Final salary transfer

elantan

Sorry I think I didn't quite make myself clear ... for doing the transfer he is charging a fee ... the commission is for the managing of the pension (I'm almost positive he said they take a % for running it every year as he said the more money we make the more he earns ?) I should have also made clear the bit where he says he doesn't know too much about it was fund managing, basically what he wants us to do is transafer the two pensions ( for which he charges a fee) into a managed pension for which he will be middle man and charge an ongoing fee every year ... Does that sound about right ?

But deffinately did say he charges a flat rate for the transfer ... he did also say he was qualified to level 6 and that other companies used themselves to get work done..

dunstonh

the commission is for the managing of the pension (I'm almost positive he said they take a % for running it every year as he said the more money we make the more he earns ?)

That will be an explicit fee. Not a commission.

I should have also made clear the bit where he says he doesn't know too much about it was fund managing,

Context is needed there. For example, on this site, I have said a number of times that IFAs are not investment managers. We do not have the knowledge or information available to do that. So, the IFAs will usually buy in the data and analysis. The IFA will structure the portfolio to the allocations based on the data they buy in. The IFA will pick the funds to fill the allocations but the investments will be managed by the fund house/fund manager. Not the IFA.

hyperhypo

i was in very similar recent postion to OP's case....offered a transfer value of £422k (pension of £14k in today's money, due in 5 years time).... and had saved £100k in SIPP , still saving.

Whilst the numbers in themselves looked enticing on the £422k (x 30 on present day valuation)...the fee requested was 1% ....i declined as had insufficient external savings/provision to the db scheme ...this was the defining point for me.

Also i had a sense that my overall situation had not been fully taken into account, that the willingness to effect the transfer was based on numerical analysis of the valuation, with little weighting for lifestyle, addition savings , rental income and so on.

And no explicit written advice to proceed accompanied the analysis, which also put me on alert.

So i'm sticking with my deferred DB scheme with all its inflation linking and dependant's provisions...and treat my separate DC savings separately, perhaps allow myself to be a little more adventurous , and happy to stick to a mixed approach.

dunstonh

And no explicit written advice to proceed accompanied the analysis, which also put me on alert.

There are concerns within the industry that some pension transfer businesses have been set up to do these transfers relatively cheaply and by the bucket load and then close down before it goes wrong and allowing them to dump their liabilities onto the FSCS.

elantan

Thanks everyone for the continued help ... it appears it may be a bit of a minefield to get through, the guy that came out has been working in this company for over 20 years, hopefully that will make it slightly more safe ?

sandsy

elantan wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the continued help ... it appears it may be a bit of a minefield to get through, the guy that came out has been working in this company for over 20 years, hopefully that will make it slightly more safe ?

That's no guarantee he's doing them well. The regulator has stopped around 50 advice firms from doing pension transfer advice in recent months. I'm sure some of them thought they had it all worked out too.

elantan

I don't doubt it