Aviva stakeholder pension help

gavvy

Hi

I have an Aviva pension - it was called a stakeholder now something else but the charge is 0.8% and its invested in Aviva's UK and Global equity funds 60/40%

What do people think of these funds and the charges- should I transfer it elsewhere? maybe a SIPP?

Reading cavendish website I could do a transfer and re-position and cut the AMC, should I do that, it has about 25k in it and I put £300 a month in it currently

dunstonh

it was called a stakeholder now something else

Stakeholder pensions cannot be changed into something else unless YOU transfer out of them. Their rules are set in legislation which the provider cannot change.

Most versions of the Aviva stakeholder that were issued over the years had fund based discounts. This could take them down to 0.4% p.a. potentially (depending on version bought).

What do people think of these funds and the charges- should I transfer it elsewhere? maybe a SIPP?

Why are you considering a SIPP? What is it about a SIPP that makes you think it is better?

Reading cavendish website I could do a transfer and re-position and cut the AMC, should I do that, it has about 25k in it and I put £300 a month in it currently

it would mean transferring out of your existing pension into a new pension. Any benefits on the old pension would be lost. So, you would need to be sure that the new one is better.

iceman101

gavvy wrote: »

Hi

I have an Aviva pension - it was called a stakeholder now something else but the charge is 0.8% and its invested in Aviva's UK and Global equity funds 60/40%

What do people think of these funds and the charges- should I transfer it elsewhere? maybe a SIPP?

Reading cavendish website I could do a transfer and re-position and cut the AMC, should I do that, it has about 25k in it and I put £300 a month in it currently

I re-pensioned my Aviva personal pension through Cavendish to reduce the AMC from 0.8% to 0.4% and chose the same fund.

[Deleted User]

This is what i'm in the process of doing, AMC of 0.875% to 0.45% staying in the same Aviva fund. Cost £70 quid through Cavendish but when you do some calcs this is money well spent.

Cheers

Plus

A stupid question... Cavendish advertise charges of 0.55% on the bottom tier for Aviva stakeholder. They don't make any mention of fund charges. Am I right in assuming that this is their platform fee, and the fund charge (eg 0.75%) is on top of that? Or is 0.55% the total fee? I can't see how that would work, given the fund managers need paying.

Just wondering how this compares with their SIPP which has platform fee of 0.3% and then fund charges on top.

jem16

Plus wrote: »

A stupid question... Cavendish advertise charges of 0.55% on the bottom tier for Aviva stakeholder. They don't make any mention of fund charges. Am I right in assuming that this is their platform fee, and the fund charge (eg 0.75%) is on top of that? Or is 0.55% the total fee? I can't see how that would work, given the fund managers need paying.

The 0.55% is the total fee you would pay provided you chose their internal funds. For external funds there would be an additional fee on top and you should be able to find this amount if you click through to the fund information.

Just wondering how this compares with their SIPP which has platform fee of 0.3% and then fund charges on top.

It can be cheaper to use a personal pension or stakeholder if you don't need the extra features of a SIPP.

dunstonh

A stupid question... Cavendish advertise charges of 0.55% on the bottom tier for Aviva stakeholder. They don't make any mention of fund charges. Am I right in assuming that this is their platform fee, and the fund charge (eg 0.75%) is on top of that? Or is 0.55% the total fee? I can't see how that would work, given the fund managers need paying.

Stakeholder pensions are not platform based. They remain bundled in pricing and are mono charged. i.e. just one charge.

A personal pension may offer better value for money compared to a stakeholder or SIPP.

Plus

jem16 wrote: »

The 0.55% is the total fee you would pay provided you chose their internal funds. For external funds there would be an additional fee on top and you should be able to find this amount if you click through to the fund information.

Thanks. It seems the trick is to look for funds under 'Pension' and not 'Pension Portfolio' as I was doing - the latter all have (significant) extra costs.

dunstonh

Plus wrote: »

Thanks. It seems the trick is to look for funds under 'Pension' and not 'Pension Portfolio' as I was doing - the latter all have (significant) extra costs.

Portfolio is the Aviva SIPP. It can be cheaper than Aviva stakeholder. It can also be limited to a personal pension selection and can be cheaper than their personal pension.

So, it can be cheaper. However, as a SIPP can have whole of market investments (about 30,000 options) you can get all sorts of prices across the range.