Pension - which provider?

barrie108

I've been looking to change my pension provider. I've narrowed it down to Fidelity, Nutmeg, Fisher, and Nutmeg. Now I'm totally confused! I guess what I'm looking for is reasonable fees with good service and performance. My present one charges high fees, has not performed very well and not good customer service. Does anyone have personal experience or can signpost me to "league tables" or any other tools that may help me decide. 

dunstonh

 I've narrowed it down to Fidelity, Nutmeg, Fisher, and Nutmeg. 

Strange selection given the differences in the types of offering.  (i.e. whole of market platform vs robo-guidance option).

. Does anyone have personal experience or can signpost me to "league tables" or any other tools that may help me decide. 

Most modern DIY pension options are whole of market.  So, you can hold the same investments in all of them.  So, performance would be the same.    If you prefer robo-guidance then none of them have a long term history.   Some are going to be better than others in terms of service.  Robo-guidance is rarely the cheapest option. Indeed, some are more expensive than full advice options via an IFA.  

The first thing you need to decide is how you want to invest.   i.e. self select investments or a packaged option via a robo-guidance provider (I have assumed you are eliminating IFA as an option).    Also, if you are employed, there will be the workplace pension to consider.

garmeg

barrie108 said:

I've been looking to change my pension provider. I've narrowed it down to Fidelity, Nutmeg, Fisher, and Nutmeg. Now I'm totally confused! I guess what I'm looking for is reasonable fees with good service and performance. My present one charges high fees, has not performed very well and not good customer service. Does anyone have personal experience or can signpost me to "league tables" or any other tools that may help me decide. 

"You said Nutmeg twice."

"I like Nutmeg."

Albermarle

I guess what I'm looking for is reasonable fees with good service and performance.

Your pension does not perform, the investments that you choose within the pension defines how well your money grows ( or not) .You can find a low cost pension with excellent customer service but if you pick the wrong investments then you have a problem.

barrie108

So, I was looking for a managed pension. I would prefer an advisor to at least guide me in picking the right funds. I am not confident in picking my own funds. Fisher boasted high annual returns each year, but I am aware they are quite expensive - 1.5% transfer fee and 1.8%per year annual charges. Fidelity, however, has much lower costs with either advisory or self-selection options. I am not sure of either's customer service record though. I just can't figure out how funds of clients perform on average for each pension provider. They all claim large gains, of course.

TBC15

I’m going for Fidelity in ITs and draw down.

Try the famous Snowman’s spreadsheet for costs https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gTC-7vV-rnauaD8TnLgtH-JYxzPT1wdT/view

BritishInvestor

barrie108 said:

So, I was looking for a managed pension. I would prefer an advisor to at least guide me in picking the right funds. I am not confident in picking my own funds. Fisher boasted high annual returns each year, but I am aware they are quite expensive - 1.5% transfer fee and 1.8%per year annual charges. Fidelity, however, has much lower costs with either advisory or self-selection options. I am not sure of either's customer service record though. I just can't figure out how funds of clients perform on average for each pension provider. They all claim large gains, of course.

"Fisher boasted high annual returns each year"
Rule #1: Beware of anyone boasting "high annual returns"

Albermarle

barrie108 said:

So, I was looking for a managed pension. I would prefer an advisor to at least guide me in picking the right funds. I am not confident in picking my own funds. Fisher boasted high annual returns each year, but I am aware they are quite expensive - 1.5% transfer fee and 1.8%per year annual charges. Fidelity, however, has much lower costs with either advisory or self-selection options. I am not sure of either's customer service record though. I just can't figure out how funds of clients perform on average for each pension provider. They all claim large gains, of course.

I think you are getting confused between advice and managed funds .
Advice can only be provided by a Financial advisor or ideally an Independent Financial advisor. They look at your whole financial position and give highly regulated personal advice and recommendations . Normally this also means looking after your investments/pensions for you . All at a cost of course. ( but probably less than Fisher charge) 
Alternatively if you set up say a pension yourself on line , you maybe well be guided towards their managed investment solutions, as opposed to simple cheaper funds  . This is not advice but just a form of selling to get you to buy a profitable product . Often they will warn you ( to cover themselves) if you are not sure what you are doing you should see a financial advisor.

[Deleted User]

I wouldn’t touch anything calling itself “wealth management”. Its a marketing ploy designed to play on your vanity. 

Voila - two out of three providers are screened out. 

mika_dm

It depends what you want to hold in your portfolio: if only stocks or ETFs, Hargreaves Lansdown fee is capped to £45 for S&S ISA and £200 for SIPP. If you want to hold funds, it``s a bit more complicated: Vanguard has low fees(up to a particular sum) up to £325/year plus the funds fees.