What to do with small L&G Pension

johnhson

I'm about to hit 60 (unbelievable!) and a Legal & General pension is due to mature. The fund value is about £26K. I won't be retiring for at least 5 years and have sufficient cash savings in the building society.
So I phoned them thinking it might be best to just leave it with them until I'm actually ready to retire.
I asked what the performance was like over the last 3 years - in other words, is it growing net of charges better than an ISA might.
Couldn't get a straight answer - just pointed to their website which doesn't help.
Now, £26K is not much in pension terms but quite a chunk of money to us. I'm told an IFA will cost £500 which is crackers in relation to the pot.
I could add extra money to the pot but if it loses money it's not worth it.
I've a couple of other small pensions with L&G which mature in 2020.
Any ideas what I should do?
Thanks

kidmugsy

johnhson wrote: »

I'm about to hit 60 (unbelievable!)

Ain't it? But just you wait for 61, 62, 63, ......

kidmugsy

If I found a provider uncooperative like that I think I might send them an e-mail making An Official Complaint. There's every likelihood that it would then be passed to someone with the authority, gumption and intelligence to deal with it properly. We've done this only once; not only was it dealt with promptly, but they gave us a little gift by way of apology.

dunstonh

nd a Legal & General pension is due to mature.

Only if you choose it to. The date on a personal pension, stakeholder pension or SIPP is indicative only for statements. You dont need to take it at that age if you dont want to.

I asked what the performance was like over the last 3 years - in other words, is it growing net of charges better than an ISA might.

Pensions and ISAs have access to the same funds. So, the performance would be exactly the same if you had the same fund.

Now, £26K is not much in pension terms but quite a chunk of money to us. I'm told an IFA will cost £500 which is crackers in relation to the pot.

its not crackers in relation to the pot. In fact the cost to you getting it wrong could be much greater.

Couldn't get a straight answer - just pointed to their website which doesn't help.

The provider has two options here. Send you a fund factsheet for you to read or refer you to their website so you can download it yourself. They are not authorised to give opinion or advice and the person on the phone is not qualified to to really go into any detail that you are looking for. Hence why the produce documents you can read.

johnhson

dunstonh wrote: »

Pensions and ISAs have access to the same funds. So, the performance would be exactly the same if you had the same fund....
...The provider has two options here. Send you a fund factsheet for you to read or refer you to their website so you can download it yourself. They are not authorised to give opinion or advice and the person on the phone is not qualified to to really go into any detail that you are looking for. Hence why the produce documents you can read.

The page they pointed me to has a list of funds showing performance but I don't know which fund the money is in and, therefore, the performance of my fund. Neither does it say what charges apply.
As for being authorised - they were happy enough to send a salesman round to sell it originally.

dunstonh wrote: »

its not crackers in relation to the pot. In fact the cost to you getting it wrong could be much greater.

I'm afraid we'll have to differ on that - last time I saw an IFA I was told how an endowment mortgage would pay off the mortgage with a handsome bonus on top and we know how that ended up, don't we
One might think that financial products are made deliberately complex to befuddle those buying them.

dunstonh

I don't know which fund the money is in and, therefore, the performance of my fund. Neither does it say what charges apply.

Your statements tell you this information.

As for being authorised - they were happy enough to send a salesman round to sell it originally.

They did have agents about 20 years ago. However, regulatory requirements were very different then. Almost non-existent compared to today.

I'm afraid we'll have to differ on that - last time I saw an IFA I was told how an endowment mortgage would pay off the mortgage with a handsome bonus on top and we know how that ended up, don't we
One might think that financial products are made deliberately complex to befuddle those buying them.

You need to stop living in the 1990s.

atush

Get out your statement. READ it. the fund is on it. Then search that fund on Google if you dont want to use their website and see the performance. there will be a sheet showing you the % that it went up each of the last 5 years, and it will tell you how it performed against the index, and its peers. It will even has a spiffy chart?

You can even get a rough idea if you take 2 statements from the last few years and see how much it grew/fell. Work out the % with your calculator.

If you dont want to do these things, then 500 quid is cheap for the handholding you appear to want? Nothing wrong with wanting some handholding, but you do have to pay for it in this area.

Alternatively, get our your statement and write here what it says? We'll try and hold your hand for you lol

johnhson

dunstonh wrote: »

You need to stop living in the 1990s.

Blow that - I'll go for the 1970s, thank you!

atush wrote:

Get out your statement. READ it. the fund is on it.

OK - got it RTFM

atush wrote:

If you dont want to do these things, then 500 quid is cheap for the handholding you appear to want? Nothing wrong with wanting some handholding, but you do have to pay for it in this area.

It hardly seems unreasonable to expect the people who have my money (L&G) to give some straight answers to straight questions.

Anyway, got it figured now - thanks for your help.

atush

They did, they referred you to their website which has the funds and performance on it.

They give you annual statements which you can compare easily to see how much it went up/down annually.

Not sure what else you needed from them, except regulated advice which they cannot supply by law?