should I combine my pensions?

dellymar

I've been paying into 3 separate pensions for a number of years (all recommended by different ifa's in the past) I'm now 50+ and wondering if I should combine any or all of them ( 1 of them is a retirement deposit account & only made £5 in interest last year!, I've spoken to them & there is no exit fee so I could just move this 1 to 1 of my other providers).
I've moved over the years & no longer have access to any of the original advisors, I've checked out unbiased.com but they seem to be looking for clients with big pension pots & mine certainly isn't. I don't want to be talked into starting a new scheme as I'm only working part time & cannot afford to pay out any more than I already do so - I'm not sure of my next move.

Your_Hero

You should consider the advantages and disadvantages of using each plan. Some of the things you want to pay particular attention to are the plans': features, guarantees, flexibility, costs, investment choice, administration. Some of your pension providers may also be closed to new business and so won't accepting transfers in.

However, this approach in itself may be flawed as we would in effect limit ourselves to choosing, what may be, the best out of a bad bunch. You may be better off consolidating all 3 plans under a new plan.

kidmugsy

If you are 55 or older next tax year you could cash in one or more, and then recycle all or part of the "income" fraction (75%) - but not the tax-free lump sum fraction (25%) - into a further pension contribution, so building up more entitlement to a tax-free lump sum in future. Or you could bung the cash into an ISA - saving for retirement needn't be into a pension if an ISA suits you better. Or, if your horizon is short term, you could use the loss-leader current accounts that are paying good interest rates at present.

One thing you'd want to do before you acted is to check whether any of these pension funds offer features that you'd be unwise to lose, for example an attractive Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR) or, if With Profits, the possibility of a terminal bonus.