Getting Pension Advice

super_saver123

Currently, I have 4 pension pots which I want to look at and understand if they are best left where they are or if I should consolidate to a single pot. I should point out they they are only small pots totalling about £30k

I have discussed this with a couple of advisers who obviously want to 'help' me with all aspects of my finances and quoted me £100's of pounds to do this.

Is it possible to get advice just for pensions and actioning any transfers if needed? And what sort of fee should I be expecting for this advice?

I may need further advice on savings and sorting out my financial future later, but I just want to get my pension sorted out for now.

JoeCrystal

super_saver123 wrote: »

Is it possible to get advice just for pensions and actioning any transfers if needed? And what sort of fee should I be expecting for this advice?

I may need further advice on savings and sorting out my financial future later, but I just want to get my pension sorted out for now.

Make sure that you find an Independent Financial Advisor. You can ask for advice on a transactional basis. When I set up my pension scheme initially and transferred it to a cheaper provider, it cost me £300 each time with the latter from the pension fund itself.

OldMusicGuy

You can do it yourself for free if they are defined contribution pensions. If you use an IFA to do it, they will expect paying and "hundreds of pounds" is the kind of level you will have to pay. So ask yourself this question: do you want to do a bit of reading and research and do it yourself for free, or are you prepared to pay "hundreds of pounds" to save yourself the effort? You can't get good advice for little or no money

The first thing to do is to understand what pensions you have. Get the scheme details, find out if they are defined contribution (DC) or defined benefit (DB). As you call them "pots" I would assume they are DC. Find out if these have any guarantees or other benefits that yo might lose if you transfer them. The scheme documentation will tell you this, or you can just phone the pension provider and ask. They are generally pretty helpful and will tell you what options you have to take the pension and also what will happen if you want to transfer them.

You don't "need" to transfer any of the pensions. They are sat there growing away based on the decisions you made about how the pensions are invested. How well they do when you transfer them depends on the investment decisions you make when you transfer them to the new provider. They might do better, they might do worse. The main reasons you would consider transfers of DC pots would be ease of management, possible reduction of costs, greater choice of investments and more flexible drawdown options.

The fact that you asked this question implies you may not really know enough about how pensions work. I would suggest you read this book to get an understanding of the basics: "DIY Pensions: A Simple Guide to Pensions, SIPPs & Retirement Planning" by John Edwards. It will help you understand mopre about what you have and also what you should do if you transfer them.

You might still decide to use an IFA but on here we would always say make that decision positively from a position of knowledge.

xylophone

Currently, I have 4 pension pots which I want to look at and understand if they are best left where they are or if I should consolidate to a single pot. I should point out they they are only small pots totalling about £30k

Are they all Defined Contribution schemes?

Do you have a pension scheme to which you are currently contributing?

How old are you?

dunstonh

I have discussed this with a couple of advisers who obviously want to 'help' me with all aspects of my finances and quoted me £100's of pounds to do this.

That is very good value and you should recover that cost quickly as the modern plans are likely to be cheaper (about 1 in 5 legacy plans are still good value)

Georgevoller

Hi I am looking to ask a few questions about how much I may have in my pot when I retire and also at what age I can afford to retire. I cannot seem to find anywhere that offers this advice, without someone trying to sell you something! Any advice? Thanks Jill

JoeCrystal

Georgevoller wrote: »

Hi I am looking to ask a few questions about how much I may have in my pot when I retire and also at what age I can afford to retire. I cannot seem to find anywhere that offers this advice, without someone trying to sell you something! Any advice? Thanks Jill

You ought to set up a new thread to avoid hijacking this one.

Clive_Woody

Georgevoller wrote: »

Hi I am looking to ask a few questions about how much I may have in my pot when I retire and also at what age I can afford to retire. I cannot seem to find anywhere that offers this advice, without someone trying to sell you something! Any advice? Thanks Jill

https://www.gov.uk/pensions-advisory-service

xylophone

Do you have a DC pension? Are you over 50?

https://www.pensionwise.gov.uk/en for a discussion of your options but if you need advice, you will need to pay for it.

https://adviserbook.co.uk/ Tick confirmed independent and such other areas of expertise required.

Georgevoller

I cannot find a way to set up a new thread - googled it but it didn't help!

JoeCrystal

There is a purple box with "Post New Thread" at the top of the forum besides "Subscribe to Forum" and the one at the bottom.