Protected rights investment account

Lrb

Hi.
Ive recently discovered that i have a protected rights investment account having opted out of serps back in 1989.
Its total worth is 15k but obviously this fluctuates and is with AVIVA.
I am 48 this year and was wondering.
1) Should i just leave it alone until the time comes to receive my pension.
2) Can it be moved into a more profitable scheme.If so which type.
3) If it cant be moved can i, or is it worth, adding extra funds to increase its value.
Im really not clued up with financial matters so any advise would be greatly received.
Many thanks

xylophone

https://www.aviva.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/faq/answer/4656/
Protected rights were the value of the government's payments paid into your own pension arrangement. The money came from National Insurance contributions you made above those needed for the basic State Pension. If you contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) or the State Second Pension, the government redirected your contributions to your personal pension instead. This was known as 'contracting out'. Non-protected rights were the value of the payments that you and/or your employer made into your pension fund. There used to be a difference between how you could use protected rights and non-protected rights benefits. When contracting out ended on the 6 April 2012 this difference ended and protected rights and non-protected rights are now generally treated the same.

You could leave the policy with Aviva.  
You could  transfer to another pension arrangement.
Are you currently contributing to a pension? Would a transfer in be accepted?

dunstonh

1) Should i just leave it alone until the time comes to receive my pension.

If that is the right option then yes.  If it is the wrong option then no.

2) Can it be moved into a more profitable scheme.If so which type.

As we don't know what you are invested in or the terms and conditions of your pension we have no way to compare it with alternatives.   So, the answer is much the same as above.

3) If it cant be moved can i, or is it worth, adding extra funds to increase its value.

It is possible that you cannot add to that plan as many legacy plans are no longer open for business.  Some are though.   It almost certainly can be transferred.

Im really not clued up with financial matters so any advise would be greatly received.

The problem is that you are asking us for solutions to something that we don't know if there is an issue or not.

And for reference, protected rights were abolished in 2012 and reclassified as non-protected rights.   So, you can ignore any reference to protected rights.   As it stands, it is just a normal pension fund and treated the same as any other pension fund (based on the limited information you have given us).

When looking at these things you need to understand what you have to allow it to be compared to alternatives.    Whilst generically, charges have fallen on a pretty consistent basis for decades, there are some old plans that are better than modern plans.   So, there is no one-size-fits-all answer that can be given to you.   

Albermarle

If it cant be moved can i, or is it worth, adding extra funds to increase its value.
Im really not clued up with financial matters so any advise would be greatly received.

Hopefully this ( £15K) is not your only pension fund ? If it is then adding extra funds would be a priority !

Lrb

I pay into a company pension only.
The only issue i have with tbis protected rights is the value doesnt seem to have improoved.
I was basically asking what would be the best thing to do. Leave it or move to another pension.

Linton

Lrb said:

I pay into a company pension only.
The only issue i have with tbis protected rights is the value doesnt seem to have improoved.
I was basically asking what would be the best thing to do. Leave it or move to another pension.

The performance depends on the fund(s) the money is invested in.  Your money may be invested in a very cautious fund, or possibly just a bad one.  The pension itself is just a bucket into which to place the funds.  Some pensions offer a wider choice of funds than others.  So that could be a reason to move the money elsewhere.

What funds are you invested in, and what is the performance?

dunstonh

The only issue i have with tbis protected rights is the value doesnt seem to have improoved.

Improved over what period?

What is it invested in?   

The pension doesn't grow.  It is the investments within it.   You don't necessarily have to change the pension to change the investments.  

LHW99

What are you comparing? Looking at now in comparison with the same time in 2019 may well not show any improvement, many funds are around the same level as this time last year, some are a little up, some down. It depends what fund(s) you have as "Aviva" is the company that runs the "platform". They have different funds you can choose from.

One option could be to look at whether moving the amount into you company scheme would be a good idea. You would have to compare the charges, and find out if your company scheme would accept a transfer in.