How long does it take to open a personal pension

penwise

How quickly can you open a personal pension?

I want to open one and put a large lump sum into it for this financial year 2015/2016
Thanks

greenglide

If it is a DIY one done on line no time at all. The limiting factor tends to be getting the money to them.

Ring the provider and ask them?

penwise

Thanks for the reply - I am not sure who I am going with yet - any suggestions would be welcome.
Will I be able to access the pot at 55 ( I am 53) or is it now 57.
Thanks

peterg1965

I am with Hargreaves Lansdown - the online platform is great and they are one if the biggest providers for a reason. I would recommend.

You can draw your pension at 55. It changes to 57 in 2028 so if you were born after 1971, you have to wait another couple of years!

greenglide

It is currently 55. No legislation has been passed to actually change this although the government did says that it "intended" to have it standardised at 10 years before State Pension age. From 2018 SPa for male and female will be equalised and start moving to 66 by 2020.

So, at present, the date should be unchanged in two years time (2018) but no-one can be 100% certain.

jamesd

Takes less than fifteen minutes with Hargreaves Lansdown and while they aren't usually the best in many ways they are excellent at this sort of thing. It'll get the job done easily with any hand holding you may need along the way.

woolly_wombat

jamesd wrote: »

Takes less than fifteen minutes with Hargreaves Lansdown and while they aren't usually the best in many ways they are excellent at this sort of thing. It'll get the job done easily with any hand holding you may need along the way.

I have also found Hargreaves Lansdown very fast. Their website is easy to navigate as well, unlike Alliance Trust's.

AnotherJoe

Another vote for HL. Super speedy and efficient.
They are not the cheapest but sometimes you get what you pay for.

penwise

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry - I should have explained my situation in more detail.

I am opening this pension for the short term - simply using it to get the 20% tax relief and then drawing down on it very quickly from 55 to help fund me until 60. Once I have made the large lump sum payment - future payments will be low ( no more than 3600)

I have very little understanding of shares at present

I am looking for a pension which gives a default investment choice( low risk ) and is low in cost to manage and low cost to change provider if required

I just went over to the HL site The pension provided here was SIPP - I think given my particular use for this pension and my current lack of understanding in relation to shares - stake holder would be better

Any advice on this would be appreciated

xylophone

If you so desired, you could open the HL SIPP and hold the money in cash for two years (at minimal interest), then draw down as you wish....
That way you wouldn't need to worry about swings in fund prices....

peterg1965

HL also offer some self selectable portfolios which are risk based. I wouldn't be put off as it's a SIPP vice Stakeholder. As has been said, you can also hold in cash as well and receive a very small amount of interest. If it's only for two years you are hardly going to see any inflation risk.