cavendish online

sam_jm

Hi All,

I am currently researching pensions and came across the cavendish online discounted personal pensions.

Has anyone taken any of these out? I had been thinking of taking out a scottish widows personal pension. but while it is discounted on this site, it seems to state there are only 23 funds available.

i have read elsewhere of scottish widows having a great range of funds

if anyone has had any dealings or has any info on this it would be much appreciated,

Liz_the_Whizz

sam_jm

We are looking at pensions at the moment too. I too noticed how restrictive the choice of funds for the Scottish Widows PP was on Cavendish Online.

From what I can gather from this forum, some of the best products are only available through IFAs.

Certainly seems to be true of Scottish Widows Retirement Account, which we are considering at present.

It's a hybrid SIPP which is linked to Fidelity FundsNetwork and offers over 1000 funds to invest in.

Also noticed on Trustnet that Fidelity are advertising their own FundsNetwork SIPP as a free for life if you open one before 10 December:

http://www.trustnet.com/general/news/display-story.asp?id=89447&db=pension

Might be worth a look if you want choice but don't like charges.

EdInvestor

sam_jm wrote: »

Has anyone taken any of these out? I had been thinking of taking out a scottish widows personal pension. but while it is discounted on this site, it seems to state there are only 23 funds available.

Perhaps that is the stakeholder version, not the PP?

dunstonh

Scottish Widows are like a number of providers who cut down their products through different distribution channels. However, 23 funds sounds more like the stakeholder pension rather than the better personal pension. It certainly isnt the retirement account with 1000 odd funds though.

Certainly seems to be true of Scottish Widows Retirement Account, which we are considering at present.

It's a hybrid SIPP which is linked to Fidelity FundsNetwork and offers over 1000 funds to invest in.

Lizz, the retirement account is good with large values and can beat HL's SIPP. However, its not so good with lower values. I dont know what your values are but unless you are talking in the hundreds of thousands, I wouldnt use it.

That said, if you are looking to mix and match some pension funds with unit trust funds (i.e. some stakeholder funds with UTs) than that could swing it back in favour again as the stakeholder funds would be cheaper than buying the equivalent UT).

As for Fidelity SIPP, I havent looked into this but Fidelity normally market Standard Life products. The Std Life SIPP is not very good as it is expensive. So, check to make sure it isnt Std Life backed.

EdInvestor

The Fidelity offering is a special offer only till December of no annual charge or transfer in fee.

Rich1976

The Fidelity Sipp also benefits from having no initial charges on any of the funds on Fundsnetwork as well as no annual Sipp Charge. I'm not sure though whether this only applies to new accounts opened before 10th December

sam_jm

Thanks for all the replies,

i had emailed cavendish regarding the funds available. they have replied by sending a document which is labelled stakeholder at the top. i will give them a ring tomorrow regarding the personal pension plan.

Regarding my circumstances i am actually just getting my pensions sorted out. i will be 25 in two weeks and think its about time to do so. This will be pension number 2 as my employer has a contributory scheme with Norwich union which i am just signing up to.

i see within the scottish widows ppp there are lifestyle choices such as balanced and opportunistic, has anyone knowledge of the quality of these, as i do worry of the risks associated of picking funds myself incorrectly.

also would the scottish widows pension be suitable to someone just starting off in pensions? i understand direct advice cannot be given as everyones circumstances is different but wouldnt mind hearing others points of view on the matter.

dunstonh

i see within the scottish widows ppp there are lifestyle choices such as balanced and opportunistic, has anyone knowledge of the quality of these, as i do worry of the risks associated of picking funds myself incorrectly.

If you pick these you may as well be in the stakeholder. They are the lazy option for the inexperienced and dont want to know type of person.

also would the scottish widows pension be suitable to someone just starting off in pensions? i understand direct advice cannot be given as everyones circumstances is different but wouldnt mind hearing others points of view on the matter.

Depends on what you want from your investment. If you want to invest in areas like India or China then its no good for you. If you want to pick an average stakeholder with average funds then its not bad but you can do better. If you want to invest in a decent range of internal and external funds then its a good choice.