Old CIS pension discovered, what to do going forward?

TVAS

If you have good health and you have longevity in your family because the funds are small there is every chance that you can beat the insurance company. This means living long enough to have had more pension income than the amount of the fund value at retirement. 8% is fantastic because annuity rates have crashed because we are living longer. If you don't plan to take benefits until 65 these modest sum will be a nice addition to your basic state pension. I would keep them because of the GARs and ask for them to be paid annually either in arrears or advance if possible then you have a nice sum for holidays. I think pensions should be a combination of no or less risk such as your 2 CIS plans, your state pension and risk which are all the other non financial salary arrangements you may have. Good luck.

onlyfoolsandparking

TVAS said:

If you have good health and you have longevity in your family because the funds are small there is every chance that you can beat the insurance company. This means living long enough to have had more pension income than the amount of the fund value at retirement. 8% is fantastic because annuity rates have crashed because we are living longer. If you don't plan to take benefits until 65 these modest sum will be a nice addition to your basic state pension. I would keep them because of the GARs and ask for them to be paid annually either in arrears or advance if possible then you have a nice sum for holidays. I think pensions should be a combination of no or less risk such as your 2 CIS plans, your state pension and risk which are all the other non financial salary arrangements you may have. Good luck.

Thanks for that reply, yes I think your right about not taking these pensions until I hit 65 that has turned into a no-brainer imo.

Having only 'discovered' these pensions a few weeks ago (I'm actually quite organized in life but this pension has slipped the net) I have been reading lots about pension options and what I could/should do. It's a complicated business for sure and that's why this forum is invaluable to many. I have no problem taking advice from my IFA and paying him for the privilege he's a smart cookie and has helped me with getting the right (cheapest lol) funding of my properties over the years many times. 

The thing I definitely will have to discuss with him is although I have GAR's on these policies they are imo restrictive, in order to benefit from the GAR I have to take an annuity, single life etc (I think?) so not sure whether I will just let the fund grow till I'm 65 at the earliest and then take phased drawdown. Having done a few calculations I could take a TFLS then an income of 3600 approx for 20 years, this is all dependent on fund performance of course but one thing that puts me off with annuity is if I die it dies with me and the joint life annuity slashes the income AND cancels the GAR (:  

LHW99

Maybe worth trying some annuity calculators to compare what your tranfer value would buy in annual inflation linked income, compared with your GAR - probably less.