IFA Rubber Stamp

Marcon

phykell wrote: »

On another note, while "performance" may not apply to a final salary scheme, surely there are some that are better than others. For example, if the transfer value is £100k and the annual payment on retirement is (say) £3k (assuming you haven't had enough contributions to meet the final salary amount) with £1.5k paid to dependants in the event of death before retirement age, then surely that can be compared to an alternative pension which might pay (say) £4.5k per annum. In the event of the latter offering a better deal then surely a transfer out could at least be considered?

If you mean a DC pension funded by the transfer value, which then offers a pension 50% higher than the DB scheme from which you are transferring, that's quite simply unrealistic.

HappyHarry

phykell wrote: »

On another note, while "performance" may not apply to a final salary scheme, surely there are some that are better than others. For example, if the transfer value is £100k and the annual payment on retirement is (say) £3k (assuming you haven't had enough contributions to meet the final salary amount) with £1.5k paid to dependants in the event of death before retirement age, then surely that can be compared to an alternative pension which might pay (say) £4.5k per annum. In the event of the latter offering a better deal then surely a transfer out could at least be considered?

Yes, some final salary schemes have more generous transfer values than others.

But, and this is the important bit, you can't transfer your final salary scheme to a different final salary scheme offering a higher transfer value.

hyubh

phykell wrote: »

On another note, while "performance" may not apply to a final salary scheme, surely there are some that are better than others. For example, if the transfer value is £100k and the annual payment on retirement is (say) £3k (assuming you haven't had enough contributions to meet the final salary amount) with £1.5k paid to dependants in the event of death before retirement age, then surely that can be compared to an alternative pension which might pay (say) £4.5k per annum.

On that basis, public sector pensions are rubbish, because most you can't transfer out from at all, and the remainder transfer out on a basis that currently gives much lower transfer values than private sector schemes.

While schemes are legally allowed to reduce transfer values due to funding issues, it's not a certainty even if there is a sizeable deficit, because crystallising liabilities is generally considered a good thing - it hastens reaching the end point when the sponsoring employer can offload the outstanding liabilities to an insurer.

In the event of the latter offering a better deal then surely a transfer out could at least be considered?

Sure, but as the others have said, transferring from DB to DC is fundamentally a conversion from one sort of thing into another, and needs to be understood on those terms.

NoMore

You can't pick and choose a DB pension, that's provided by your employer. Its part of the terms and conditions of the job.

You could change job I suppose, but you then can't transfer previous entitlement to the new DB pension (except for certain Public sector pensions I think, like LGPS to TPS, but I'm no expert on that).

Marcon

NoMore wrote: »

You can't pick and choose a DB pension, that's provided by your employer. Its part of the terms and conditions of the job.

You could change job I suppose, but you then can't transfer previous entitlement (except for certain civil service pensions I think, like LGPS to TPS, but I'm no expert on that).

You have a statutory right to transfer out of a DB scheme until you are within one year of that scheme's Normal Retirement Age. Sometimes you may be able to transfer out even if you are within a year of NRA (but you can't transfer once your pension from that scheme is in payment).

Whether any new scheme you join will accept the transfer is normally entirely up to the new scheme.

Malthusian

dunstonh wrote: »

A local firm near us took on a new client from another firm. That person was heavily invested in a high risk non-mainstream property fund. The new adviser kept telling him to get out. The client refused the returns were good. The fund collapsed. The client complained to the new adviser who rejected the complaint as they had been trying to get him out of it for ages and they were not the adviser that recommended it. He went to the FOS and the FOS upheld the complaint because although it could see the audit trail telling the person to get out of the fund and why they should get it, they didnt feel the adviser was forceful enough.

DRN?

(characters)

dunstonh

Malthusian wrote: »

DRN?

(characters)

Network case didnt appeal. They accepted the adjudicator's decision. So, not published. They had, already by then, spent about two years arguing that they didnt have liability as it was unregulated and not sold by them but the network gave in. The firm owner took me out for breakfast when the outcome was given and spent a few hours ranting about it. To be fair, I wouldn't blame him.

Malthusian

I had a feeling you were going to say that. I don't blame him either. I blame the network. Entirely their fault if they didn't appeal, not the system's. Everyone knows you have to go to ombudsman level if you want a grown-up to look at it.

We have one side of the story and I suspect it may have been embellished, especially after two years of being a running sore. If I'd been the one invited for breakfast, I would have commiserated and said isn't it awful. But not treated it as information of value on the regulatory system.

telboyo

I am planning to transfer a small final salary pension to a SIPP. The CETV is £38,000 or so am I expected to 15 % of the value to get advice on what to do with it. If they advised me that I am being foolish and the receiving pension would not accept my transfer on that basis I would be £5000 pound down on the deal. On the one hand the government says you can decide what you can do with your pension but must pay upto 1/6 of your pension pot if you exceed £30K.
Today I have been looking at IFAs found through the .Gov.uk website, none of them show any fees except "Minimum £450" no sliding scale above that.

Brynsam

telboyo wrote: »

I am planning to transfer a small final salary pension to a SIPP. The CETV is £38,000 or so am I expected to 15 % of the value to get advice on what to do with it. If they advised me that I am being foolish and the receiving pension would not accept my transfer on that basis I would be £5000 pound down on the deal. On the one hand the government says you can decide what you can do with your pension but must pay upto 1/6 of your pension pot if you exceed £30K.
Today I have been looking at IFAs found through the .Gov.uk website, none of them show any fees except "Minimum £450" no sliding scale above that.

If the advice is 'don't transfer' and your preferred SIPP provider then declines to accept the transfer, you could then transfer to a stakeholder pension and then into the SIPP - which would then be a DC to DC transfer, so no advice needed for the 'onward' transfer.