Should I consolidate my pensions?

NemysysX

Hi, I have about 20 years before retirement and have a number of pensions. The main 5 are with the same provider.
3 of these are from previous employers and are Group Personal Pensions, Management fees are between 0.8 - 1.2%
The other 2 are Trust based pensions both from my current employer, one is not being contributed to anymore, the other is the active one. Both are charging less than 0.2% management fee. The active one is charging slightly more than the inactive one, by about 0.05%

Question : what is the difference between a Group Personal Pension and a Trust based pension?

I am thinking of transferring the 3 GPP to the active TBP, to save money on management charges, all 5 pensions are tracking and growing similarly.
The active TBP is approximately 50% of my total pensions combined.

What are the pro’s and con’s from doing this?
What do I need to check before doing anything?

Thanks in advance.

Albermarle

Question : what is the difference between a Group Personal Pension and a Trust based pension?

As I understand it not very much from your point of view, more of a technical /legal issue I think .

 Management fees are between 0.8 - 1.2%

These are on the higher side nowadays . However many ex workplace pension have discounts that are often not that obvious. Before you do anything give them all a call to double check . Having said that it is unlikely they will be a sl low as 0.2% which is very competitive . Are you sure this covers the pension/platform/management fee AND the fund cost ?

Marcon

Albermarle said:

Question : what is the difference between a Group Personal Pension and a Trust based pension?

As I understand it not very much from your point of view, more of a technical /legal issue I think .

OP - see https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/about-pensions and read the links under the heading 'Pension Basics'. One difference which could have an impact is that trust based pensions are sometimes less willing to accept transfers in, especially if they are defined benefit schemes. The fact you have two trust based pensions with the same employer suggests you were in a defined benefit (aka final salary) scheme which has now closed to future benefit build up, and you are now in a company defined contribution (money purchase) arrangement. Does that ring any bells?

Not always a good idea to consolidate. See https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-3550085/STEVE-WEBB-merge-small-pension-pots.html