What to do and why

kidmugsy

wp1234 wrote: »

investing it in a wide variety of safe funds

I would love to have access to a wide variety of safe funds.

Thrugelmir

wp1234 wrote: »

The Financial Advisers I’m using aren’t being very helpful and are very much sitting on the fence basically telling me that its Ok to go down the flexible drawdown route but advising against it at the same time, its possibly because they don’t want a claim from me if it goes horribly wrong.

Not their decision to make. Sounds as if you actually want them to make a decision for you. So that you in effect have insurance should things not turn out as you expect if the drawdown option is taken.

If you want to play the stock markets use the £200k tax free sum. Then at worst you will still have a secure lifetime pension to fall back on.

CFrog

On balance, looking at your circumstances, I would stick with the DB pension and invest the £200k.

I'm currently completing a DB transfer but have other sources of retirement income including a second (separate) DB pension and other investments. The DB pension I'm transferring is not central to my financial needs post-retirement and I'm happy to take on the risks in investing the transfer proceeds myself.

I'm not a professional, but from what I know about the transfer process and the sorts of questions they ask, a qualified IFA wouldn't recommend you transfer because (aside from your SP) your DB pension seems to be your only source of retirement income.

sandsy

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Not their decision to make. Sounds as if you actually want them to make a decision for you. So that you in effect have insurance should things not turn out as you expect if the drawdown option is taken.

It might not be ther decision to make but it is the adviser's role to make a clear and unequivocal recommendation to transfer or not to transfer. Fence sitting isn't strictly allowed and isn't what they are paid to do. Their job is to to make it crystal clear whether it's the right thing for the client.

And I wouldn't give up that level of certainty. It's way more important to be able to meet your own retirement income needs for however long you live than to leave a legacy.

GunJack

ianthy wrote: »

I don’t expect to draw down from my pension until maybe mid 60’s, if at all.

kinda begs the question of why stack it up in the first place if a. you don't touch it and b. you have no kids to pass it on to ??

enthusiasticsaver

My husbands final salary pension had quite a high transfer value (about 800k) I think but we never even considered foregoing the certainty that he would get £24k per annum and £160k lump sum. We invested the £160k.

enthusiasticsaver

Also, there is no such thing as a wide variety of safe funds. Nothing invested is completely safe.