Pension company not telling me what my pots worth

xylophone

I will need to take advise and be able to prove I have taken advise should I want to transfer the money to a DC scheme (I'm thinking i could just take free advise from people like Pension Wise, Citizens Advice or Pension Advisory Service)

No.

http://www.pruadviser.co.uk/content/knowledge/technical-centre/pension_transfer_conversion/

You need to take the advice of a Pension Transfer Specialist.

It won't be free and it won't be cheap.

It concludes that I need to read the scheme policy booklet (which I haven't got

It may be possible to find the booklet on the internet.

What does your statement of benefits on leaving say?

xylophone

And have you obtained a new state pension statement?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Keep_pedalling

singhini wrote: »

So having read the letter from two years ago, this is what I took from it:


1 - As suggested, as its a DB scheme and the transfer value is over £30,000 I will need to take advise and be able to prove I have taken advise should I want to transfer the money to a DC scheme (I'm thinking i could just take free advise from people like Pension Wise, Citizens Advice or Pension Advisory Service)


2 - The transfer value is guaranteed for 3 months from the point of them writing to me


3 - They want original passport and birth certificates should I want t transfer the money (not photocopies)


4 - transfer value is £80,000 which includes member contributions


5 - there is "attaching provisions for your dependents" (I haven't got any)


6 - its covered by the pension protection fund


It concludes that I need to read the scheme policy booklet (which I haven't got). So I cant answer Xylophone's questions in post #9


A completely different letter addressed to me basically tells me the fund is circa £580 million short and they intend to put £33 million into it every year until 2027 to make good the shortfull.


I going to ring them again on Monday and ask them again where is my letter / email with an upto date transfer value (as its been 3 weeks and ive had no correspondence).


thereafter I will leave the money alone and just before my 55th birthday I will transfer this pension (along with all the other pension pots into a single SIPP), then aged 55 I will start to withdraw circa £11,500 (or whatever the HMRC tax free allowance is when I'm 55) and live off these funds and bank savings (eventually liquidating the SIPP and using up my bank savings and eventually selling my current house and moving into a retirement flat and finally living off the proceeds of the house sale.


I came into this world with nothing and I intend to leave it with nothing

You will probably overachieve with your intention and spend a good few of your last years with nothing.

atush

Note to myself: I hate pensions, I don't understand them

This is just, well, silly.

You hate something you dont understand. Which means you dont know enough to hate it.

£3500 a year (whch will increase every year between now and your retirement by a figure set in your scheme rules) is fantasic value for the pitance you paid for it in the past.

Be happy about it, and suppliment by pension payments whith who you are working for now, and a S&S isa to boot.

somethingcorporate

You paid £8500 (probably including tax relief) for something worth £80k (3 years ago) and think that is bad value?

You really need to give your head a wobble.

Tell me one other area in your financial life where you have seen anything like this unbelievable return?

jamesd

So, the old transfer value was £80,000. It'll probably be more like £100,000 now but you'll find out soon enough.

Say you transferred and started to defer claiming your state pension, living off the £80,000 instead. I'll assume £8,000 state pension, it changes the number of years but not the overall point. After 7.5 years your state pension would be £3,500 higher because it goes up by 5.8% a year. You'd have spent £60,000, would have the same ongoing income as the work pension but also £20,000 left over to use as you like.

I've ignored investment gains on the £80,000, state pension increases and possible inflation linking differences between work and state pensions.

Transferring can easily be one of the best decisions you can make.

Use some caution with IFAs. They might not bother to tell you about state pension deferring and pretend that buying an annuity is the only way to get guaranteed income. Annuities will probably pay less than the work pension and less than half as much as state pension deferring if your health is good. If it's bad or there are major life shortening lifestyle factors like smoking an annuity could pay more. Worth checking, but don't be suckered into just accepting that and letting state pension deferral be ignored. Insist on it being included as one of the comparison options.

Of course another thing to consider is your desire to retire earlier. At its normal age that work pension pays just 4.4% of £80,000 plus inflation linking. Getting 7% or more from even quite cautious overall mixtures isn't hard at the moment but that doesn't allow for inflation increases. You could well find that from 55 you can get more than the work pension pays at 65 then defer your state pension to guarantee it for life.

singhini

Well the paperwork came today (butch of w@£$%rs, the letter states the valuation for transfer purposes is only valid until 29th September. What use is that when I received the letter in October).


Anyway the transfer value is now £105,000 with a annual pension of £4,500


The elephant in the room for me is the fact the pension fund is circa £588 million short and their intending to put £33million in to it until 2027


I suspect the fund is going to collapse so I'm going to take the money out and stick it in my SIPP


I don't care if inflation errods its value (ive got £105,000 and I still start to draw off this pot along with all my other pots in the next 8 years)


Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions but I'm not waiting around for a fund to collapse.


See you all in the casino

bigadaj

singhini wrote: »

Well the paperwork came today (butch of w@£$%rs, the letter states the valuation for transfer purposes is only valid until 29th September. What use is that when I received the letter in October).


Anyway the transfer value is now £105,000 with a annual pension of £4,500


The elephant in the room for me is the fact the pension fund is circa £588 million short and their intending to put £33million in to it until 2027


I suspect the fund is going to collapse so I'm going to take the money out and stick it in my SIPP


I don't care if inflation errods its value (ive got £105,000 and I still start to draw off this pot along with all my other pots in the next 8 years)


Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions but I'm not waiting around for a fund to collapse.


See you all in the casino

The valuation, with consequent liabilities and nominal shortfall, are based on a number of assumptions and situations and largely ignores future growth, if it did fail, which is unlikely, then it would fall into the protection fund with the majority of payment guaranteed.

How are you going to transfer this given its not clearly in your interest and you need to find someone qualified to sign it off, you'll struggle particularly as you know little about finance or the mechanism and criteria required.

Cue next post wailing about the fact you can't get hold of your money, even though it isn't your money.

Keep_pedalling

singhini wrote: »

Well the paperwork came today (butch of w@£$%rs, the letter states the valuation for transfer purposes is only valid until 29th September. What use is that when I received the letter in October).

i only see one w@£$%r here.

xylophone

I suspect the fund is going to collapse so I'm going to take the money out and stick it in my SIPP

Have you found a pension transfer specialist?

Will your SIPP accept a transfer in if the PTS will not give a positive recommendation?