Switching Jobs - No Employer Pension Contribution - Advice Sought

ross1966

I've been reading this great forum for a few days and I'd like to thank this very knowledgeable community for everything I have learned!

I am switching jobs next week and there will be no employer pension contributions, so I've been planning my savings strategy. I am a 41 year old higher rate tax payer, and my wife is a 35 year basic rate tax payer. I currently have ~£47k in three stakeholders (L&G, Fidelity, Cooperative), which were 100% funded by previous employers and opting out of SERPS. These are mostly invested in trackers. I have no ISAs or any other significant investment, and I have an interest only mortgage. I have Canadian/UK dual citizenship and we may move back to Canada in 3-10 years.

I can afford to save ~£1k per month. My plan is to do the following:

-Open a fund supermarket pension which accepts protected rights and transfer the £47k from my three stakeholders.
-Start to invest in managed funds (Jupiter UK Growth, Old Mutual UK Select Mid Cap, others) rather than trackers.
-Max out my ISA contribution each year, with the balance of savings going to the pension.
-I would like one online account to manage both my pension and ISAs, something with good portfolio management tools.

Does this seem like a good plan? Would I be better off maxing out my wife's ISA too before contributing to my pension, given that I may not be living in this country when I retire? Can anyone recommend a good provider for my online pension and ISA? Anything else I should be thinking about?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Ross.

EdInvestor

How much of the total pension money is protected rights? If it's only small, given your circs you might be better to split the pension and then open a SIPP with the non-PR money, along with an ISA and a dealing account at somewhere like https://www.selftrade.co.uk or https://www.h.l.co.uk .These are both dicount brokers who rebate charges.

Then you can manage everything online in the same place with access to all the best funds (and shares etc) for all the wrappers.

The PR money which isn't yet allowed in a SIPP but will be later, can remain in one of the old pensions for the time being.

I wouldn't put any more money into pensions if you are considering going to Canada as basically you can never get pension money out.Maxing out wife's ISA is a better idea.