Advice on sorting out my pension?

geek84

Good Morning Folks

I have 2 pensions with previous employers to which I no longer contribute.

I recently spoke to an independent financial advisor (recommended by a friend) who suggested that I combine these 2 pensions and put them in an investment which he recommended, because according to him, future income growth would be far greater than what I have now.

Do you suggest that I speak to another 2 or 3 independent financial advisors and then compare the results of each before deciding which investment to put my pensions in, or do you think I should take the advice of this financial advisor and go with the investment that he had advised, since he is independent and has access to the whole market?

Thank you.

bigadaj

Well the only things he can really compare are whether the investment is appropriate for your risk tolerance and charges.

has he completed a detailed fact find with you as yet, also how much is he proposing to charge you for his input.

If these are older plans then there may well be a saving to be had on charges, but you need to be clear on his fees and whether there are any guarantees associated with the old plans, are these money purchase, presumably not final salary.

dunstonh

I recently spoke to an independent financial advisor (recommended by a friend) who suggested that I combine these 2 pensions and put them in an investment which he recommended, because according to him, future income growth would be far greater than what I have now.

It depends on the reasons. We have nowhere near enough to go on.

Investments are about opinions. So, you will get different recommendations from different advisers. If the recommendation is based on costs, then that is nice and easy as the adviser will show you the old cost vs the new cost. If the investment is about performance, then the adviser is required to include performance data in their report which backs up the recommendation. You won't have got to that stage yet but you can ask the adviser to supply performance return comparisons so you can look at them (as you are going to see them anyway at report stage). If the adviser cannot supply that information then the recommendation is not sound. However, there is a caveat to that..... if the investments you have a poor quality. e.g. 100% into single sector or limited in funds that prevent a proper diversification of investments, then the recommendation may well be based on improving investment quality and matching risk profile but not specifically documented as improving returns. Indeed, there are scenarios where the best advice can result in a situation that lowers long term returns (whilst reducing short term volatility) because that is more appropriate for your knowledge, behaviour, and/or capacity for loss.

geek84

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your replies.

Any further advise greatly appreciated.

atush

Not until you give more information, as asked in the 2 posts above?

We dont have enough to go on?