What should I do with old pension schemes ?

jsol150772

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction with regards to my old ( and current ) pension schemes. I've not been paying anywhere near enough into them and , at 46 years old, I've woken up to the fact I need to substantially increase my pension contributions!! 
I have a H.M Forces preserved pension of £2287 PA, with a preserved terminal grant of 3 times that amount ( index linked and payable at 60) from when I left in 2003.
I have an old company pension from my 1st employer that was originally Skandia Life but has changed hands several times and is now with Old Mutual with a value of £4219 (this has an annual fee of £65 as it's less than £5000) 
The pension from my last employer is now with Scottish Widows and is valued at £16,155 , which is invested between 60/40 global equity index  , passive 15 year gilt and passive UK equity.  
Finally I have around £6000  with my current employers auto enrolment scheme (Nest), they pay in 3% and I pay in 6% at present. I'm currently earning around 40k PA 

Should I migrate my 2 old company schemes into my Nest pension or would I be better off just moving the Old Mutual pot into the Scottish Widows scheme to save me the £65 per year fee? 
My current employer will not contribute more than 3% even if I up mine so im unsure if inceasing my contribution offers the best investment ? Would I be better opting out of the company scheme and investing into the Scottish Widows scheme?
Finally,  am I correct in thinking I should do nothing with the forces pension ? 

I know theres a fair bit to go at but any advice would be really welcome 
Jon

Brynsam

jsol150772 said:

Would I be better opting out of the company scheme and investing into the Scottish Widows scheme?
Finally,  am I correct in thinking I should do nothing with the forces pension ? 

Merging schemes - useful reading before doing anything further: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3550085/STEVE-WEBB-merge-small-pension-pots.html
If you opt out of your current company scheme you are effectively giving up 'free' money...how good an idea does that sound, on reflection?
Forces pension: spot on. Do nothing.

El_Torro

At the very least you should merge your Old Mutual and Scottish Widows pensions. If you’re happy with the charges and fund choices in Scottish Widows then transferring your Old Mutual pension there is not a bad choice. You may want to open a SIPP and move both pensions there but if you’re not fussed about the choices that a SIPP provides then there’s not really much point in doing that.

I don’t have experience with Nest but haven’t heard great things about it, so I wouldn’t transfer your other pensions there. It’s definitely worth keeping though since your employer is paying 3% of your salary into it. No point losing that. Especially if you’re paying into it through salary sacrifice (you might not be).

Also consider paying more into your pension. Either upping your contribution in Nest or paying into your Scottish Widows pension. Your current 9% contribution isn’t terrible, but will it allow you to retire when you want to?

xylophone

Finally,  am I correct in thinking I should do nothing with the forces pension ? 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions-and-compensation-for-veterans#transfers-in-and-out-of-the-schemes

You cannot transfer your deferred defined benefit Armed Forces pension to a DC scheme.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions-and-compensation-for-veterans#transfers-in-and-out-of-the-schemes

https://forcespensionsociety.org/2019/02/who-can-transfer-their-pension-out-of-afps/

dunstonh

I have an old company pension from my 1st employer that was originally Skandia Life but has changed hands several times and is now with Old Mutual with a value of £4219 (this has an annual fee of £65 as it's less than £5000) 

It hasn't really changed hands several times.   Skandia was owned by Old Mutual and the book was rebranded to Old Mutual when they closed the Skandia brand.   However, Old Mutual Life has just been sold to ReAssure.  And ReAssure is being bought by Phoenix.

Some of the old Skandia Life PP5 plans can be very good value, even today.  Some can be very expensive.   Some of them get a bonus every 5 years that can be a fair chunk. If yours is one of those versions, then it can pay to wait until the next bonus point.

Would I be better opting out of the company scheme and investing into the Scottish Widows scheme?

Free money vs no free money.  Also, Scottish Widows will not accept money in from opt outs without an adviser agreeing to it. And no adviser will agree to it.   Do not opt out.

egroeg1980

Agree with Brynam - free money from your employer no matter how little it is - keep that going.
I'm not too disimilar age to you - for every £1 you pay in your pension whilst you're accumulating is worth more on the redemption side (not long away for us now chum!) so as much as 6%/3% might seem fine, my stance of recent years is to smash what I can into my pensions, reduce my tax outlay and then get back more when you hit retirement age (if you can afford it that is!)
OldMututal fee seems high, I recently moved one of my plans to AJBell and spread over a mix of conservative and risky funds to see me through. Aviva I know only charge 0.26% fee of all your funds, so prob the lowest of all the providers out there (if you've not got a million dollar fund that is).