Workplace pension - change jobs

laroc

I have an existing pension pot but I am now about to change jobs
I change jobs quite frequently and I am always concerned about transferring plans each time to a new provider
Lets call my jobs A, B, and C
My last employer (B) didnt bother to deal with the paperwork to transfer in my funds from job (A)
They just couldn`t be bothered !
So when I left this week I found that I have two pension plans, albeit small change, so I intend to amalgamate these into one


Now starting a new job this week (C) can I get my employer to pay into my existing plan (A +B) and avoid using their (yet another) nominated scheme

Presumably, its my pension so I can choose the provider and the means of payment into the scheme

At least that way, I can keep to my existing plan and have total control over it

bigadaj

Probably not, they are putting money in so they can choose who runs the scheme.

There's nothing wrong with having numerous pension apart from additional paperwork and ensuring you keep track.

The best alternative is probably to set up your own personal pension or sipp, and have a single employers scheme running at any one time. Once you leave a job then transfer your old pension into your own pension.

This assumes that you have defined contribution schemes with no guarantees, so not final salary or similar.

Employer schemes often have the additional advantage of low fees, as well as employer contributions, but these generally rise when you leave their employment.

laroc

Thanks for that advice, that sounds excellent advice
So what you are saying is keep the two amalgamated pension (A +B) the feed that each time I leave an employer
Or
Do I set up a SIPP and transfer that into it ?

Googling SIPP, I found this reference:
"SIPPs can also have higher charges than other personal pensions or stakeholder pensions. For these reasons, SIPPs tend to be more suitable for large funds and for people who are experienced in investing.


I work in the Catering sector and I get recruited to try and salvage failing Coffee shops/Restaurants etc. So I may only be working for one employer for a couple of years before I move on to the next

Look forward to your reply

xylophone

http://monevator.com/choosing-a-investment-platform/

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/


You do not have to transfer to a SIPP - you could transfer into another type of personal pension.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/personal-pensions

https://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-and-personal-pensions/

You could approach an IFA.

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

LHW99

Alternatively could employer C's pension accept both A and B?

laroc

xylophone - will read all this info tomorrow
LHW99 - No idea, dont start new job until Thurs

Thanks to both of you

laroc

xylophone
Read all your links with great interest. At least now I have more idea about workplace pensions than i did before joining the forum
Well in reality, I knew nothing.
Cant do much more until my
(1) previous employer(B) who I left last Sat gives me the Pension Plan I was paying into
(2) On Thursday see what pension plan my new employer (C) is running

My first Plan (A) has been sitting idle for years with Friends Life which I now see is Aviva
On the Friends Life web site I cant find any info on Management charges, so I will contact them

I did find this quote in the Guardian about Friends Life
".....................It identifies 113 pension funds that have underperformed the market by more than 10% in each of the past three years. Among the worst providers that are failing to deliver returns is Friends Life, which has 23 "dog" funds. Other well-known pension providers with several "dog" funds are Prudential and Scottish Widows."

Whoops !
That`s a good reason to shift that asap

bigadaj

laroc wrote: »

xylophone
Read all your links with great interest. At least now I have more idea about workplace pensions than i did before joining the forum
Well in reality, I knew nothing.
Cant do much more until my
(1) previous employer(B) who I left last Sat gives me the Pension Plan I was paying into
(2) On Thursday see what pension plan my new employer (C) is running

My first Plan (A) has been sitting idle for years with Friends Life which I now see is Aviva
On the Friends Life web site I cant find any info on Management charges, so I will contact them

I did find this quote in the Guardian about Friends Life
".....................It identifies 113 pension funds that have underperformed the market by more than 10% in each of the past three years. Among the worst providers that are failing to deliver returns is Friends Life, which has 23 "dog" funds. Other well-known pension providers with several "dog" funds are Prudential and Scottish Widows."

Whoops !
That`s a good reason to shift that asap

Carry in with your research but don't take too much notice of the guardian article, journalists are terrible at knowing anything and the financial sphere is as bad as any.

The big insurers like friends life, prudential and Scottish widows will generally offer large numbers of funds for your pension, many of which will perform well. Their default funds generally won't be great, and older style contracts will be expensive but the quite really is lazy journalism.

Big insurers provide average or slightly worse funds isn't a headline after all!

Double check there are no guarantees in the old pension, highly unlikely if it's recent but older style arrangements have these and they can be very valuable.

In terms of costs then 0.5% total cost is a good number to target, less than this is good and much more is expensive unless you are doing soemthing specialist or complicated.

laroc

Charges- Yes I has seen on other Providers figures like 0.45 & 0.5%
Just emailed FF asking about their fees

dunstonh

I did find this quote in the Guardian about Friends Life
".....................It identifies 113 pension funds that have underperformed the market by more than 10% in each of the past three years. Among the worst providers that are failing to deliver returns is Friends Life, which has 23 "dog" funds. Other well-known pension providers with several "dog" funds are Prudential and Scottish Widows."

A number Friends Life pensions offer hundreds of funds. Same with Pru and SW. Many of these funds do not have FL (or the others) as fund managers but external fund houses. You are always going to get funds that underperform in a period. It doesnt matter who you are.

Some of the funds will be suited to a certain stage in the economic cycle. So, will do better in that period but not as good in the rest. Other funds will be higher risk than the sector average and will perform better in growth periods and perform worse in negative periods and vice versa for lower risk funds in that sector.

As mentioned above, you need to largely ignore media articles on financial services. They tend to be written either by lower knowledge journalists who think they are on to something when they are not or written by third parties who are asked to contribute and in doing do, they are allowed to use their company in the article as an example. i.e. self promotion.

In summary, FL have some cracking funds, some average funds and some poor funds. Just like everyone else.