Partial Transfer Out of Standard Life Pension Fund - Possible?

deltrotter

Hi everyone

My company pays into a Standard Life pension account each month and I have selected SL US tracker. New units are purchased monthly.

I'd be happy with it other than the 1% fee.

I also have a YouInvest SIPP.

My question is whether I can transfer out say 90% of my SL account EACH YEAR (leaving 10% so it doesn't get closed) into my SIPP.

Notwithstanding my choice of fund - is there any thing that could prevent this happening?

Best regards

Del

Dox

Check the terms of your contract with SL or simply ask them; and also ensure that the terms of your company contribution permit you to do this.

Albermarle

Normally SL have good discounts on their workplace pensions that have been negotiated with the employer .
Usually this discount is not immediately obvious from the paperwork. Before doing anything check any discount being applied with SL directly or with your employer . Discounts of up to 0.75% are not unheard of and I have one of 0.55% so in fact you might be paying a lot less than 1 %

dunstonh

I'd be happy with it other than the 1% fee.

Are you actually being charge a 1% fee?   Whilst that is the default charge for the fund, you generally find most SL pensions have discounts. Either retail discounts or fund based discounts.     You should not rely on the fund factsheet as a guide to your charges.  Factsheets show the maximum. Not the actual.

As yours is an auto-enrolment scheme and the fund is an internal fund.  So, it will have a cap of 0.75%.  Not 1%.  So, I suspect you are not looking at your charges and could be making a decision based on incorrect information. Where are you getting your charge from?

deltrotter

Hi everyone

These are the bits in my account on my charges page that made me think it was 1% +

I can't find any mention of an employer discount.

Cheers

Del

Albermarle

I would still give them a call just to make sure .
SL have standard discounts eg 0.3% if you have over £50K and maybe that is why the discount is showing as zero .
Without any discount it is not great value. Most but not all pension providers allow partial transfers. You should have a policy document somewhere so read the small print , or call them. 

dunstonh

I dont know whether the SL page you are seeing is generic or specific.   However, normally the internal funds of the provider are, at most, no higher than the auto-enrolment maximum. External funds are often more expensive.
Are you able to check your funds list to see the costs of all the funds.    At a minimum, there must be at least 1 fund which is usually the default that can be no more expensive than 0.75%.     

deltrotter

Thanks guys - I have sent them a message.

Will post what I find out here in case it helps someone else in the future.

Cheers

Del

deltrotter

Actually, just found this in the terms and conditions:

AnotherJoe

Also note the 1% you are paying is the total.  As opposed to whatever the platform fee is with whoever you transfer plus the fund fees. It's quite possible that's close to 1% anyway. 

deltrotter

Ok, heard back from Standard Life. I can't make a partial transfer:

"On your plan type partial transfers are only facilitated if you are transferring away to take benefits. Unfortunately this means that due to your age it will not be possible for you to complete a partial transfer as you are not yet 55, the minimum age set by the government when you can withdraw from a plan.

If you are looking to transfer away then you will need to complete a full transfer from your plan."