Company Pension - Made redundant - What to do?

ib7

Hi,

I have made redundant (last month). The pension is a money purchase scheme and is currently worth £9.5k.

The company have sent me letter asking whether to remain in the fund or transfer to another pension arrangement.

If I remain in the fund will I still have pay into this, like as if I was still working?

Or should I see an IFA? Looking on unbiased most IFA don't charge for 1st meeting. Is this all I would need or maybe 1 or 2 meetings?

Due to unemployment I am trying to work out what;s best and not spend money I didn't need to.


Thanks

bigadaj

The ifa won't charge for teh first meeting but you won't get much out of him at that stage, to get any recommendations you'll need to pay him, the lowest fee is unlikely to be less than £500 and may well be quite a bit more.

You wouldn't normally have to continue paying in, so the options are to leave it where it is or to move it to a new provider, cavendish are often recommended though they just provide the wrapper and you choose what you invest in. The main things to compare are charges and what investment choice you have, check the fees on the company scheme and post back and people may be able to offer opinions.

Linton

Leaving it where it is for the time being is probably the best option. There is no problem with this. It will continue to increase (hopefully) in value from its investments.

Then when you get a new job it may well be worthwhile transferring the old pension into your new employer's scheme or possibly elsewhere. But that's something to think about later.

kidmugsy

ib7 wrote: »

Hi,

I have made redundant (last month). The pension is a money purchase scheme and is currently worth £9.5k.

...
If I remain in the fund will I still have pay into this, like as if I was still working?

No, there's no call to pay into it.

If you leave it to grow, be sure to keep them up to date on your address and marital status.

It's worth checking on the level of charges they will make now that you are no longer an employee: that may affect your future decision on whether or not to move it.

If you are 55 or older you could take out 25% as a tax-free lump sum.

atush

Linton wrote: »

Leaving it where it is for the time being is probably the best option. There is no problem with this. It will continue to increase (hopefully) in value from its investments.

Then when you get a new job it may well be worthwhile transferring the old pension into your new employer's scheme or possibly elsewhere. But that's something to think about later.

Ditto...................................

ib7

Great thanks for info. Think I will do that.

Linton wrote: »

Leaving it where it is for the time being is probably the best option. There is no problem with this. It will continue to increase (hopefully) in value from its investments.

Then when you get a new job it may well be worthwhile transferring the old pension into your new employer's scheme or possibly elsewhere. But that's something to think about later.

jamesd

You should check whether the percentage charges for money in the pension increase when you stop working there. It's quite common for them to increase by 0.5% or so when someone leaves their employer. Among other names this is called an "active member discount", where active means a current employee.

It'll be free to transfer it somewhere else if you want to, whenever you want to, so you can just leave it alone for now.