What to do with my wife's pension she is self employed

pb8770

My wife has been self employed now for 18 months and she has a couple of frozen pensions and don't know where to start in getting her covered.
I'm in a railway pension scheme and I was wondering if it could be worth me paying more into mine which is called BRASS or AVC to boost mine so that it will or should be enough to cover us both on retirement. I know should anything happen to me after retirement it could be very costly to my wife where she could lose out.
I don't know what to do as most pension providers will only sell their own products or brokers will try and sell you products where they get the most commission.

dunstonh

she has a couple of frozen pensions and don't know where to start in getting her covered.

Are they really frozen? That term applies to a very small number of quite old pensions. It is frequently misused by people. They could be frozen, deferred or paid up.

I don't know what to do as most pension providers will only sell their own products or brokers will try and sell you products where they get the most commission.

Most pension providers dont sell their own product directly (or just retail a basic version if they do).
"Broker" tend to refer to internet sales without advice and they can get commission. However, advisers are not paid commission but are fee based.

I don't know what to do

What do you normally do when you dont know the subject? You either spend time researching it and hope you get it right or you employ someone to do it for you.

I'm in a railway pension scheme and I was wondering if it could be worth me paying more into mine which is called BRASS or AVC to boost mine so that it will or should be enough to cover us both on retirement.

Probably not tax efficient to do that as your planning would be lop sided and your wife'd personal allowance may not be fully utilised. Plus, pension on your death may not be as good and could leave your wife in shortfall.

Freecall

reeves100 wrote: »

We work in this way.....

Who is 'we'?

dunstonh

I genuinely believe it would be worthwhile seeing an Independent Financial Advisor. Not all of them work in this way

None of them work that way. Advisers are not allowed commission. Only non-advised sales are.

We work in this way & don't charge a fee to look at your options

So, that would put you in breach of the retail distribution review requirements. Its very honest of you to admit to breaking FCA requirements.