Had a good or bad experience with pensions advice or guidance?

jem16

spinpass wrote: »

I'm 59 and have a final salary pension with the USS. I have had conflicting advice about when I can draw the pension without actuarial loss. On the provider's website, it states that I can draw the pension now however in writing they have said I have to wait until I am 63 and a half. Confusing.

It should be written in your scheme's rules.

StephenP

I have two frozen private pension pots, both of which are quite small.
I also have a final salary company pension which, together with other savings and investments will provide more than I need each year.
I'm very clear that I want to take my private pension pots as 25% tax free lump sum and then drawdown the remainder over three years (to avoid excess income tax).
Both pension companies have told me that the only way I can do this is through a Financial Advisor, (They will only deal directly with them). I'm prepared to sign any document confirming my wishes and understanding of the risks, however the pension companies will not allow this.
A financial advisor who I've used before will take 3% of my total pots as their fee. I know this is not excessive, however I feel that I should not have to pay just to get hold of my two small pension pots. Added to this the pension companies will add an annual administration charge whilst I drawdown the funds.

jem16

StephenP wrote: »

Both pension companies have told me that the only way I can do this is through a Financial Advisor, (They will only deal directly with them). I'm prepared to sign any document confirming my wishes and understanding of the risks, however the pension companies will not allow this.

What kind of pensions are they? If they're Defined Contribution and no guarantees attached then simply transfer to a DIY provider rather than a provider that will only deal with IFAs.

CanFod

This question of getting advice is going to run and run. As a Chartered Accountant, I wanted to move my own pension into "capped drawdown" which would have had to be done before 6 April 2015. This would have had some tax advantages for me but they were not sufficient to warrant paying my IFA to organise it for me. The pension company thought they might be able to do it and gave me an e-mail address to write in to but never replied!
The pension companies don't want to see the funds flow out of their control. Accordingly, it seems very common for them to insist that a highly qualified IFA signs a form for them to say that the client has received comprehensive advice before drawing out their money. dunstonh is spot on when he identifies why IFAs are very wise to either refuse to do this or will charge a lot for the sign-off. They will be the people legally responsible if the pensioner regrets their decision at a later date.
If the government wants the relaxation in the regulations to be effective, it will need to ban the pension providers from insisting on IFAs signing-off before they pay out the fund to the policy holder.

Jobchange

Reading through the responses/ queries, I think some would benefit from a Pension Wise appointment. Particularly those who have a smaller pot.
They may not be able to tell people what to do but they will clarify what you need to be aware of! Knowledge is power and simplification of a complicated process might make it less confusing!

PaulGH

Hi - Despite all the legislation about being flexible and being able to move pensions, I have been told I can only move mine if I can prove that I have had independent financial advice. Having enquired about it, it will cost me in excess of £1,500 !!! And they look at it in pure economical terms, e.g. your expected lifespan is until age 85 so let me do the financials to age 85 and see what makes financial sense . The reality is that I want the money early so that I can still enjoy life and travel the world while I am fit enough to do it !!! Not much point in me having a bigger pension at age 80 + when I will probably only be fit enough to walk to my local shop !!! Please give us the flexibility to make our own decisions about how we want to enjoy life without having to pay big fees to Financial Advisers !! They are making a lot of money from this !!!

atush

Here is one for the MSE recorders. who want our experiences. Look at all the Police and teachers and NHS pension threads.

And see how poor the advice is to members in t heir schemes.

atush

PaulGH wrote: »

Hi - Despite all the legislation about being flexible and being able to move pensions, I have been told I can only move mine if I can prove that I have had independent financial advice. Having enquired about it, it will cost me in excess of £1,500 !!! And they look at it in pure economical terms, e.g. your expected lifespan is until age 85 so let me do the financials to age 85 and see what makes financial sense . The reality is that I want the money early so that I can still enjoy life and travel the world while I am fit enough to do it !!! Not much point in me having a bigger pension at age 80 + when I will probably only be fit enough to walk to my local shop !!! Please give us the flexibility to make our own decisions about how we want to enjoy life without having to pay big fees to Financial Advisers !! They are making a lot of money from this !!!

And you are planing on spending today what is meant for tomorrow?

ARE YOU PLANNING ON DYING EARLY? As 85 is not normal LE.

what type of pension is this? A db pension? Ie final salary type?

happyinflorida

Concerned_Relie wrote: »

Hi this is the first time I have ever posted on something like this. I am writing regarding my brother in law who is currently 8 years away from usual pension age. He is also a vulnerable adult and not able to manage money in a coherent way. He went for advice about drawing his pension early although we advised him we did not think this would be a good thing to do. He was advised by a large and well known Financial UK company that he would need to act before the new regulations came in!!! As a result we believe he took out the maximum amount ( aprox 31 k) in a capped release pension. He is lives in supported housing and has a care package for his social and his health needs this is all paid for by the DHSS. When he went to them to tell them (DHSS), not surprisingly all his benefits were stopped and he was told he would have to pay for everything himself. Because this money was not somewhere he could get instant access to (like a bank account) he panicked and drew more (post changes) for his rent. He also went on to draw a third amount possibly to pay the tax!!! The issue we are faced with is that the car package etc we helped put in place to keep him safe has now been breached and we are trying to see what we can do to limit the damage. We believe he will not be able to return his money to a pension and will need to spend it on his much needed care etc. He is also be hit with high rate tax for this financial year. He does not understand money fully and will most likely spend it very quickly, so what happens when it is all gone?. Since getting the money he has already been scammed over the internet and we suspect it was for quite a lot although he wont tell us how much. We are now trying to do what we can to protect him. Anyone got any ideas?

If he's a vunerable adult he may be able to have his finances looked after by the Court of Protection - it is complicated and you may need to get some advice from a solicitor but this would keep him safer.

If he was misinformed before it may be worth getting the Financial Ombudsman to look into what happened.

You can also get a note put on credit reference agencies advising that he should not get involved with any financial contracts due to his vunerability, but he has to agree to having this put on there.

happyinflorida

I don't trust the government nor do I trust financial advisors.

To me pensions are like going in a casino and gambling your life savings away, I haven't got a large pension coming to me because I've always been too scared of losing my money by putting it in a pension - especially after losing money when I got an endowment mortgage and that turned out to be an absolute rip off - the endowment company made lots of money and I lost £thousands.

So when I finally retire my pension/s will be very small and I'm worried about this and now I'm learning that the current government is mucking up the access of getting pensions, that's an even bigger nightmare. Our government is corrupt to the core so to be charged for accessing information to be able to get ones very small pension is disgusting and typical of this government.

It's all very frightening and worrying.