Designer Pension @ Aviva

alsace-dave

I have a pot of around £200k in a Designer Pension @ Aviva. I'm 62 yrs old and semi retired & considering moving it into drawdown. Should I move it to my Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP first (I have a small pot here of around £20k), Annual charges at HL are less, but if I start investing in funds, then the Fund Managers charges will no doubt make it considerably more expensive than the 0.75% p.a. to Aviva. The Aviva pot is fairly low risk - 58% bonds, 20% cash or equivalent and the rest in equities. I'm fairly happy to have this low risk, as I have around £200k in stocks and shares ISA with HL in a variety of funds that are higher risk. I am in a bit of a quandary and any useful tips gratefully received. Thanks

Brynsam

Could you be a bit more specific about what you are hoping to achieve (other than the obvious 'maximum cash for minimum risk/charges'!)?

alsace-dave

In truth, I'm not really sure (other than the obvious you mention). It's more a question of what would you do in my position. My other "assets" are a £100k pot with Standard Life of which about 50% has guaranteed annuity rates, and a further £40k in savings (premium bonds). My modest house worth around £300k I could use for equity release later in life if money runs short.

dunstonh

Annual charges at HL are less,

You are not really comparing like for like. You are looking at an existing pension that a) cannot do drawdown and b) is mono charged (so has single charge) vs HL which is multi-charge (has multiple charges - platform, fund, admin charges etc)

The Aviva pot is fairly low risk -

There is more than one fund available.

Seeing as the existing pension cant do what you want it to do, it automatically eliminates itself. Next stage is to see what alternatives exist that do meet your objectives. That could be HL but could be many others.