Merging Pension Funds and How to Choose the Best Option

GianBel

Hi All,
I left my previous employer, with whom I had a 6.5K pension pot with L&G, about 3 years ago. This pension pot is still held for 100% in their "L&G PMC Multi-Asset 3".

My current employer transferred to L&G last year as well, and I have a pension pot of about 39K there, which is held for 100% in a "Lifestyle Fund".
I have 2 questions:

1. As far as I can see it would make sense to merge the old pension with the new pension, so I only pay fees once. I read through the documentation and can't see any reason why this wouldn't make sense. Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?
2. This would mean that everything is held in the L&G Lifestyle Fund, which is the company default. I'm not retiring for another 32 years, so are there any better funds that I should be considering? How do I best upskill on this as it's a topic I don't know much about.

Albermarle

As far as I can see it would make sense to merge the old pension with the new pension, so I only pay fees once.

It depends on how the charges are applied. Often it is a % charge so merging them may not save any money . You need to check the paperwork . From an admin point of view it might make things easier.

Regarding the second question, suggest you read thought the list of threads on this forum to get some background info , as people often ask very similar questions.

green_man

As said above you may not pay anymore being in two funds.
’Lifestyle’ tends to mean it automatically de risks the investments as you get nearer retirement (typically within 10 years or so).  These aren’t as popular recently as they are less applicable to people looking to drawdown a pension pot on retirement and more aimed at those planning to buy an annuity.  None of this really matters at present as you are 32 years from retirement. What ‘Lifestyle’ doesn’t tell you is how the fund is invested now, so you need to look that up. Typically a multi asset, multi geography, multi sector fund with 80%+  in equity investments is what you should be looking for at your current position.