can't transfer without a financial advisor

atush

"my frozen pension
in 2009 it was valued at £7,816.34 with a yearly pension of £746
in 2011 it was valued at £8,073.69 with a yearly pension of £681
in 2012 it was valued at £9,097.99 with a yearly pension of £440
in 2013 it was valued at £10,082.70 with a yearly pension of £305

now i fully understand that the way things used to be calculated was wrong and things needed to change ... i get that ... but i thought that was all sorted out a few years ago now ... why am i still losing money every year on the pay out of a pension?

What am i not understanding ? "


You aren't understanding that the authorities said to be more conservative with growth figures in future. So pay no mind to the projected pay outs, but instead pay attention to the growth/performance of the funds in the last 1/5/10 years.


I just got one of my 4 pension statements. I just passed over all the Cr*ppy projections of what I would get in future compared to last year, year before etc.


Despite the whole fund was up 19%, the projected income had actually gone down from last year. I feel they have been so castigated for past overoptimism, they re now being too cautious perhaps.


So really I think you need to get out past statements and just see how your fund has performed, and it you want a projection, use a calculator that you control the figures. If you want to compare, use ones from years past, or if you dont, use your best guess on worst/best.


Edit to say you posted since I did.


And clearly the figures they gave you don't add up?

Linton

elantan wrote: »

According to the paperwork in front of me right now it is stating the Aegon 50/50 one has grown at 5.44% with a 1.29% growth rate per annum ... which in a way doesnt make sense as 1.29% x 7 years is more than 5.44 %

just to double check this is the Scot eq 50/50 caut mgd collec pn sc ... dont know what the pn sc means but its with Aegon

if thats the same account that you have then there is deff a discrepancy as it deff states here 5.44% total growth with a 1.29% per annum ( i cant quite figure out how that works though)

my fund management charge for the fund is 1% ... i'm assuming this is standard ? there is an asterix next to the 1.00% AMC bit that states, this fund had an additional charge, but there is nothing on my statement to say what that charge is , so i had phoned them the other month and asked ... i was told it is an additional .15% ... taking my AMC to 1.15% per annum ... i would be better staying with H&L at that rate...

i wasnt really thinking that the equity one that i had was anything other than luck tbh as i know i am not skilled in picking funds etc . i was just merley thinking along the lines of comparison with going it alone and seeing someone to help me out ... as i say though i do not in anyway shape or form blame the IFA i know how good a job IFA's can do ... and i know they can only go with what a person tells them...

Seems strange. Here is the fact sheet from Aegon which shows an increase of 70% in the past 5 years - more or less since the low point of the crash. Unfortunately data from more than 5 years ago is difficult to come by. The full list of Aegon pensions is here.

Are you still paying into the pension? If so, remember that the pension on average has been invested for only half the period between 2006 and now.

kidmugsy

elantan wrote: »

it is saying in todays money it could be worth the above amounts but thats it so far, i cant find anything about fixed rate or inflation so far but will have a more closer look ...

When it says "in today's money" it means that it has allowed for inflation, so the pension you will get is projected to have the same purchasing power as £305 p.a. has today.

elantan

Atush thanks also ... the figures for the one you are talking about is the frozen pension that i have, the one i was talking to Linton about was the other pension both are with Aegon as well ... sorry it is very confusing i know ...

i am wondering if there is some discrepancy with the figures given to me today by the I.F.A tbh as i am now more confused than ever ( not that that is hard )

The thing with the frozen pension ( i may be using the wrong term here ) is that there isnt anything i can do with it really till retirement time, so in a way whilst i am keeping a wee eye on it i am not relying on it if that makes sense ... especially as it keeps going down lol

i think though that yes i will keep an eye on how it is performing rather than projected outcomes ... i remember Dunstonh saying a while ago that there were changes with the way they had to be calculated but i thought that that had all settled down by now and we could get a much more realistic outlook on how much to expect, but i think i may be a bit too early still with that

so will look towards how it is performing rather than how much

thanks

elantan

Linton wrote: »

Seems strange. Here is the fact sheet from Aegon which shows an increase of 70% in the past 5 years - more or less since the low point of the crash. Unfortunately data from more than 5 years ago is difficult to come by. The full list of Aegon pensions is here.

Are you still paying into the pension? If so, remember that the pension on average has been invested for only half the period between 2006 and now.

i was making adhoc payments into the pension due to my husband having a breakdown and us needing to worry about the mortgage etc for a bit ... i have slowly been making some small payments into it every month for the last 6 months or so 20% of my overtime at the top just to try and get used to the money coming out every month again

will look at the links you have provided thanks ...

i think i will send Aegon a wee email as well asking them how the fund has been going since 2006 as maybe i have been given the wrong info

thanks again much appreciated

edited to add: have just looked at the link you provided and it certainly is different from the information i have been given today ... i dont really know what to make of it all tbh, if though it is performing at the % shown in the link then i would be delighted to stay in this fund ...

elantan

kidmugsy wrote: »

When it says "in today's money" it means that it has allowed for inflation, so the pension you will get is projected to have the same purchasing power as £305 p.a. has today.

yep i kinda get that bit ... but its still going down ... surely £440 last year will be 2.% less this year but if anything the £440 should have went up by 2% rather than down to £305 ( for example)

kidmugsy

elantan wrote: »

The thing with the frozen pension ( i may be using the wrong term here ) is that there isnt anything i can do with it really till retirement time, so in a way whilst i am keeping a wee eye on it i am not relying on it if that makes sense ...

Are you sure there's nothing you can do with it? I thought that money purchase schemes could be transferred into Personal Pensions.

elantan

maybe things have changed then? this is what i was told in 2006 when i went to take out a personal pension, the reason i had taken the frozen one into them was to put the two of them into one ... was advised that it couldnt be done and that i should just leave it alone

atush

Generally speaking, all PPs can be transferred. I am thinking your pension perhaps isn't a normal PP but maybe something more specialized (or with GARs, gmp etc). Were you ever contracted out of Serps?




We don't have the details.

elantan

I know I deff wasn't contracted out of SERPS cause I phoned HMRC the other month and checked

It says on it " Trustee proposed section 32 buy out " if that makes any difference ? Will have another good look at the paperwork though

Thanks again

Sorry it's all confusing