades, master of none fund. Its for the lazy investor or non-servicing adviser. (typical bank adviser fund)b) If it's not what can we do about it? Can we cash it in? Would we lose the taax relief by doing so? Can we transfer it to a better fund/company? Can he transfer it into his company pension?
You cant cash it in and you are not in the full retail scottish widows product. You have a cut down product with the scottish widows logo on it but it isnt the real scottish widows product.
You can transfer it to a personal/stakeholder or self invested pension or leave it where it is with a better fund spread (although you wont be spoilt for choice).I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
Thank you Dunstonh, it's just as I suspected. Now to think about the stakeholder or SiPPs route. Any opinions about the positives/negatives of each?
He is already in a final salary, 1/60 pension which he and his employer have been contributing to since 1987. And he contracted out of SERPS (on the advice of his company who employed a pensions advisor at the time) and invested that into a different pension (AXA Equity & Law).Books - the original virtual reality.
Tilly Tidying:0 -
Scottish Widows does a respectable personal pension with a big choice of good external funds and reasonable charges.Maybe you should open one of those and move both the FSAVC and the Serps pension into it, making sure you pick a selection of those quality external funds to invest the money in.
Never forget the pension/FSAVC is just the tax wrapper.What's important is the funds the money is invested in.
Make the arrangments through a discount broker such as https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk and you will save money as they will rebate the commission.Trying to keep it simple...0 -
Where can I go to find out other pension providers and how they compare?Books - the original virtual reality.
Tilly Tidying:0 -
Pension providers dont vary that much. A few features here and there but the charges are mostly similar.
This is an investment and it's the investments that vary. You need to look at the investment first. Find out how and where you want to invest and then see who offers the best option to achieve that. You dont look at provider first.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
Thank you for your reply. I've already started to look at the kinds of funds Scottish Widows provide and have just telephoned to make general enquireis about transferring to other SW funds only to be told they would send out a funds guide for LloydsTSB. SW obviously only do the admin. As you say I obviously need to do a lot more research rather than just switch to alternative funds with the same provider.
Where do I start looking?Books - the original virtual reality.
Tilly Tidying:0 -
Start here:
https://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx
Here you will find the top funds rated by category.
https://www.h-l.co.uk also has some useful info about best performing funds on its website.
https://www.trustnet.com/pen
will show you which provider offers which "external" funds - these are the ones you want, those offered by other companies, not the pension wrapper provider itself.
Scottish Widows and Standard Life both have a good selection.Trying to keep it simple...0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 348.4K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 452.4K Spending & Discounts
- 241K Work, Benefits & Business
- 617.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 175.7K Life & Family
- 254.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards