Free or Reasonable Pensions Advice

silvercue

Hi, I am new here - I have used search, but the threads it threw up were either years old or user qualified for free government advice.


I am 47 and have three pensions from 3 companies I have worked for. They are not big, but I don't understand them. Ideally I would like some advice and consolidate them into one pension I can understand.


Is there anywhere that gives free pensions advice or at a advice at reasonable price that people can recommend?


Thanks

Dox

Information is often your best starting point and there is certainly free help to understand your pensions. See https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk

Once you have a grasp of (some of) the detail, you may find you are better placed to take your own decision - or you will at least be much better placed to brief an IFA, which will in turn keep down your charges if you engage one on an hourly rate.

LHW99

Do you have any paperwork about them? If not it would be worth trying to find some, either from the internet, or by writing to the trustees / HR department of the companies you worked for. When you took them out you should have been given details of what they were, and that's a place to start.
Also check if any give online access. If they do, sign up for it because the websites may have extra information.

MEM62

An IFA will be best placed to help you but they don't work for free any more than you would. You can arrange an initial meeting with an IFA so that you can se whether you feel comfortable with them. The initial appointments are usually free and you will pick up some idea of where you stand with the pensions during the process.

dunstonh

Is there anywhere that gives free pensions advice

No. Advice is a regulated activity and that involves significant costs (costs which are higher than most would realise). So, nobody is going to do it for free.

OldMusicGuy

You don't need an IFA. Like dunstonh said, if you do use one it won't be cheap so why waste money when you can do a bit of research for free yourself.

Get the documentation about the pensions and find out if they are defined contribution (DC) or defined benefits (DB). You can ask specific questions here about each scheme, but first you must find out the details of each one.

Read up on the Pensionwise and Money Advice Service websites, there is good free information there. You might find this book helpful: DIY Pensions: A Simple Guide to Pensions, SIPPs & Retirement Planning by John Edwards.

You can also ring up the pension providers themselves. They are generally pretty helpful and will explain the pensions to you and will also tell you what your options are in terms of taking the pensions or transferring them.

If these are DC pensions, consolidating them is easy and you do not need an IFA to do that.

atush

I agree with OMG.

Get out your paperwork, find out the value (if a DC pension with a 'pot' or the number of years in the scheme (if a DB/final salary type) and the projection of what the pension will pay at scheme age.

Then come back here to ask questions.

Pensionwise as suggested to understand the different types. Pensions arent that hard to understand once you get the above information.

xylophone

have three pensions from 3 companies I have worked for.

Defined Benefit or with any form of safeguarded benefit?


https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/495377/pension-benefits-with-a-guarantee-factsheet-jan-2016.pdf


If so, what is the Cash Equivalent Transfer Value of each of them?

Or Defined Contribution?

What is the value in total?

Are you currently contributing to a pension? Would a transfer in be accepted?

xylophone

Pensionwise as suggested

https://www.pensionwise.gov.uk/en

Pension Wise can help if you:

are aged 50 or over

OP is only 47 (but there is nothing preventing him from reading the information on the site).

Dox

TPAS will help whatever your age, so that seems the obvious starting point for a novice.

JonathanBFS

If only financial advice was as simple as that..

This is an example of why it is regulated.