drawdown 28 September 2018 at 5:26PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Pensions, Annuities & Retirement Planning 6 replies 1.1K views

twibble

I have a pension with willis watson just over 300000 but they want nothing to do with drawdown so i must take it else where, i intend taking the 25% but where to put the rest? picking funds is not really a problem i am looking towards index trackers mainly. Fidelity seems reasonable and trusted, any body have any advice would be appreciated

gm0

I have a similar task. These forums have a heavy bias towards DIY investing tempered by some sage IFAs who help educate on rules and what it takes to do it right and prompt people to research properly and decide if it *truly* appeals to them and spouse vs outsourcing. Fair enough. Consequently you will read a lot about SIPPs here and less about such other niche options as exist.

Unless you are in the small family business owner niche (I looked but rejected this as not worth the effort for my company situation) then it mostly comes down to platform SIPPs and some insurance company retail pension products (many of which turn out to be expensive SIPPs with fund choice restrictions underneath when you read through the compliance detail for new retail customers) vs older (occupational) schemes still chugging along for existing members both using an in house palette of funds.

If your investment choices like mine are fairly unsophisticated - global passive/tracker/whole of market in character for equities then the lowest drag/cost but a large and known SIPP platform provider is a fine choice - even if this restricts fund selection as some players do. It can do the required job cheaply and is as safe or unsafe as anything else retail FS. Move on and pay for more flexibility and access to more exotic investment later - if you ever want it. As you say Fidelity is a name that comes up. This is essentially also the argument for a Vanguard or a Hargreaves "middle of the road" approach. If the appalling lack of regulated protection on SIPPs scares you - then consider transfer of half each to two platforms so that a platform provider administration or an IT catastrophe doesn't take out your entire income/access to investments for months at a time. Also not all your fund is exposed to being "harvested" to pay for the administration. This is also a valid argument to avoid SIPP platforms which handle exotics if you don't want them as this heavily drives the cost of winding it up. Platform hedging will cost a few hundred to a thousand or so per year in duplicate fee tiers for the first chunk(s). Not many do platform hedging or care for the duplicate admin but it is worth being clear on the protection facts, cost and considering your situation and risks (this is all of it vs other pensions etc.)

I haven't found anything yet in a different pension category offering occupational scheme levels of protection, available for transfer to new retail customers, drawdown equivalent levels of flexibility, Vanguard levels of ongoing fees. If you find it I am sure many forum members would be interested (once they had overcome a natural level of suspicion).

There are of course numerous clever and active start ups with AI stickers on everything - none of which have really been viewed across a business cycle with a large correction/recovery in it. Mostly expensive vs DIY of the HL or similar platform - Global Equity Tracker type approach and not all have targeted pension in payment as a segment anyway.

Final thought a read of the customer services feedback for some of these providers such as HL is chastening even if you discount all the "I want it now" day trading expectations colliding with pensions admin regulated time frames.

dunstonh

i intend taking the 25%

Do you plan to spend it all in one go?

but where to put the rest?

Wherever it is best to meet your objectives and investment selection.

Fidelity seems reasonable and trusted,

Clunky software which is rather dated but currently on a decade long project to improve it. It does the job but not the best.

Bimbly

Have you looked at Monevator's platform comparison?

http://monevator.com/two-ways-to-help-you-find-the-best-online-broker-or-investment-platform/

tacpot12

Managing a pension portfolio for drawdown is a reasonably complicated process: I'm one of the forum members who have gone down the DIY route.

I'm comfortable doing this in the short to medium term because of my background in financial modelling and the research I have done. You may not be, in which case you would need an IFA or Discretionary Wealth Manager to manage the portfolio for you.

I'd recommend that you start researching what would be involved in managing the portfolio yourself vs. what a professional provider would do for you and for what price.

The choice of platform really only become important if you want to go down the DIY route, and only when you know (in detail) how you will manage the portfolio, will you be able to compare the relative costs of the platforms. If you use an advisor, they will put you on the platform they use for all their customers, and the platform cost will be a small proportion of the charges for the service.

ffacoffipawb

dunstonh wrote: »

Do you plan to spend it all in one go?

Bird in the hand perhaps.

The Fib Dems want to cap at £40k and god knows what Adolf Corbyn might do.

I question the legality of such a reduction as retrospective taxation where people pay into a pension with a promise of 25% tax free which should not be stolen retrospectively.

Thats why the New Nazis of Old Labour want to leave the EU. The ECHR wont be able to protect us from this confiscation.

hyubh

twibble wrote: »

I have a pension with willis watson just over 300000 but they want nothing to do with drawdown so i must take it elsewhere

Presumably this actually is a DC pension, rather than DB with WTW being the current scheme administrator...?