Q on Royal London pension plan charges

jsinc

Have an old employer (Group) Personal Pension Plan with Royal London of approx £6k. Haven't contributed to it for a long time.

Total annual charge of 1%, and there's a profit share award (of 0.18% in 16/17 or about £10).

The invested 'Balanced Retirement Investment Strategy' is 100% active RLP UK Equity Fund - that has consistently just matched benchmark FTSE All-Share index, but consistently underperformed All-Share total return.

Intending to speak to them about a potential transfer into another old L&G personal pension with lower total charge, or existing SIPP and cheaper iShares/Fidelity index tracker.

Before I do so - is there any flexibility to negotiate lower charges on Royal London plans to make another of theirs worth considering (minimum available to me seems to be 1%)?

I ask because reading previous threads here it seems they charge less for some advised pension structures.

Thanks

dunstonh

Total annual charge of 1%, and there's a profit share award (of 0.18% in 16/17 or about £10).

Most RL plans since around 2004 have tiered charges based on fund size. i.e. the starting charge is 1% but there is a discount applied as the value goes up.

Intending to speak to them about a potential transfer into another old L&G personal pension with lower total charge, or existing SIPP and cheaper iShares/Fidelity index tracker.

The current RL pension is lower charged than the current L&G pension.

Before I do so - is there any flexibility to negotiate lower charges on Royal London plans to make another of theirs worth considering (minimum available to me seems to be 1%)?

No. However, you can switch between products.

jsinc

dunstonh wrote: »

Most RL plans since around 2004 have tiered charges based on fund size. i.e. the starting charge is 1% but there is a discount applied as the value goes up.

The current RL pension is lower charged than the current L&G pension.

No. However, you can switch between products.

Thank you.

My L&G has 0.2% FMC + 0.12% AMC. But it's a trustee buy out pension plan so don't yet know if it accepts tranfers in.

dunstonh

But it's a trustee buy out pension plan so don't yet know if it accepts tranfers in.

It wont do. Section 32 buy out bonds are not personal pensions.

jsinc

dunstonh wrote: »

It wont do. Section 32 buy out bonds are not personal pensions.

Thanks again. Checked paperwork & online which confirmed that. I'd have to open a new stakeholder pension with different (higher) charges.

Will speak to Royal London, after better familiarising myself with all the differences.

xylophone

Is there any reason for not transferring this small pension into your existing SIPP?

jsinc

xylophone wrote: »

Is there any reason for not transferring this small pension into your existing SIPP?

None now, that's where it will go. Been my to-do list for too long, but 1% + poor performance is too high whatever the sum vs ~0.1% tracker + platform charge.