Friends Life - How do these charges compare?

Mothman

I have a Friends Life DC personal pension (oringinaly Sun Life) which my employer used to pay into, but since May I have had to go into the the NEST scheme to continue to receive contributions from them.

I therefore need to decide what to do with the old FL scheme. From what info I can find on TrustNet the fund I am in seems to be a middle of the road performer but I was wondering how the fees on this scheme compare and whether they are about the norm or excessive. My aim is to start working part time at aged 60 (currently 54) and will probably need to access this fund at that stage. I understand the FL scheme doesn't allow drawdown and so I guess I am going to have to transfer out at some stage but was undecided whether to do this sooner rather than later?

Pertinent Facts
Fund: FL Managed AP
Fund Value: £107737
Transfer Value: £105844
Fees (from the oringnal Sun Life Document):
Accumulation Units: 1.0% pa
Capital Units: 4.50% pa
Monthly Admin fee: £2.76

philwal_2

If you have capital units you will find that friends life will apply a penalty on transfer. If this is the case check what the selected retirement age is on the policy and change it to age 55 and see if this removes any penalty applied.

neilvw

From the figures provided the transfer penalty is £1,893 (equivalent to 1.8% of the fund value).

This is typically the charges they would have collected on the high-charging capital units up to the selected retirement date (SRD)

The providers normally won't reduce the penalty if you move your SRD earlier but it's worth a shot.

philwal_2

There a couple of providers who's charges are removed when retirement ages are moved within 5 years of retirement date.

Mothman

Thanks for the replies.

How do the annual fees compare, are they about average for a pension plan?

dunstonh

1.0% is the benchmark used. So, you are right on that benchmark. you can get cheaper and you can get more expensive.