decisions, decisions, decisions,,,,

beetlebobby

Hi all would it be possible for a little bit of knowledge from some of you more experienced lads or lassies regarding my pension dilemma,,,Premier Foods have offered me an enhanced transfer offer of another 25% on top of my standard transfer value if i leave the pension scheme as they would like to reduce the amount of members within the scheme,,,in this case about another £100,000 which seems a great deal of money to miss out on.. question being what to do with the fund ? i fancy like a lot of you going down the drawdown route but wouldn't have a clue where to start ,,, they are offering a Financial adviser (origen) to assist paid by prem foods but how do i know they are offering good advice or not,,,
I could just stay in current scheme not get the enhanced offer or gamble to see if i can invest monies and drawdown but who and where to invest is a mine field to me,,so any help would be great,,

cloud_dog

We'll need some more information, like what is your pension, what guaranteed increases are there, is there a spouse pension?

tacpot12

You could easily loose the £100,000 in fees when you pay for someone else to manage your pension. So you have all of the risk and little upside.

Proceed very carefully.

I don't think you can expect Origen to have your interests at heart - you are not the one paying for their advice. You need to pay an IFA for advice on the basis that whatever their advice is, you will have nothing further to do with them once they have advised you. The moment you hold out the prospect of further business, they cease to be impartial.

Spreadsheetman

Remember that they are trying to bribe you to leave the scheme - proving that they anticipate doing much better out of it than you will. Tread very carefully indeed.

Marcon

tacpot12 wrote: »

I don't think you can expect Origen to have your interests at heart - you are not the one paying for their advice.

That's nonsense. The Pensions Regulator requires an employer to provide members with access to impartial financial advice (which the employer must pay for) where the employer is carrying out an enhanced transfer exercise.

OP, start by taking up the free advice offered. You don't have to follow it and it could be very educational! No adviser will compromise themselves by giving advice biased towards the employer just because the employer is paying.

MK62

Other than seeing the adviser (which is free and non-commital), nobody here can really offer much of an opinion as we don't know what your pension will pay out, at what age it will pay it, and what other benefits it might have. Consequently we also have no idea if an extra £100k on the enhanced CETV is really worthwhile (ie if your standard CETV is low, relative to the pension you would be giving up, the enhanced CETV, while better, might still be low in the grand scheme)

Malthusian

Spreadsheetman wrote: »

Remember that they are trying to bribe you to leave the scheme - proving that they anticipate doing much better out of it than you will. Tread very carefully indeed.

This is correct but it is possible for both them to do better and you to do better as well.

Take the free advice, then see a local IFA.

beetlebobby wrote:

in this case about another £100,000 which seems a great deal of money to miss out on.

If you don't transfer you aren't missing out on anything. Your guaranteed pension for life is worth whatever amount £X Premier Foods are offering you to leave right now. If you turn down the offer then you still have a guaranteed pension for life worth £X.

If your guaranteed pension for life wasn't worth what they were offering you right now, they wouldn't offer it.

beetlebobby

Thanks for everyone's input ive had a look at some of my past pension documents and its a DB pension
which when i retire i could buy an annuity with varying possibilities like fixed amount, indexed linked ,smokers etc etc this has been deferred since 2002.ive not really paid much attention untill now where i have received this enhanced offer to jump ship and £102000 extra cash which is another 25% on top of my pension seems too good to be true...i also have a ipp from royal London which will only be worth about £60000 at retirement age been 67 in my case,,,plus a new company pension from Friends life which will be worth a cup of coffee if im lucky,,, i will wait and see what these Origen people say and report back the findings.
many thanks

robber2

Absolutely no need to buy an annuity when yoiu retire. You have had many other options for several years now. The advisors who have been offerred to you should clearly explain the choices open to you.


Regards


Rob

Dox

Malthusian wrote: »

This is correct but it is possible for both them to do better and you to do better as well.

Take the free advice, then see a local IFA.

Do remember that the transfer value you've been offered is only guaranteed for 3 months, so you need to crack on quickly if you want to investigate.

Best of luck finding a local IFA with the necessary permissions to advise on DB transfers - and the TV will have expired by then.

DairyQueen

I have been through the process of receiving an enhanced CETV to transfer-out. Don't be dazzled by the big numbers. It costs plenty to provide the kind of benefits offered by a DB scheme.

With hindsight the IFA's advice (paid for by the sponsoring company) was sound. Don't let temptation cloud your judgement. Listen to what s/he says about risk and benefits.

It's likely that you will be advised not to transfer. That's the best advice for most peoples' circumstances. If that's the outcome for you then follow it.

Btw, I was one of the exceptional cases who received a recommendation to transfer. Initially I was doubtful but I have reduced life expectancy, a spouse who is well-pensioned, other assets, no dependents, the DB pension was only partly-indexed in payment, I was already a DIY-investor, I was willing and able to take-on the risk, etc. etc. The combination signalled that I should transfer.