Pension Options (3 small personal pensions)

TheShape

Hi all, looking to get some input on my pension options.

Quick bit of background. I am a 38 year old male with 6 years contributions to the Civil Service Nuvos pension scheme (pays at 65yrs old) and, so far, 1 year contribution to the new Alpha Scheme (linked to state pension age, 68 currently, but probably 70+ (if not 80+) when the time comes around).

Importantly, my partner is 11 years my senior. She will likely retire well before me but I would like, as far as possible to reduce the time to my own retirement or indeed, reduced working hours).

I have three old personal pensions (formally workplace pensions):

Friends Life (AMC 0.75%) Value 31st May 2016 - £1645.59

Aegon (AMC 1.25%) (recent statements show no charges for some reason) Value 22nd Jan 2016 - £501.79

L&G (AMC 0.1%) (looks to be in a 'Cash Fund' which might explain the low charge) Value 18th Sep 2016 - £1597.20

I would rather combine them together to make managing things easier.

What are my options?

Linton

It should be straightforward to combine them into one pension. Set up an empty new one and ask the provider to transfer-in the old ones. The other option could be to consolidate in one of the existing pensions but as they are old employers pension you will probably find they they wont accept transfer-ins.

A third option could have been to transfer into your alpha pension but I believe you can only do that in the first 12 months of your membership.

xylophone

If your partner will be looking to retire at state pension age and you wish to reduce your hours/ fully retire at the same time, then you'll be aiming to pay as much as possible into a private scheme that you can access when you are around 57?

You might consider opening a SIPP, transferring in the old pensions and then setting up regular monthly contributions?

TheShape

xylophone wrote: »

If your partner will be looking to retire at state pension age and you wish to reduce your hours/ fully retire at the same time, then you'll be aiming to pay as much as possible into a private scheme that you can access when you are around 57?

You might consider opening a SIPP, transferring in the old pensions and then setting up regular monthly contributions?

That sound like what I would like to do.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of the SIPP route?

TheShape

Linton wrote: »

It should be straightforward to combine them into one pension. Set up an empty new one and ask the provider to transfer-in the old ones. The other option could be to consolidate in one of the existing pensions but as they are old employers pension you will probably find they they wont accept transfer-ins.

A third option could have been to transfer into your alpha pension but I believe you can only do that in the first 12 months of your membership.

The Alpha option is closed to me. I also don't think it's going to allow me to access it as early as I'd like.

xylophone

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/guides/retirement/is-a-sipp-right-for-you/

You might find this of interest.

You might also like to read the information about SIPP on the Hargreaves Lansdown site.

The HL version is the only one with which I'm personally familiar - HL is not the cheapest provider but for a modest "pot" quite reasonable - the web site, administration and telephone service is very good.

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/ may help with choosing a platform.

http://monevator.com/using-vanguard-lifestrategy-funds-life/

http://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/

kidmugsy

OP, be sure to complete the Hargreaves Lansdown form, stating that in the event of your death you'd like your pension pot to go to your partner.

TheShape

kidmugsy wrote: »

OP, be sure to complete the Hargreaves Lansdown form, stating that in the event of your death you'd like your pension pot to go to your partner.

Does it make any difference that me and my partner are not married or civil partners. Am I just nominating a beneficiary?

TheShape

I'm interested in the SIPP route but also wary of the risks. I presume that I could have a SIPP and another personal pension alongside and pay into both?

jamesd

You're just nominating a beneficiary, it can be any person or people or any organisation. Or even a trust if you will have one of those set up.

You can have as many personal pensions as you like, whether they are the SIPP variety or not.