Move Stakeholder to Final Salary Pension?

pb63

Hi there,



I’m after some advice regarding pensions.



I recently got made redundant from a company after working for them for 6 years, and have a stakeholder pension with them. According to my latest statement I have £28K today.



I recently joined a new company – a government agency and I am fortunate to have been able to join their Final Salary Pension scheme.



What I would like advice on is whether I should transport the balance from my previous stakeholder pension into my new Final salary Pension? Is there any benefit in doing this?



If there’s any information missing then let me know and I will try and find out. I am relatively young at 33, but of course want to protect my future as much as possible.

What is the general concensus in my situation?

Thanks for any help you can give

Linton

You need to get a quote from your new pension administrators stating what benefits a transfer would buy you. Only then can you make a proper assessment.

It may be very worthwhile, on the other hand there are advantages in having a separate private pension as you can access it more flexibly.

pb63

Thank you Linton, that's good advice. I will see if i can get any information from my current employer

AlanP_2

Adding to Linton's comments, the first thing to establish is whether the scheme allows "transfers in".

If it does (likely to) then ask the administrators to request a transfer value from the Stakeholder's administrators. When they have received this they will turn it into an "Additional Years Service" number which is then used (along with your actual years service) to calculate your FS Pension value at whatever accrual rate per year is in use.

Worth remembering that it is a FS scheme so you need to make an "educated guess" about where your salary might be in 25/30 years time i.e. possibility of promotions as well as annual pay increase.

crystal_pixie_2

PB,

I was in a similar situation with several DC pension pots and a good final salary scheme.

However, when I looked into it further if I was to add these pots to my FS as an AVC then purchasing an annuity was compulsory (even with the new rules).

It all depends upon your circumstances but I decided it was better to put all the pots into a SIPP and manage it myself. With annuity rates being so poor it then gives you further options.

It is best to find out the situation with the FS you have joined and then make a decision based upon that.