Royal London won't let hubby increase deposit amount, help please

Alphamare

Hubby set up a pension with Scottish widows now Royal London.
His maximum contribution was set at £150. He stopped paying in (this was before meeting me) anyway finances are all now in order and I've asked him to start paying in again at £500 pcm. They have told him they won't allow a penny more than the original without permission from a financial advisor.
Seriously!? This can't be right surely!?

Do we really now need to find a financial advisor or should we just go with an alternate supplier for the remaining £350pcm

Thanks!

bigadaj

There's probably a number of issue at play.

The insurers now don't tend to retail to consumers so just go through advisers, the plan he has could also have valuable guarantees which they obviously won't continue with as they are losing money on such policies with current interest rates.

So it is better and more practical to set up a new plan with a new provider, there's no problems with having multiple pension plans running.

Cheapest options are diy but you then have to choose your investments, cavendish are often quoted as a dso count broker that allows you to access pensions with low fees. Alternatively use an ifa which could be used as an opportunity to review his wider financial position but will obviously cost some money.

rpc

They probably don't deal direct with consumers. It's quite common.

Either go down the advised route and get an advisor or, if you believe you are sufficiently competent, go DIY.

Don't try to go DIY on an advised product - it doesn't work!

dunstonh

Hubby set up a pension with Scottish widows now Royal London.

That would suggest that at some point, he transferred his pension from Scottish Widows to Royal London as there is no link between those two companies. Unless you meant Scottish Life.

They have told him they won't allow a penny more than the original without permission from a financial advisor.
Seriously!? This can't be right surely!?

They are correct. Royal London issue their product via intermediaries. Not direct to public. So, the intermediary does all the work.

Do we really now need to find a financial advisor or should we just go with an alternate supplier for the remaining £350pcm

Either of those.

Alphamare

bigadaj wrote: »

There's probably a number of issue at play.

The insurers now don't tend to retail to consumers so just go through advisers, the plan he has could also have valuable guarantees which they obviously won't continue with as they are losing money on such policies with current interest rates.

I'm afraid I don't follow? Guarantees? Are they required to continue with them if they are already in play? Might trying to increase contribution then negate these?
If we get a FA will we be able to find out?

Thank you all for taking time to reply to me, I appreciate it

We will explore both options and possibly try and increase the payment to £250 and go to self for the other £250.

We have saved up living expenses and will be exploring stocks and shares within the next 6-12 months, I'm reading the boards al,last daily trying to educate myself but it feels very alien and scary. I thought pensions was the best place to start.

edinburgher

Remember that pensions are just a wrapper in which you can hold stocks and shares, bonds and other things that you'll still need to learn more about if you go DIY

Alphamare

edinburgher wrote: »

Remember that pensions are just a wrapper in which you can hold stocks and shares, bonds and other things that you'll still need to learn more about if you go DIY

Thank you, is there a dummy guide out there that you would recommend as a good starting point?

I don't even know the difference between stocks shares bonds etc:money:

xylophone

Try Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing".

Re a pension for your husband, something here might suit.

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/
have you both obtained state pension statements?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

dunstonh

How did the RL pension get set up in the first place? Are you still in contact with that adviser?

Is the RL pension still suitable and up-to-date compared to modern options?

Alphamare

dunstonh wrote: »

How did the RL pension get set up in the first place? Are you still in contact with that adviser?

Is the RL pension still suitable and up-to-date compared to modern options?

It was probably Scottish life like you suggested as he never transferred anything. The advisor was a very long time ago and came to his then employers while he was apprenticing there.

He doesn't remember more than that.

I'm assuming it's a current plan since it was only taken over last year?

I think we will ultimately seek professional advice for the long term.
I'm just wondering how they help if it's all a bit of a gambol?

Alphamare

xylophone wrote: »

Try Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing".

Re a pension for your husband, something here might suit.

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/
have you both obtained state pension statements?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Thank you

I'll check out cavendish as they are mentioned regularly for being good and with reasonable rates.

We have not, got a while to go but I didn't work for five years so I may need to do some kind of catch up?