Do I need an IFA for an Income Drawdown

chesney105

Hi Everyone
I have an Income Drawdown Pension Fund with RL. I have used an IFA up till now but since I make my own decisions as to investments, how much to Drawdown etc. I’ve decided to dispense with their services.
Can anyone tell me if I can manage the fund myself without needing to find another IFA? TIA

zagfles

Probably not with RL, I think they insist on an IFA, but you could always transfer it to one of the many platforms that allow you to manage it yourself. Download Snowman's spreadsheet for a good comparison tool https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583030

SonOf

Can anyone tell me if I can manage the fund myself without needing to find another IFA? TIA

Royal London are a good provider and allow DIY decisions. Indeed, RL are the biggest provider of drawdown in the country. Plus, their pricing is good at around 0.45% p.a. total charges and you get their profit share as well (worth around 0.15% p.a.)

Any reason why you want to move away from RL?

zagfles

SonOf wrote: »

Royal London are a good provider and allow DIY decisions. Indeed, RL are the biggest provider of drawdown in the country. Plus, their pricing is good at around 0.45% p.a. total charges and you get their profit share as well (worth around 0.15% p.a.)

Any reason why you want to move away from RL?

Their website says "We choose to distribute our personal pension products and services through financial advisers." https://www.royallondon.com/pensions/personal-pensions/flexibly-accessing-your-savings/
Or are you saying once in RL you can ditch the adviser and manage it completely yourself?

SonOf

zagfles wrote: »

Their website says "We choose to distribute our personal pension products and services through financial advisers." https://www.royallondon.com/pensions/personal-pensions/flexibly-accessing-your-savings/
Or are you saying once in RL you can ditch the adviser and manage it completely yourself?

RL need an intermediary to get you set up but once set up, if you want to do a transaction (such as a withdrawal, amend amount or fund switch) you can do that directly without the adviser.

zagfles

SonOf wrote: »

RL need an intermediary to get you set up but once set up, if you want to do a transaction (such as a withdrawal, amend amount or fund switch) you can do that directly without the adviser.

Ah right, so OP could ditch the adviser and do everything his/herself.

Though 0.45% sounds expensive if that's just the platform fee (HL are often criticised here for that level of platform fee), may be able to get better value elsewhere.

ffacoffipawb

zagfles wrote: »

Ah right, so OP could ditch the adviser and do everything his/herself.

Though 0.45% sounds expensive if that's just the platform fee (HL are often criticised here for that level of platform fee), may be able to get better value elsewhere.

Loads of other charges. If Hargreaves Lansdown use Waitrose pricing, I think we are at Harrods or Claridges pricing with Royal London ...

https://adviser.royallondon.com/globalassets/docs/adviser/guides/65g2035-pension-portfolio-charges-guide.pdf

Eek.

SonOf

Though 0.45% sounds expensive if that's just the platform fee (HL are often criticised here for that level of platform fee), may be able to get better value elsewhere.

0.45% is the total charge, assuming the most common tier. (fund and provider) when using the insured funds range. Their SIPP functionality is expensive and pointless but the vast majority of people using RL don't use the SIPP functionality.

So, its a very well priced plan as a personal pension but not if you want SIPP.

SeniorSam

I had a number of pension funds over many years, but eventually transferred all of them to HL into a Sipp. After a couple of years I moved £100k of that into Drawdown for the 25% tax free part of that and since then have only taken add hoc sums from drawdown and not moved any more into it. The whole pot Sipp and Drawdown has grown well since 2012 and I have had £70k out. Managing myself to select the 5-6 investments, it is very easy with HL to manage over the phone and their site is the best around, although they do charge a little more than others, they offer some reduction s. You get what you pay for in the long run, but DIY is easy with them

chesney105

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I don’t want to ditch RL .......I want to ditch the IFA as they’re receiving money for acting as my secretary! Now that the fund is set up and I’m receiving an income, I should according to your replies, be able to sack the IFA and make any changes direct with RL rather than through the IFA.

SeniorSam

Usual to make the arrangements with your new platform, as it's them that apply for the transfers having first received your instructions. If you are not seeking advice about making the transfers from an IFA, you may need to sign a disclaimer with the platform. Best to have a word with them first of all. When I transferred my pensions, I was retired as an IFA, but still had to confirm that I was not being advised to transfer by an IFA. HL were very helpful and have been ever since.