best low cost personal pension

inthebubble

Having not got far with an IFA, I've decided to go it alone.


The new pension saving that I want to start now is to help to bridge the gap between 55 and 60 when my final salary pensions kick in.


I'm 52 now, and I have about £50k in S&S ISAs, plus the (not unwelcome) prospect of a bit of part time work in that five year period, so I may not need the pension money straight away at 55, and certainly not all in one go, so it doesn't have to be in super safe investments.


I propose to save about £20k gross by this route in this financial year and £35k gross in each of the next two years. (I have unused annual allowance).


I don't want to pick my own individual funds, I'd rather buy a packaged product suitable for my risk tolerance (which seems to be adventurous or moderately adventurous according to the risk profilers I've tried online) which will pick the funds, do the rebalancing etc for me.


Any advice about whether this is a sensible approach, and the best way to proceed, who with etc, would be very welcome.


(For background, I have one property; no mortgage; no dependents; about £29k/year in final salary pensions from 60 - this is, miraculously, my "number"; and about £130k in LGPS AVCs which I can access only when I take my main pensions, but I can take it wholly tax free).


Many thanks

xylophone

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/scottish-life/

This type of thing ?

gadgetmind

So, you have a 3-8 year investment horizon and really want to benefit from the tax relief?

I think you *do* need be going for more cautious investments. What would you do if the portfolio dropped in value by 30% or 50%? Would you still draw on the pension, feel that you had to leave it to recover, or something else?

gadgetmind

BTW, you may care to play with firecalc. You can see how different portfolios handle drawdown over 5-8 years given different asset allocations. You can also tell it that you're not retiring yet and putting funds in over the next few years.

mc4924

A not about xylophone above suggesting Scottish Life through Cavendish Online:

Note that Scottish Life doesn't seem to be any more among
Canvendish Online options.
If you go to their 'personal pension' page (instead of jumping directly to the link suggested by xylophone) you will see only Aegon, Aviva and Friends Life.

In fact their offering for personal pensions has been reducing more and more lately (I guess it's not very profitable for them)

saver861

mc4924 wrote: »

A not about xylophone above suggesting Scottish Life through Cavendish Online:

Note that Scottish Life doesn't seem to be any more among
Canvendish Online options.
If you go to their 'personal pension' page (instead of jumping directly to the link suggested by xylophone) you will see only Aegon, Aviva and Friends Life.

In fact their offering for personal pensions has been reducing more and more lately (I guess it's not very profitable for them)

This is a bit curious. The Cavendish website says Aviva personal pensions are not available direct and only available via IFA's. This is not correct as I understand it because Aviva has at least one Personal Pension product online that customers can avail directly and I believe the charge is 0.4% (plus any fund charges). Cavendish are charing 0.7%.

mc4924

This is a bit curious. The Cavendish website says Aviva personal pensions are not available direct and only available via IFA's. This is not correct as I understand it because Aviva has at least one Personal Pension product online that customers can avail directly and I believe the charge is 0.4% (plus any fund charges). Cavendish are charing 0.7%.

I think they are different products. The one Aviva sells directly is called Pension Portfolio and is a SIPP basically, while the one that Cavendish sells is a Personal Pension (Cavendish also has a stakeholder which Aviva used to sell directly but no longer does)

mania112

Aviva have 2 pension products available to new clients, Personal Pension and Pension Portfolio.

Personal pension is self-explanatory.

Pension Portfolio is their platform offering and is a SIPP.

Neither can be bought directly by an individual.

dunstonh

Aviva's pension portfolio needs an intermediary to carry out a number of transactions. Aviva's personal pension does not. So, I can understand them not offering pension portfolio.

mc4924

Aviva's pension portfolio needs an intermediary to carry out a number of transactions.

Looking at Aviva website it does seem that one can apply to Pension Portfolio directly from the website.
In fact there is a disclaimer saying something like "if you have any doubt in applying directly, consult an advisor otherwise you will not be able to complain later"
I cannot post a link, but from Aviva main page you can go to "Savings and retirement" then at the bottom "Pension Portfolio", then "How to apply"

dunstonh

mc4924 wrote: »

Looking at Aviva website it does seem that one can apply to Pension Portfolio directly from the website.
In fact there is a disclaimer saying something like "if you have any doubt in applying directly, consult an advisor otherwise you will not be able to complain later"
I cannot post a link, but from Aviva main page you can go to "Savings and retirement" then at the bottom "Pension Portfolio", then "How to apply"

That is interesting as an adviser I know has a client on the portfolio pension where Aviva will not transact a drawdown request without an adviser doing it on advised basis (or insistent client basis) and the adviser is not prepared to do it as advised as they dont believe it is good advice and their compliance wont let them do insistent client business in high risk areas (which drawdown is).

Maybe they allow it to be set up but the problems come later. Or maybe they have an in-house team to cover those things for ones set up directly.