Moving my pension to an IFA

Danboy1973

Just found out i have had a pension.
Hi all, am new to this forum & am asking for a bit of advice please.  Two weeks ago i found out that i had a pension that i paid into for just 12 years with an old employer that i totallly forgot about in my younger years not 30 years on & i found it sitting in a Phoenix Life pension scheme, which i have found out is not the best place to be! It is currently worth around £32000 which can be moved to another pension scheme or IFA of my choice but i do not know the 1st place to start.  I already have a Pension with an Annuity paying out at the moment as I released this on ill health retirement grounds, what i would like to do is again release this pension so funds are available to me should i need them but possibly on a drawdown pension ? but again i am not sure if this is the right way to go although either way i would want the funds available.  
Does anyone know of a decent IFA please ?  I am speaking to an IFA at the moment but and his fees seem reasonable at 2% to move the pension then 0.75% annually therafter, he says that he is FCA registered, i have checked & he was registered with a company True potential wealth management llp but his FCA says regulatory approval no longer required and it seems to of ended in Dec 2019, do you think that would be an oversight on his part ? 

Any advice on what to do would be a real help please   

Linton

Provided the Phoenix Life pension does not have any special benefits like a guaranteed annuity rate you can transfer it yourself to a pension which does allow drawdown without using an IFA.  You just set up a suitable personal pension and ask the pension provider to transfer-in your old pension. The process is much like transferring an ISA.
If you want to use an IFA I think the best bet is to find say 3 local IFAs (Google or friend/family recommendation) and arrange an initial meeting (perhaps a telephone call under current circumstances!) to discuss what you want, how the IFA can help and the cost.  You can then choose the one you feel most comfortable with.
It is best that you deal with people who actually state that they are IFAs as they work on your behalf.  People without the important "I" may effectively be salesmen keen on selling their company's products.

dunstonh

i found it sitting in a Phoenix Life pension scheme, which i have found out is not the best place to be!

What makes you think that?

Phoenix is a company that buys up near death or unwanted insurance companies and rebrands them under its name.   It has hundreds of brands in direct ownership or the books from other brands that still exist.    The terms of the pensions vary significantly as they have to honour the original terms set by the original company.     Some Phoenix plans can be gems.  Others rubbish.   You cannot say  it is not the best place to be without personal analysis of what you have.

what i would like to do is again release this pension so funds are available to me should i need them but possibly on a drawdown pension ?

If you intend to draw the pension as a lump sum or in segments over multiple tax years then many Phoenix plans allow that without the need to transfer it first.

Does anyone know of a decent IFA please ?

Most of them.

I am speaking to an IFA at the moment but and his fees seem reasonable at 2% to move the pension then 0.75% annually therafter, he says that he is FCA registered, i have checked & he was registered with a company True potential wealth management llp but his FCA says regulatory approval no longer required and it seems to of ended in Dec 2019, do you think that would be an oversight on his part ? 

If he is an appointed representative of True Potential then he will not be an IFA.   He will be an FA.   

The FCA register no longer accurately gives details of advisers.   It only shows those that hold a senior management control function.  This changed on 9th December 2019.   Effectively, everyone on that register with a senior management control function started on 9th Dec 2019 and the old permission versions moved to the history section.   Advisers with no control functions under the new regime will not appear correctly.    There is a new register for advisers being developed and will be out this year.

gm0

If you are sure you want drawdown via transfer out and not another impaired health annuity - get more than one quote.  View the transfer cost and the full cost stack for annual drag to get what you want from your 32k fund over a short or long period of investment and draw.  A trickle drawn over 30 years is a different case to more rapid depletion (income taxes beyond the 25% etc) and would also affect what you invest in and how much you care about ongoing charges 30x vs 5x.

Make sure at least one of the quotes is truly independent.  Any dissembling typically means they are not.  TWP are an outsourcer/wholesaler. People who only use one platform for their clients look quite a lot like salesmen/FAs to me.  But a real IFA may explain why you fit the category of business they choose to place there.

In the spirit of no surprises - ask *very* specific questions about TOTAL costs

IFA one off and ongoing
Discretionary Fund Mgt (if this features - it does sometimes)
Platform Fees
Drawdown Admin Fees (payments)
Fund entry
Fund ongoing
Fund exit
Platform exit / transfer out/closure
Any other costs

When you say "what are your costs" the answer 0.75% may be accurate and yet unhelpful as it may only cover the "your" part as in the IFA's cost and not the rest of the cost from TWP (in your example).  And it may be that there is an ongoing financial + service relationship between the IFA and TWP.  All legal. Just be clear what the total costs are for what you get and who from.

If it's costing more than ~1.25% per year all up then someone involved is having a little extra drink at your expense.  You may not mind - depending upon the service offered, your appetite to learn about this and your plans and timescales to deplete the fund

Danboy1973

dunstonh said:

i found it sitting in a Phoenix Life pension scheme, which i have found out is not the best place to be!

What makes you think that?

Phoenix is a company that buys up near death or unwanted insurance companies and rebrands them under its name.   It has hundreds of brands in direct ownership or the books from other brands that still exist.    The terms of the pensions vary significantly as they have to honour the original terms set by the original company.     Some Phoenix plans can be gems.  Others rubbish.   You cannot say  it is not the best place to be without personal analysis of what you have.

To be honest all i have done is google the company & based my findings on thier one star google reviews, i have read a lot of the reviews and only over the short time i have dealt with them, out of around 5 different advisors i have spoken too only one of them seem to know what he was doing and gave me the information i needed.

what i would like to do is again release this pension so funds are available to me should i need them but possibly on a drawdown pension ?

If you intend to draw the pension as a lump sum or in segments over multiple tax years then many Phoenix plans allow that without the need to transfer it first.

Does anyone know of a decent IFA please ?

Most of them.

I am speaking to an IFA at the moment but and his fees seem reasonable at 2% to move the pension then 0.75% annually therafter, he says that he is FCA registered, i have checked & he was registered with a company True potential wealth management llp but his FCA says regulatory approval no longer required and it seems to of ended in Dec 2019, do you think that would be an oversight on his part ? 

If he is an appointed representative of True Potential then he will not be an IFA.   He will be an FA.   

The FCA register no longer accurately gives details of advisers.   It only shows those that hold a senior management control function.  This changed on 9th December 2019.   Effectively, everyone on that register with a senior management control function started on 9th Dec 2019 and the old permission versions moved to the history section.   Advisers with no control functions under the new regime will not appear correctly.    There is a new register for advisers being developed and will be out this year.

dunstonh said:

i found it sitting in a Phoenix Life pension scheme, which i have found out is not the best place to be!

What makes you think that?

Phoenix is a company that buys up near death or unwanted insurance companies and rebrands them under its name.   It has hundreds of brands in direct ownership or the books from other brands that still exist.    The terms of the pensions vary significantly as they have to honour the original terms set by the original company.     Some Phoenix plans can be gems.  Others rubbish.   You cannot say  it is not the best place to be without personal analysis of what you have.

what i would like to do is again release this pension so funds are available to me should i need them but possibly on a drawdown pension ?

If you intend to draw the pension as a lump sum or in segments over multiple tax years then many Phoenix plans allow that without the need to transfer it first.

Does anyone know of a decent IFA please ?

Most of them.

I am speaking to an IFA at the moment but and his fees seem reasonable at 2% to move the pension then 0.75% annually therafter, he says that he is FCA registered, i have checked & he was registered with a company True potential wealth management llp but his FCA says regulatory approval no longer required and it seems to of ended in Dec 2019, do you think that would be an oversight on his part ? 

If he is an appointed representative of True Potential then he will not be an IFA.   He will be an FA.   

The FCA register no longer accurately gives details of advisers.   It only shows those that hold a senior management control function.  This changed on 9th December 2019.   Effectively, everyone on that register with a senior management control function started on 9th Dec 2019 and the old permission versions moved to the history section.   Advisers with no control functions under the new regime will not appear correctly.    There is a new register for advisers being developed and will be out this year.

TadleyBaggie

Seems a little expensive, I had around £350K in various DC pensions and an AVC. My IFA sorted out a drawdown SIPP, S&S ISA's and investment account for a £2K initial fee and 0.5% annual ongoing management fee.

Albermarle

TadleyBaggie said:

Seems a little expensive, I had around £350K in various DC pensions and an AVC. My IFA sorted out a drawdown SIPP, S&S ISA's and investment account for a £2K initial fee and 0.5% annual ongoing management fee.

The OP has a fund around a tenth of yours , so in % terms will naturally have to pay more than you .