To transfer a Stakeholder Pension?

mggftz30

I have stakeholder pension with ReAssure current value @ £125k. It is invested in HL International Mgd Pen Standard Pension Accumulator series 01.

I have not paid any attention to this pension for 20 years but as I have received some money from sale of a buy to let and will possibly retire in 8 years or so I am looking to increase contributions over the next few years. 

Problem is communication with Reassure, when I call it is 30 minute wait and they then need to transfer me to a pension specialist to answer any questions relating to the investment...another 30 minute wait. Request for policy documents etc usually take 5 weeks to action and they have told me I cannot have access to my pension details online as this facility is not available!

It’s so frustrating dealing with them I am considering transferring the pension to a platform where I will have more control.

The charges with Reassure pension are  0.7% in total so £875 per year? If I transferred to Interactive Investor I believe platform charge is £20 per month and fund charges for say a tracker of 0.22% would be total of £515.00 per year? This would increase of course as the pot got bigger. Or Vanguard Life strategy with platform fees of 0.15% & fund fees of 0.22% so even cheaper unless I am missing something?

Would appreciate any views on this as I am a little nervous to transfer but feel I am of the age I need to be a bit more proactive and would now like some control over my investments.  Would also be interested to hear if anyone has done similar transfers and how they found the whole process.

Thanks in advance

Albermarle

Another reason to transfer is that older pensions are usually more restrictive on your options when you come to take the pension . Plus you should get better customer service/on line offering with a  ore modern pension.
The only issue with Vanguard is that you can only invest in Vanguard funds , which is maybe not an issue for you.

dunstonh

Stakeholder pensions are a niche product nowadays.  They started going down the pecking order around 2005 when they ceased to be good value for most people with a value of over £20k.  There are not many providers left nowadays.

Would appreciate any views on this as I am a little nervous to transfer but feel I am of the age I need to be a bit more proactive and would now like some control over my investments.  Would also be interested to hear if anyone has done similar transfers and how they found the whole process.

You are right to be more pro-active.  Shame you were not 15 years ago when stakeholders began their decline (or rather alternatives began to get better than stakeholder).   You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown.

Its a routine, every day transaction and nothing to be fearful of.

Marcon

dunstonh said:

You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown.

Some may not, but others do - for example, the Pru stakeholder offers drawdown.

cloud_dog

mggftz30 said:

The charges with Reassure pension are  0.7% in total so £875 per year? If I transferred to Interactive Investor I believe platform charge is £20 per month and fund charges for say a tracker of 0.22% would be total of £515.00 per year? This would increase of course as the pot got bigger. Or Vanguard Life strategy with platform fees of 0.15% & fund fees of 0.22% so even cheaper unless I am missing something?

Download and have a play with SnowMan's excellent spreadsheet, Coolly Comparing Platform Charges.

dunstonh

Marcon said:

dunstonh said:

You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown.

Some may not, but others do - for example, the Pru stakeholder offers drawdown.

That is new then.   They didn't last year (other than UFPLS).     I have it in writing that it was not available on the stakeholder pension and would need to be transferred to an alternative plan.

Marcon

dunstonh said:

Marcon said:

dunstonh said:

You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown.

Some may not, but others do - for example, the Pru stakeholder offers drawdown.

That is new then.   They didn't last year (other than UFPLS).     I have it in writing that it was not available on the stakeholder pension and would need to be transferred to an alternative plan.

I too had thought that, but clearly stakeholders have moved on. PensionBee's general information sheet on stakeholders dated March 2019 lists drawdown as a possible option, which suggests that more than one stakeholder provider might now offer that.

dunstonh

Marcon said:

dunstonh said:

Marcon said:

dunstonh said:

You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown.

Some may not, but others do - for example, the Pru stakeholder offers drawdown.

That is new then.   They didn't last year (other than UFPLS).     I have it in writing that it was not available on the stakeholder pension and would need to be transferred to an alternative plan.

I too had thought that, but clearly stakeholders have moved on. PensionBee's general information sheet on stakeholders dated March 2019 lists drawdown as a possible option, which suggests that more than one stakeholder provider might now offer that.

Stakeholders do not have any rules that prevent drawdown.  It is just that the structure and build of them meant that none of them did pre-2015.    Some of them have changed to allow UFPLS and at least one offers 25% with no income.  But I haven't come across any stakeholders that allow regular income.     
Some providers say they are able to do drawdown.   But if you then ask what methods, you find it's limited to UFPLS.    

engagedandopen

"You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown."

The Virgin Money Stakeholder Pension has now been updated to support drawdown as its default pathway:
https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/pension/glidepath/

dunstonh

engagedandopen said:

"You are going to have to do it at some point as stakeholder pensions dont support drawdown."

The Virgin Money Stakeholder Pension has now been updated to support drawdown as its default pathway:
https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/pension/glidepath/

Is that on their stakeholder pension or their personal pension?  I didn't see it specifically reference stakeholder on there.  Plus, the "glidepath" seems to be lifestyling in the accumulation stage. Not the income stage.  And it says on that page that they only support lump sums (UFPLS).   Most stakeholders support UFPLS. Indeed, most legacy non-stakeholders do too as it only required the old triviality coding to be tweaked.

Virgin have been working on a new pension product for while now and are not currently open for new business pending launch of their new product.   Like most other providers of stakeholder pensions, they have stopped offering them.

[Deleted User]

If you know nothing about investing and the IFA is good then you would benefit from ongoing advice. Neither condition is a given. 

Your alternatives are:
1. Learn. Its easy these days. Time invested to read a couple of books will save you thousands per year over many years.
2. Take a one-off advice with a single fee. Make sure the investment vehicle is simple and easy to manage by yourself going forward.