Vanguard announces drawdown service on its SIPP

ratechaser

Not yet had a chance to look in detail, but this is something they said they were always intending to build into their pension offering. Also noticed there's a £375 total platform fee cap which may be old news but I'd previously missed - could be a good consolidation option for all of my pots now...

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/retirement/how-pension-goes-even-further-with-vanguard?cmpgn=ET1120UKCESIP0101

ossian

I have been scouring there website for details on how it's administered.  I haven't done too well.  
Is there a web interface?  If so could we have a video tutorial?
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Or is this a process where either an annual or a fixed withdrawal amount needs to be set up by a form?
What regular drawdown payment frequencies are possible?

I suspect the initial form of drawdown is probably quite limited and that other features will be added in time.

Mutton_Geoff

I spoke to Vanguard prior to transferring in a 7 figure crystallised SIPP as cash even though I knew they didn't have a drawdown facility as yet. My old investments could not be transferred in specie so would need to be cashed. As the process started, I opened my Vanguard account with an additional min contribution (£500) and waited for funds to arrive. They were rejected by Vanguard as, without a drawdown facility, crystallised funds could not be accepted. This caused a long delay in then moving my pot to Interactive Investor (still ongoing).

The Vanguard rep apologised they did not inform me of this issue prior to pushing the button for my transfer. A shocking lack of knowledge by their phone team.

I then closed my Vanguard account and moved the smaller initial purchase to Interactive Investor. They couldn't even transfer their own fund (Lifestrategy) in specie so it had to be sold. The cash then bounced back as Vanguard mislabelled the transfer.

Altogether, it's been a shambles dealing with Vanguard and it's certainly put me off going near their platform again.

Malthusian

Mutton_Geoff said:

Altogether, it's been a shambles dealing with Vanguard and it's certainly put me off going near their platform again.

Doesn't sound like they covered themselves in glory with the transfer, but they can't be blamed for the fact that you tried to transfer a drawdown pension to them when you knew they didn't offer drawdown pensions. And service standards can't be too much of a priority if your chosen alternative was II.

LHW99

Malthusian said:

Mutton_Geoff said:

Altogether, it's been a shambles dealing with Vanguard and it's certainly put me off going near their platform again.

Doesn't sound like they covered themselves in glory with the transfer, but they can't be blamed for the fact that you tried to transfer a drawdown pension to them when you knew they didn't offer drawdown pensions. And service standards can't be too much of a priority if your chosen alternative was II.

II truthfully are reasonable just now servicewise. They had a bad patch during RDR, but are pretty good at replying to questions and general admin. Transferring anything in specie seems to cause issues with a number of providers.

It appears MuttonGeoff spoke to Vanguard before trying to transfer, but got poor information, so can't be blamed too much.

Albermarle

ossian said:

I have been scouring there website for details on how it's administered.  I haven't done too well.  
Is there a web interface?  If so could we have a video tutorial?
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Or is this a process where either an annual or a fixed withdrawal amount needs to be set up by a form?
What regular drawdown payment frequencies are possible?

I suspect the initial form of drawdown is probably quite limited and that other features will be added in time.

I am not yet in drawdown so my knowledge of the fine details of drawdown is limited, but from other threads it seems that all providers seem to have a quite long winded largely paper based process . Partly due to regulatory/compliance issues.
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Not sure if any provider can do this ? Not 100% sure though .

Mutton_Geoff

LHW99 said:

Malthusian said:

Mutton_Geoff said:

Altogether, it's been a shambles dealing with Vanguard and it's certainly put me off going near their platform again.

Doesn't sound like they covered themselves in glory with the transfer, but they can't be blamed for the fact that you tried to transfer a drawdown pension to them when you knew they didn't offer drawdown pensions. And service standards can't be too much of a priority if your chosen alternative was II.

II truthfully are reasonable just now servicewise. They had a bad patch during RDR, but are pretty good at replying to questions and general admin. Transferring anything in specie seems to cause issues with a number of providers.

It appears MuttonGeoff spoke to Vanguard before trying to transfer, but got poor information, so can't be blamed too much.

Correct, I spoke to them several times ahead of the transfer and was made aware of the lack of drawdown facilities "until early 2021". They were aware they were crystallised funds since I mentioned the % of the LTA I'd used in the process. At no time was the connection between a lack of drawdown facility and the inability to accept crystallised funds made. Until the transfer was attempted.

My experience of II has been great, they are answering some secure messages same day, the remainder within 24 hours and have alerted me on a couple of issues regading other transfers in which was down to the previous platform/fund manager errors. Quite happy with their service. Esp for £10 a month.

[Deleted User]

Albermarle said:

ossian said:

I have been scouring there website for details on how it's administered.  I haven't done too well.  
Is there a web interface?  If so could we have a video tutorial?
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Or is this a process where either an annual or a fixed withdrawal amount needs to be set up by a form?
What regular drawdown payment frequencies are possible?

I suspect the initial form of drawdown is probably quite limited and that other features will be added in time.

I am not yet in drawdown so my knowledge of the fine details of drawdown is limited, but from other threads it seems that all providers seem to have a quite long winded largely paper based process . Partly due to regulatory/compliance issues.
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Not sure if any provider can do this ? Not 100% sure though .

Just started drawdown with HL, everything done on line in about 15 mins and cash in my bank in 2 days

Albermarle

Deleted_User said:

Albermarle said:

ossian said:

I have been scouring there website for details on how it's administered.  I haven't done too well.  
Is there a web interface?  If so could we have a video tutorial?
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Or is this a process where either an annual or a fixed withdrawal amount needs to be set up by a form?
What regular drawdown payment frequencies are possible?

I suspect the initial form of drawdown is probably quite limited and that other features will be added in time.

I am not yet in drawdown so my knowledge of the fine details of drawdown is limited, but from other threads it seems that all providers seem to have a quite long winded largely paper based process . Partly due to regulatory/compliance issues.
Can absolute or percentage withdrawal rates be set for FAD?  (Both options may appeal under different circumstances)
Can guardrails be set?
Not sure if any provider can do this ? Not 100% sure though .

Just started drawdown with HL, everything done on line in about 15 mins and cash in my bank in 2 days

That sounds good, but I clearly remember other posters saying HL were pretty much the same as the others when it came to drawdown ( paper forms etc ) so maybe they have recently upped their game?

jaybeetoo

Before people knock ii, they were one of the few platforms that didn’t crash earlier this month when the COVID-19 vaccine results were announced, unlike Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Fidelity.

[Deleted User]

jaybeetoo said:

Before people knock ii, they were one of the few platforms that didn’t crash earlier this month when the COVID-19 vaccine results were announced, unlike Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Fidelity.

They couldn’t cope with the trading volume?  How long were they out for? That’s not good.