Standard Life pension question

jamesd

Standard Life uses the Active Money brand for two products. The Active Money Personal Pension is available only direct from them without advice and offers both flexible drawdown and UFPLS.

There's also the Active Money SIPP which offers more features and investment options.

Neither seems particularly competitive on charges but either could achieve the combination of tax free and taxable income that you're after.

I suspect that your interests would be better served by transferring to a place like Hargreaves Lansdown that's more focused on delivering excellent customer service to consumers. They offer the flexible drawdown and UFPLS options that I described earlier. You might want to try giving them a call if you have questions, since they should have no difficulty clarifying things. I think that they can normally even start a transfer over the phone if that interests you. They regularly offer a cash payment to those who transfer to them and you might ask about that if it's of interest.

xylophone

I believe "uffle-puff" was Gringotts' in-house UFPLS scheme.

This made me smile.....:)

ArmyDilllo

jamesd wrote: »

your interests would be better served by transferring to a place like Hargreaves Lansdown.

Thanks, I do already have some investments with HL.
I'm a little worried over the speed of transfer though.
I'd like to get the remainder of this year's tax allowance out before the end of March and have some evidence that pension transfers can take longer than this to go through.
Unfortunately (nice problem to have, I know), according to my forecasts, I may end up having to leave it in the pension or pay tax on it later.
I don't mind doing that with my other pensions, I don't mind doing it with this one if I must, but it doesn't seem to be the optimum option in my plans.
I shall look into it today though.

xylophone wrote: »

This made me smile.....:)

Thank you. Thank you. Try the fish. I'll be here all week.

dunstonh

I'm a little worried over the speed of transfer though.

Standard Life are quick. HL are a bit slow. (I have only done it from HL - Not to HL). SL tend to transfer out within 48 hours.

I'd like to get the remainder of this year's tax allowance out before the end of March and have some evidence that pension transfers can take longer than this to go through.

The transfer is not affected by your annual allowance or vice versa. So, it doesnt matter when that happens.

ArmyDilllo

dunstonh wrote: »

The transfer is not affected by your annual allowance or vice versa. So, it doesnt matter when that happens.

Thx Dunstonh.
I'm time constrained by my personal tax allowance (£11k this tax year, £11.5k after April).
I'm trying to avoid being (legitimately) liable for income-tax in future.
I believe I may have too much in this pension pot to be able to withdraw all of it in tax-free annual increments before my state personal pension kicks in in 2026.
My State pension and a couple of pre-purchased pension funds will the absorb my personal allowance and I will forget about whatever's left in my pension pots, allowing them to grow for my beneficiaries.


I have about £5k of my personal allowance left to use this tax year, so I'd like to get it out under this year's allowance and take as much of my £11.5k allowance from following years' allowances.

jamesd

Given the time to take it out tax free you might consider buying around £21,000 of one or more VCTs and also taking out your full basic rate band for a few years. Maybe something towards the lower end of the VCT risk range like Albion VCT (AAVC, not their others).The initial 30% VCT relief is payable up to the income tax paid in the year so it can effectively eliminate the tax cost. Have to hold the shares for at least five years or repay the relief. VCT dividends are tax exempt.

ArmyDilllo

jamesd wrote: »

you might consider buying around £21,000 of one or more VCTs

Cheers.
I don't know about VCT's as they've always seemed like too much of a risk for my appetite.
Not sure the returns are worth the risk either.
But it was good of you to point them out as they might solve some tax issues later for me, thanks.
Will need to take a closer look.

Robert60

I have been looking at the SL AMPP and similar personal pension products from other big suppliers, for drawdown. I will retire in the next few years, maybe sooner.


I have a slight concern about the protections for SIPPS (probably unfounded concerns), and I quite like the idea of just having a single multi-asset class/multi-region pension fund/fund of funds if possible from a single big supplier, even if it is more expensive.


For example only: I work out that the total annual cost for the SL AMPP platform with the SL My Folio Managed Pension III fund, after the size discount for my fund, is c0.9%. Is that competitive on costs? Or course, there may be better funds: I recognise that fund(s) choice is more important than costs. I'm just investigating at the moment. Thanks.

dunstonh

I have been looking at the SL AMPP and similar personal pension products from other big suppliers, for drawdown. I will retire in the next few years, maybe sooner.

Do not mistake big suppliers and the range of products they offer for quality or suitability. For example, the UK's largest provider of drawdown (plans in drawdown) is Royal London. They probably haven't made you radar.

That SL plan is probably their weakest product offering now. The other SL options are stronger (but not necessarily best). Also, the big insurers tend to retail via IFAs or intermediaries. Not direct to consumer. Where they do offer D2C, they tend to be quite poor at it.

: I work out that the total annual cost for the SL AMPP platform with the SL My Folio Managed Pension III fund, after the size discount for my fund, is c0.9%. Is that competitive on costs?

About twice the cost of similar elsewhere.

Potboiler

So a comparable Vanguard Lifestrategy fund is 0.22% p.a. at, for example, iWeb (Halifax/Lloyds, managed by AJ Bell) no annual fund admin.charge.

That's a differential of (0.9 - 0.22) % p.a.= £680 per £100K of pot. Over 20 years say, that's £13,600 per £100K pot.

Makes you think.