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Ditching some old pension arrangements!

*Denise*_2
Posts: 24 Forumite
I'm reviewing my pension and DH's.
It turns out that DH has a number of sub-optimal pensions:
Abbey - protected rights - cash!
Abbey Life - about half protected/half non-prot - invested in Abbey Pensions International and Manged series - which both seem to be dogs.
Norwich Union - personal pension with a small amount
My initial thought was to transfer to a SIPP - I already manage our ISA unit trust portfolio so this would be an extension of that. But because of the inability to transfer the protected rights parts into a SIPP that's probably out. The AL non-protected fund is £15k - I'm wondering whether that is too small for a SIPP? (There wouldn't be any monthly contributions.)
In terms of getting a person pension, either BestInvest or H-L sent me details of a Scottish Widows (stakeholder actually) scheme, but it seems to limit use of external funds to 30% of your investment. Are there better personal pension schemes in terms of the spread of external funds?
My final question is - if a pension fund has an external fund, is it likely to be exactly the same as a unit trust I could buy for my ISA, or is it a special pension fund? In the Scottish Widows brochure for example, there's is a 'SW Schroder Managed Fund' - is that really unique to SW or is that just a branding exercise?
Denise
It turns out that DH has a number of sub-optimal pensions:
Abbey - protected rights - cash!
Abbey Life - about half protected/half non-prot - invested in Abbey Pensions International and Manged series - which both seem to be dogs.
Norwich Union - personal pension with a small amount
My initial thought was to transfer to a SIPP - I already manage our ISA unit trust portfolio so this would be an extension of that. But because of the inability to transfer the protected rights parts into a SIPP that's probably out. The AL non-protected fund is £15k - I'm wondering whether that is too small for a SIPP? (There wouldn't be any monthly contributions.)
In terms of getting a person pension, either BestInvest or H-L sent me details of a Scottish Widows (stakeholder actually) scheme, but it seems to limit use of external funds to 30% of your investment. Are there better personal pension schemes in terms of the spread of external funds?
My final question is - if a pension fund has an external fund, is it likely to be exactly the same as a unit trust I could buy for my ISA, or is it a special pension fund? In the Scottish Widows brochure for example, there's is a 'SW Schroder Managed Fund' - is that really unique to SW or is that just a branding exercise?
Denise
0
Comments
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In terms of getting a person pension, either BestInvest or H-L sent me details of a Scottish Widows (stakeholder actually) scheme, but it seems to limit use of external funds to 30% of your investment. Are there better personal pension schemes in terms of the spread of external funds?
Scottish Widows PPP is better than their SHP. The Scottish Widows retirement plan may be a better option. It can be cheaper than HL and it takes protected rights. It is marketed towards larger fund values though.My final question is - if a pension fund has an external fund, is it likely to be exactly the same as a unit trust I could buy for my ISA, or is it a special pension fund?
Not exactly the same. It could be a mirror fund or reinvests into the main unit trust fund. There could be a lag on the dealing which work for and against you.
That said, some providers, including Scottish Widows do offer the unit trust funds in one of their pension contracts and not the pension funds. The use of the real unit trust funds can make a contract more expensive but can be preferable as you get the real investment.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 -
Are there better personal pension schemes in terms of the spread of external funds?
Standard life's PP is worth a look - 1% charge and big range of external funds, plus they have the best internal funds of any of the insurers, including several rated funds of "external" type quality.Trying to keep it simple...0 -
Thanks dunstonh and EdInvestor.
It looks like I would need to go through an IFA for the SW retirement plan, so I would probably never have found that! (I'm guessing I can go through one of those execution only brokers and get it that way.)
Where a fund is internal rather thane external is there a good way to assess its performance?0 -
The discount brokers are IFAs. They are just IFAs with a website. Any IFA can be approached to transact execution only basis and most will offer you more favourable terms. This includes your local IFAs with no website.Where a fund is internal rather thane external is there a good way to assess its performance?
A really rough rule of thumb is that insurance companies tend to be quite good at low risk funds. Your gilts, corp bonds, other bonds and property. They tend to be awful at stockmarket. So, a low risk investor could get better value for money with a personal pension using more internal funds than a high risk investor who wouldnt have as much coverage in low risk funds.
As for performance, internal fund data is published the same way as external fund data.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 -
Try looking here for fund ratings:
https://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds.Home.aspx
Re IFAs without websites who allegedly offer good deals, frankly for most people, one suspects life is too short to hunt them down when there are already half a dozen companies who have bothered to get online and provide transparent information about their discounted terms.Trying to keep it simple...0 -
EdInvestor wrote: »
Re IFAs without websites who allegedly offer good deals, frankly for most people, one suspects life is too short to hunt them down when there are already half a dozen companies who have bothered to get online and provide transparent information about their discounted terms.
Doesn't make them better just because they are online. I was offered better terms on a life insurance policy by an IFA than Cavendish were able to offer. I'm sure it doesn't take a few minutes to phone around a few local IFAs to compare terms.0 -
Thanks everyone. I will try and do a bit more research into the most appropriate pension provider by looking at citywire and then figure out which is the cheapest way to get that pension!0
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