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Aviva Pension Portfolio

I have a personal pension with Aviva but am looking to transfer it to a Sipp. Aviva have a platform called the Pension Portfolio and I was wondering if anyone knew whether this was a 'competitive' Sipp, whether it would work out cheaper than transferring to another provider altogether?

On the Aviva website they say you should talk to an IFA but why can't I do this directly with Aviva - it would save on any commission fee?

Comments

  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 118,602 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Aviva have a platform called the Pension Portfolio and I was wondering if anyone knew whether this was a 'competitive' Sipp, whether it would work out cheaper than transferring to another provider altogether?

    The Aviva wrap platform is currently one of the cheapest platforms on the advice side for small to medium sized funds. The pension within the wrap platform comes in three versions depending on the assets you want to use.

    I am finding on my own analysis that the Aviva Life & pensions personal pension is actually a tad cheaper in most cases than the internal funds version on the wrap platform. Although it would depend on the amount invested. If you want external funds then the wrap platform does offer advantages. A mix and match approach goes down very well. If you want true SIPP functionality (property etc), which most people don't, then it probably wouldnt be ideal for that.
    On the Aviva website they say you should talk to an IFA but why can't I do this directly with Aviva - it would save on any commission fee?

    IFAs dont get commission. It would be a fee. If you went direct you would save neither as the cost of the product does not include the cost of retail. So, even if they did offer it direct to public, there would need to be some retail charges in there. With commission to platforms being banned from April 2014 for new business, Aviva is already priced with that in mind. Intermediaries dominate the pension market. The DIY market, whilst large and growing, is still small. Firms wishing to offer their product direct to consumer need to consider regulatory costs, the retail charges (which would be on top of the product charges post RDR/platform review) and the volume of business required to be profitable. There probably isnt much of a market available at this time for a DIY offering at a cost effective price. Remember that the adviser is doing all the work. From creating the account on the wrap platform to getting the forms signed and buying/selling the funds. In the DIY side they wont have that. So, they either need a system that gets a consumer to do all that and do it accurately to prevent a lot of re-work or they need to pay staff to do it. Either costs money and without volume of money coming in, it won't be worth it.
    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.
  • Dunstonh

    Initially when I set up my pension I did this through an IFA. The IFA actually have there own wrap platforms. If I requested them to transfer my pension to the Aviva Pension Portfolio scheme rather than their own scheme could they refuse to do this? I'm not sure how their own scheme matches up cost wise with the Aviva scheme and have requested a meeting with them. As they are an IFA though surely they would be obligated to offer me the 'best' advice?
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 118,602 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    The IFA actually have there own wrap platforms. If I requested them to transfer my pension to the Aviva Pension Portfolio scheme rather than their own scheme could they refuse to do this?

    An IFA cannot have their own wrap platform and be called an IFA. Whilst the FSA did indicate it was theoretically possible, the FCA have shut that door and would consider any adviser that was using an in-house platform only as being a restricted adviser and could not refer to themselves as IFA. At this time, this is ongoing debate but you are starting to see a number of IFAs move to restricted due to the change in position from the FCA.

    Whilst they cannot prevent the use of Aviva without justification as an IFA, they can refuse to transact execution only (effectively DIY).
    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.
  • Dunstonh, may I ask what you size of pension you would call a 'small to medium' size?
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 118,602 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Dunstonh, may I ask what you size of pension you would call a 'small to medium' size?

    Depends on age if you want to put it in context but out of context, around £25k for small and £100k for medium.
    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.
  • sandsy
    sandsy Posts: 1,744 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    JJforever wrote: »
    As they are an IFA though surely they would be obligated to offer me the 'best' advice?


    Advisers, whether independent or not, are required to provide 'suitable' advice. There's lots of product options out there that might be suitable for you.
  • mania112
    mania112 Posts: 1,981 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    We have extensive experience with the Aviva Wrap, a few pointers:

    It's not really a SIPP. If you want to self-invest in the truest sense of the term, you can't. Aviva Wrap is an advised product and fund switches (for example) would need to be handled via an IFA.

    They do have a huge fund bank and you can incorporate ISA's, investments into the same customer account (only thing not possible is Bonds).

    Aviva Wrap is competitively priced. We have a deal of flat rate 0.25% pa whatever the fund size (the default is a tiered structure depending on the funds used). This compares with Fidelity's new Platform and a few others.

    We also often use the Aviva Investors Multi Asset range, which are decent performers and low cost.

    - The reason providers say you should speak to an IFA is to remove themselves of any liability.
  • mania112
    mania112 Posts: 1,981 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    sandsy wrote: »
    Advisers, whether independent or not, are required to provide 'suitable' advice. There's lots of product options out there that might be suitable for you.

    And yet on the other hand they raise their eyebrows if you constantly direct clients to the same provider/product.
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