Aegon pension?

oysterman

Morning everyone, Received a letter from Aegon, telling me that unless i object they are transfering my paid up pension approx value £20,600 from( Scottish equitable personal pension scheme) to the (Aegon Retirement choices)Sipp.
Reading through the paperwork they sent me, not sure what the best to do. The investments would remain in the ARC version(s) of my current fund(s) & stepped annual charges would apply. Current charge 1.09%, after 1.08%. 0.25% of my investment would be transfered into the ARC SIPP cash facility(to pay service charges).

Under my current terms i may be able to take 3 small pots lump sums if the fund is no more than £30000. I would lose this option under the ARC SIPP at the time of payment. Would the 3 small pot's be tax free or am i reading that wrong?

Last thought is why are they doing it? Cheers for any replies, feel free to ask me for any info i have'nt given you.

nocash

This happened to me last year with a £10,500 pot. Not experienced enough to answer your technical questions but I let them do it after being reassured on the phone that the annual charges would be less. I think that a SIPP potentially gives you more options down the line if you need them. I am leaving mine for the time being but would add as an aside that my overall charges are below 1% having been originally set at 1%. Of passing interest, in the recent bear crash my Aviva plan took a serious dive whereas Aegon has held firm (I know that this is purely fund/risk dependable).

dunstonh

Under my current terms i may be able to take 3 small pots lump sums if the fund is no more than £30000.

If that concerns you then move it to a provider that allows segmentation of the fund into small pots.

Would the 3 small pot's be tax free or am i reading that wrong?

They are not tax free.

Last thought is why are they doing it?

One administration platform and product instead of around 5 covering dozens of products.

However, you may find it is better value to use an IFA than the in-house priced version. For example, for funds under £100k, most of the internal funds are 0.05% to 0.10% on top of the platform charge of 0.29%. Or a DIY option if you prefer to DIY.

Later in the year, the Aegon platform is moving to full whole of market.