Pension scheme with very little money: what to do with it?

Albermarle

AlanP_2 said:

Spir4 said:

zemarcopolo said:

I would have thought there is the third option; continue to contribute to the fund. 
How old is your wife? If near 55, she can take it as lumpsum. 

Oh yeah sorry I should have mentioned that. No she's 37, so that won't be an option.
She won't earn any money anymore for a while, so it seems silly to put my money into it whilst I could just put more money into my own fund, which has better terms anyway.

Yours might have better terms but it makes sense to ensure both of you have pension arrangements large enough to provide an income in retirment that uses both personal allowances.

£15k each is better than a £25/5K split.

Alos, whilst not working and earning your wife would still get 25% tax relief on a gross £3600 per year (£2880 nett) pension contribution. Are your terms good enough to offset a 25% return on Day One?

As above , if you can afford it then she could add £2880 a year to her pension.
If she did this then better not to move it to NEST as they have a hefty charge on new contributions . One of these simple ones would be better :
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/personal-pension-account
https://www.legalandgeneral.com/investments/self-invested-personal-pension-sipp/

Spir4

Albermarle said:

As above , if you can afford it then she could add £2880 a year to her pension.
If she did this then better not to move it to NEST as they have a hefty charge on new contributions . One of these simple ones would be better
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/personal-pension-account
https://www.legalandgeneral.com/investments/self-invested-personal-pension-sipp/

Thanks I'll look into those.

Spir4

Marcon said:

If you wife is going to put cash into her pension as a lump sum (assuming the pair of you have £2,880 to spare...), do it before transferring to NEST - that way you avoid their 1.8% contribution charge on new money. Before considering doing that, check first if her current scheme imposes any sort of 'exit charge' - if they do, it could rule out any saving.

There's no exit charge, so that's good. I'll keep the contributions in mind, thanks.