Trying to Increase contributions.

bokkie

Hi all.
I currently have a stakeholder pension with Scottish life.
It was a company scheme, but after being made redundant in 2008, I carried on paying into it.!
I recently enquired about increasing my contributions, but was told I can't as it's a continuation scheme, in order to increase contributions I would need to change the scheme to a personal pension.
Now scottish life say I have to go through a financial adviser to do this.
I asked if I could open a personal pension with them and then transfer my continuation scheme, they said I could but only through a financial adviser.
The problem is that all the advisers I've spoken to want to charge me 3% of my pension to advise me and to move it into a new fund.
I don't really want to shell out such large portion of my pension to an adviser, so could I do this on my own?
Could I just open a decent, low risk stake holder pension and then transfer my other scheme into ?
It is currently valued at £38000, so 3% would be a pretty large sum in my opinion.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.

GhIFA

Scottish Life only distribute through intermediaries so that is why they won't let you do this direct.

If you're comfortable enough doing this yourself then you can set up your own Personal Pension/Stakeholder.

Cavendish Online are one such company that would enable you to do this, I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any off the top of my head right now - Cavendish offer access to a number of providers (of which Scottish Life are one funnily enough). Be aware that you will be responsible for selecting the investments etc, hence the reference to only doing this if you are comfortable doing so.

bokkie

Thanks for your reply. As far as I'm aware scottish life choose the investments, could I not just go for a low risk scheme that does the same? I dont really know enough to have to choose my investments.
Maybe I'd be better off just starting a separate pension and leaving my scottish life as is with the same contributions?
Or maybe an adviser would charge less to advise me on which pension to go for, and then I could transfer it myself at a later date?
Tying to look after your future is hard work!

dunstonh

I recently enquired about increasing my contributions, but was told I can't as it's a continuation scheme, in order to increase contributions I would need to change the scheme to a personal pension.

That is not uncommon.

Now scottish life say I have to go through a financial adviser to do this.

Scot Life only distribute through IFAs and RFAs. Not direct to public

The problem is that all the advisers I've spoken to want to charge me 3% of my pension to advise me and to move it into a new fund.

They have to be paid for doing the work.

Could I just open a decent, low risk stake holder pension and then transfer my other scheme into ?

You could. Although the Scot Life PPP is typically cheaper than a default stakeholder pension. Remember that the people setting up the stakeholder will want to be paid as well. Typically factored into the annual charge rather than an explicit fee.

It is currently valued at £38000, so 3% would be a pretty large sum in my opinion.

Big enough to make a personal pension cheaper than stakeholder pension.

Or maybe an adviser would charge less to advise me on which pension to go for, and then I could transfer it myself at a later date?

With an adviser, you are paying for advice. Not the product. So the cost would be the same.

Your options are really to DIY or to use an IFA (ignore the RFA option).

xylophone

http://www.unbiased.co.uk/ worth a browse if you go the adviser route.
http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/transfers-and-repensioning/
http://www.pensionsnetwork.com/pension_transfers/CompanyPensionMain.html
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/transferring-between-pension-schemes

bokkie

Thanks, the advisers I contacted were all on unbiased.co.uk.
I don't dispute that they should be paid for their services, I just think 3% is a bit much which is why I'm looking to see if I can do it myself.

atush

Scottish life didn't 'Choose' your investments, but there was probably a default option which you chose when you joined.

You could mirror this in your new SL pension with Cavendish if you wanted to, and were happy with it.

dunstonh

I don't dispute that they should be paid for their services, I just think 3% is a bit much which is why I'm looking to see if I can do it myself.

Its not much for a pension transfer. Unless you are retiring in the next 5 years then its almost certainly cheaper than a stakeholder pension (which doesnt have 3% up front but would be more expensive annually).

which is why I'm looking to see if I can do it myself.

There are options for DIY. You pick the provider, the version of their product you want and the investments. With the right distribution channel it will cost you less than an IFA but the wrong distribution channel will cost you more.