Which personal pension?

sheepy21

Hi everyone,

I’m about to start working for the NHS so will be paying £32 a month into that, I’m planning on also starting a personal/stakeholder pension and put in £175 a month. I’ve narrowed it down to either Virgin personal pension or Aviva stakeholder pension set up through cavendish. I’m leaning towards Aviva’s stakeholder as I like the flexibility, is this a prudent choice? Or are there better options I haven’t considered? I’ll only be working part time and I want a low monthly commitment, some I’ve seen wanted £200 plus per month which I can’t commit to

SonOf

I’ve narrowed it down to either Virgin personal pension

One of the worst pensions on the market.

or Aviva stakeholder pension set up through cavendish.

I think Aviva are one of only two or three left still offering stakeholder pensions. They are fine for small amounts.

I’m leaning towards Aviva’s stakeholder as I like the flexibility, is this a prudent choice?

Depends on what you mean by flexibility. They dont support many investment options, do not offer drawdown (unlikely to matter at this stage) and payment methods, whilst once flexible, are today little different to most pensions.

Or are there better options I haven’t considered?

There is also the in-house NHS additional pension. Pound for pound a better option than money purchase pensions but may not be suitable if you are looking to fund the gap for earlier retirement.
S&S LISA is another potential option.

some I’ve seen wanted £200 plus per month which I can’t commit to

If you are paying £175pm then that means £218.75pm is going in.

sheepy21

Thank you, that’s helpful. Virgin is now off the list! I’m also considering Scottish Widows? I’m not sure yet about extra contributions to the NHS one, in the immediate future I need something sorted in the next four weeks to siphon some money off so my carers allowance isn’t stopped, but I’ll consider extra into the NHS one down the line

SonOf

I’m also considering Scottish Widows?

Very dated products and starved of funding from Lloyds Bank (its owner).

Albermarle

I’m also considering Scottish Widows

If you want a personal pension from a well known name , I think you would be better with Standard Life .
Easy to use website and very good customer service in my experience .
However for funds less than £50K , the Aviva stakeholder has lower charges .

SonOf

If you want a personal pension from a well known name , I think you would be better with Standard Life .

Just sold their life & pensions book to Phoenix to focus on their two platforms (Standard Life wrap and Standard Life Elevate - the former is more for restricted FAs although some IFAs may use it. The latter for IFAs) and its asset management side.

atush

Try an Aviva personal pension (not stakeholder)

Albermarle

Just sold their life & pensions book to Phoenix to focus on their two platforms

So far the front end for SL retail customers is still exactly the same as before and still branded as SL , same staff etc ( for now anyway ) . For new customers who do not really understand pensions, everything is very well explained with various options . Plus the customer service is good for new and existing customers . However not the cheapest if you use their standard charging.

Try an Aviva personal pension (not stakeholder)

I think Aviva will not anymore offer a personal pension to new customers . Only to existing customers or via an advisor. New retail customers have to open an Aviva SIPP , in which case you would probably be better off going to the usual SIPP providers.

SonOf

So far the front end for SL retail customers is still exactly the same as before and still branded as SL , same staff etc ( for now anyway ) . For new customers who do not really understand pensions, everything is very well explained with various options . Plus the customer service is good for new and existing customers . However not the cheapest if you use their standard charging.

It may never change. Phoenix will look at the software and compare it with others it has and decide if its better to leave alone or move to their other software. It will be a very long time before changes. For example, old Pearl policies are still handled out of Peterborough using the old Pearl computer systems. Old Scot Mutual plans are still out of Glasgow.