Equitable Life (again... sorry)

janed9388

My husband has a very small (and old) pension with EL. Unit linked, value at 1/4/15 £8384.57 which apparently includes £8384.57 'protected rights' (not sure what this is)

I've finally got around to thinking about this, read every thread here that I can find about EL and am still confused, as far as I can work out my options are.

1) leave it where it is, it'll be worth £28 per month when he retires according to the paperwork (he's mid / late 40's now)
2) transfer it free of charge to another fund (currently in managed, I'm liking the look of North American)
3) ?? cash it out and put it somewhere else (but for a fee as yet unknown)
4) ?? cash it out and stick it in an ISA.

For background, we both are in public sector pensions and have been for a long time and are likely to be till retirement (probably won't quite make maximum years in but will be almost there)

any advice or suggestions as to other options would be much appreciated.

Nual

I also had a small EL and in the public sector. I switched it to my Pru AVC when the letter came round saying EL were closing some of their accounts. there wasnt a charge - just asked the pensions section to move it. The Pru AVC plus EL will give me my 25% tax free lump sum when I retire ( next week!)

dunstonh

My husband has a very small (and old) pension with EL. Unit linked, value at 1/4/15 £8384.57 which apparently includes £8384.57 'protected rights' (not sure what this is)

Protected rights was abolished a number of years ago. It would have been reclassified as non-protected rights. Although some providers kept the split due to old computer systems and renamed it former protected rights.

I've finally got around to thinking about this, read every thread here that I can find about EL and am still confused, as far as I can work out my options are.

Most of the Eq Life threads wont apply to your husband as he doesnt have the type of plan they would be referring to.

2) transfer it free of charge to another fund (currently in managed, I'm liking the look of North American)

Managed is multi-asset. It is there to be used by inexperienced investors who do not know how or do not want to build their own portfolio. The North American fund is designed to be held with a range of other single sector funds to build your own portfolio and asset allocation. Not to be held by itself.

3) ?? cash it out and put it somewhere else (but for a fee as yet unknown)
4) ?? cash it out and stick it in an ISA.

Pension is more tax free than the ISA. There can be justifications for doing this but most would not benefit from doing it.
If you "cash it out", you will also have potential tax.

5) transfer to another pension.

mgdavid

"(he's mid / late 40's now)"

surely he (not you) cannot 'cash it out' until he is aged 55.

janed9388

Thanks for the comments,

re the protected rights - that is the term they used in the paperwork from 1st April last year and they go on to explain that the "plan value includes £8384.57 for 'protected rights' investments. This value may be reduced if you take your retirement savings before 60" - I had read that they were abolished but it definitely doesn't say former protected rights. I guess I better dig back in the paperwork and see what their interpretation and why they are using the inverts.

Inexperienced is definitely the word to apply to me (us) - would I be right in thinking the North american should not be held alone as it is higher risk and therefore more likely to go down (so you need other funds to balance it ?) - can I split it between the various funds they offer ??

He tried to transfer it into his current civil service pension but they wouldn't let that happen so I guess we could look at another provider

re cashing it out before 55 - I guess that was the question more than an option but had not thought that we would get taxed on it but that does make sense now.

xylophone

http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/media/95132/avcs-1_march15.pdf

Will the AVC provider accept a transfer?