Transferring a frozen pension to a Private Pension scheme?? (buy to let property)

stewart-page

Hi I'm new to the forum but would love some advice or help on my a frozen pension I have.
I currently have an amount of money that is frozen with Mercer/Marlowe Holdings. I'm looking to withdraw the funds in there and put it into a buy to let property and use that property as an investment. Would I be able to class this as a personal pension scheme? and is there a way of accessing the cash? (I'm only 32 too) When I spoke to Mercer this morning I was told that I cant withdraw the cash but I can transfer it to another pension scheme, so I was also wondering are there other pension schemes out there that allow you to transfer into but also withdraw at any point? Also would there be penalties to pay in doing this?
Sorry for so many questions
Stew

atush

You cannot invest in residential property within a pension environment. you can invest in property funds, and in Sipps into commercial property.

In no cases of actual property would you be able to "withdraw at any point". In some funds, you would.

deeboy1

You should take a good read of this thread as it will help you understand the rules around pensions:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3447527

It's very unlikely your pension is 'frozen', in most cases it should be continuing to grow.


You can't invest in BTL as part of a pension although you could invest in commercial property via a fund. But anyway, it would likely be a very bad (or at least very risky) idea to put all or most of your pension savings into one illiquid property unless you are well diversified with significant investments in other asset classes elsewhere.

If you were convinced you wanted to BTL then you wouldn't be able to access it to do so until 55 (soon to be 57 if you are under 42 years old) - it's a pension, not a savings account.


But IMHO you'd be best to make sure you are investing it in a good all-round equity or multi-asset fund at a reasonable charge, and only move it if you can get a cheaper management charge elsewhere.