Pension charges and whether to transfer to one pot.

143bruffell

I have a few different pensions from previous employment, Aegon/Retireaedy, which is the biggest at about £30k, plus nominal amounts in Standard Life, Nest & The People’s Pension. I also have a private pension with Standard Life that’s quite old. I can’t manage it online. That’s worth about £40k and I still pay into that. The charges on that are a little higher than the others but from what I can see it’s performing a bit better. In reality does it make that much difference, other than being easier to manage, whether I leave them all alone or transfer them all to one pot? The providers all seem to be allowing free transfer in and out. I don’t have any guaranteed benefits. I can’t decide whether to just leave them alone or transfer them all; and if I was to transfer I don’t know what to move to where. Isn’t it just a bit of a lottery anyway? I’m 62 and am working full time in a new job. I already receive a modest final salary pension from a local authority. I was thinking about moving all of my pensions into one pot so that I can figure out how much they will give me and then I can decide whether to retire early or just work part time. In 4 years I’ll have the state pension too which is projected to be £198/wk. I don’t especially want to pay an IFA to give me advice if there’s no real need or should I just bite the billet and cough up for proper advice?

MK62

Assuming they are all DC pensions, then there are pros and cons either way tbh - combining several small pensions into one can certainly make sense from an ease of admin point-of-view, and it could well be cheaper (though that would depend on the charges you are currently paying and whether there are any exit fees). Dealing with many small pensions when retirement does come could be a pain.

Personally, with the sizes of the pots involved, I'd certainly be inclined to at least look into combining at least a few of them.

As to where to move them to, then there are quite a few platforms to choose from - most of them do most of the work for you -you just open a SIPP account and then give them the details of the pensions you want to transfer in........Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor, AJ Bell, iWeb, Vanguard, Charles Stanley Direct, Fidelity (in no particular order) are just some of the better known platforms....each has a different charging model, so you'd have to work that out for yourself......Vanguard looks quite attractive for a small pot, due to the low costs, but it's limited to Vanguard funds only (not that this is a problem for a smallish pot though tbh).........also some might charge for drawdown, so while not an issue for now, remember to factor that in (though you can always move it again in a few years time).

As to getting "proper advice" from an IFA, you might find that rather expensive in relation to your pot size.......though again, there are pros and cons.......if you pick a mainstream platform, and mainstream investments, then there's arguably little need, but if an IFA stops you investing in very high risk investments (which isn't always apparent) or even worse, outright scams, then you could also argue it'd be money well spent.

Albermarle

You will probably find that the older ones will be less flexible in terms of how you take your money in retirement .
They may only offer the alternative of cash or an annuity . A more modern pension will also offer more flexible drawdown .
I would also say on line access is a benefit .
I would say some tidying up is a good idea but no need to do it all at once and maybe keep at least two rather than consolidate into just one immediately .
Just remember the pension itself does not perform or grow , it is the investments within it that are most important.

143bruffell

Thank you both for your insight. V helpful. 👍