'Flexible' pension providers

Debutante

Thank you Father (that has a nice ring to it ) and also gm.

I really do not know what to do. I think I would be happy with 25% cash now and the rest as an annuity.

I have already been shafted by charges so that has to be the priority now.

Should I try to research on my own or would you bbe able to give furthery advice for a virtual pint or a real one if you are in the wirral

wallpaperman

gadgetmind wrote: »

No, but you can take 2 x £2k via the stranded pots rule and then £18k under triviality at age 60.

I'd also be interested to know how a pot has gone from £10k to £k in 15 years. Sounds like it's been eaten alive by fees.

How can you take either pension of £4k and £17k as a stranded pot?

You can't go to the pension company and say that you want to slice off £2k from each policy to leave a nice total of £17k that you can conveniently take as triviality. They just won't allow it, that's not what the stranded pot rule was brought in for.

Debutante

I have done some rather amateur research on this. I do not think I am eligible for either the stranded pot or trivial commutation rules as I am not 60 and the value of all my pensions exceed the £18,000 limit.

Therefore it looks like I will have to take the 25% as cash and buy an annuity with the balance.

I have a further question
The £4k is with Abbey Life and the 17k is with Zurich
I want to minimise charges obviously and also get the best annuity I can so should I just buy two separate annuities with the respective companies or transfer them both to a single provider, take the 25% and buy the annuity from them ?

kidmugsy

Debutante wrote: »

Therefore it looks like I will have to take the 25% as cash and buy an annuity with the balance.

If you don't fancy Income Drawdown, I suppose that's true.

Debutante wrote: »

The £4k is with Abbey Life and the 17k is with Zurich
I want to minimise charges obviously and also get the best annuity I can so should I just buy two separate annuities with the respective companies or transfer them both to a single provider, take the 25% and buy the annuity from them ?

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave a few moments ago.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4846516

gadgetmind

wallpaperman wrote: »

How can you take either pension of £4k and £17k as a stranded

You can do a partial transfer of £2k from the £4k pot leaving 2 x £2k.

Pension rules would seem to allow this but pension companies are never the most flexible of beasts.

wallpaperman

gadgetmind wrote: »

You can do a partial transfer of £2k from the £4k pot leaving 2 x £2k.

Pension rules would seem to allow this but pension companies are never the most flexible of beasts.

As I think you realise by your second paragraph, there will not be a pension provider in the land who is going to take a stand alone TV, into a new policy, of £1999 or under for someone who is over 60 years of age.

Pension companies are struggling with margins as it is without the costs of setting up a policy that they know is going to then be settled right away, with all the associated costs of then paying out the small pot lump sum.

I've seen this suggestion made a number of times on here, but I've yet to hear of anyone who has done it or a company that would take this on.