deferred pensions

shazzy70

Hi I have been doing the rounds and this site looks best to get advice. My wife has 2 deferred pensions and like a lot of us we just sit round waiting for someone to sort it out for us. My wife is currently working for the nhs and has been there for 10 years approx. last week she decided to phone up both her deferred pensions companies to find out the transfer figures and decided at her age it would be better off transferring both of them into the nhs. this is the stumbling block the nhs has told my wife that she should have transfer the deferred pensions within the first year. I know to a point it is our fault we didn't to this within the first year but we was put it off because we didn't want to lose money when we transfer each deferred pensions into a active one. the reason she has decide to do it now is that we have been told it don't cost anything to transfer a pension, please forgive us pension are not our strong point.


So our question is what to do with both deferred pension?.


The only thing I can think of is to transfer one into the other and start a paying into it so it can start working for her but if we can get away from doing this because we can do without the extra expense


Any ideas will be appreciate.


pete

atush

It would help if you told us mroe about the 2 deferred pensions. Such as, are they DB pensions like the NHS one? Or are they money purchase/DC pensions and have a 'pot' value?

If door no2, how much are the pots worth today? Where are they invested? Into which funds? The annual cost of keeping them there (ie %)

dunstonh

last week she decided to phone up both her deferred pensions companies to find out the transfer figures and decided at her age it would be better off transferring both of them into the nhs.

Also, if they are deferred pensions then this has a specific meaning and you have to be very careful when considering transferring deferred pensions. You say you phoned both pension companies which suggests they may be money purchase schemes. Can you clarify?

his is the stumbling block the nhs has told my wife that she should have transfer the deferred pensions within the first year. I know to a point it is our fault we didn't to this within the first year but we was put it off because we didn't want to lose money when we transfer each deferred pensions into a active one.

It says in the NHS pension booklet that you only have 12 months. Whether you transfer on day 1 or day 365 (or 5 years later if it was possible) it wouldnt usually make a lot of difference. It all comes down to the terms of the old scheme vs the new.

So our question is what to do with both deferred pension?.

I suspect they are not deferred. So, until we know what type of pensions they are, I am going to hold back from suggesting options.

The only thing I can think of is to transfer one into the other and start a paying into it

This increasingly suggests they are not deferred. It is one possible option but not the only one and it may not be the best one. For example, if both are older personal pensions then they could both be lower quality than modern options. So, an option could be to move both into a more modern scheme.

xylophone

deferred pensions companies

Do you mean that your wife previously worked for companies which provided a defined benefit pension scheme for its staff and that she has deferred benefits in both schemes?

Or do you mean that she worked for companies with a money purchase/defined contribution scheme probably provided through an insurance company and she left her benefits in these schemes?

OldBeanz

As stated by the others you need to let us know more details re the pensions. You also have to let us know what your ages are and plans as your wife may want to retire early to suit your retirement date or use her pensions to cut her hours down as she nears retirement. So it certainly not a show stopper that she cannot merge the old pensions into her NHS one.

shazzy70

hi and thankyou for all your reply's you differently know what you are talking and my apologies in not putting the correct info down and I still don't know if I am but will try my best. going back to when I called then deferral in my terms they are what I would called frozen pensions. this is when my wife left a private hospital to go to the nhs and she had a separate personal pension. these both stop when she when into the nhs pension which she had been into 10 years now My wife is 45 years old and she isn't on planning of early retirement


First pension is with Friend life where my wife worked for BMI healthcare it was a company pension with a value of £ 10,000 in it. now it says on the paperwork " the transplan policy is a deferred annuity contract ( section 32 buy out ) and is automatically treated as a registered pension scheme under chapter 2 of 4 of the finance act 2004 I hope this helps


Second pension is with Zurich Assurance this was a personal pension where my wife was paying into, the value in this one is £ 1,700.


I hope i have answer all you questions and again thankyou for all your reply's ..


Pete

xylophone

With regard to the S32 it seems likely that she transferred out of an occupational pension provided by BMI for its staff into one of these policies.

http://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/about-pensions/pensions-basics/contract-based-schemes/buyout-policies

Is there GMP? See http://www.financialadvice.net/s32_buy_out_plan/zone/1288

Does the Zurich Pension have any form of guarantee?

shazzy70

Hi xylophone thanks for your patience's and your help in my wife's problems. I cant find any info and maybe I am not looking in the right place about if the pensions have any Guaranteed Minimum Pensions. These are special schemes as they were able to receive transfers which included contracted out benefits known as Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMP), these broadly represent pension income that you would have received from the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) had you not contracted out, sorry just copy and paste this from one of the lnks you send me, my wife's says she was still in the government pension while she was with the bmi pension.


just in case I am wrong with the answer I gave you has she just got to phone up both company's and ask if the is any GMPs with either pension scheme she has?


thanks again and this just proves how clueless I am about pensions you have open my eyes about pensions


pete

shazzy70

Hi guys I have just found out that my wife has no guaranteed annuity rates that apply to both of her pension,


Any help with my wifes pensions would be great


thanks Pete

dunstonh

Does she have any GMP or guaranteed basic annuity or guaranteed sum assured?

shazzy70

hi dunstonh according to the transfers papers I have it says on both policy's Guaranteed annuity rates do not apply on these plans, I hope this means something on my wifes friends life policy it says current fund value is £ 10,369.11 and also says current transfer value £ 10,369.11, then I have 2 papers 1st paper says transaction summary total invested £ 8,990.66 and the 2nd paper says investment summary current fund valve £10,401,16


thanks for your reply


pete