Drawdown pension

terilyn

I had a defined benefit pension with barclays. 3 years ago I was advised to take it out on a drawdown pension and the union recommended an Ifa my I took the 25% and the rest was put with the Royal London. My IFA as now changed to a restricted FA and he is thinking of retiring so he has recommended I transfer the pension to True Potential Wealth Management as he said they have been out performing Royal London. I am not sure if this is the right thing to do as I am aware that that the advisors who get their investors to transfer to True Potential are going to get an 8% bonus. I am a novice when it comes to pensions and investments so any advice would be welcome the pension pot is £285,000.

MK62

Hmm.....is your IFA acting in your best interests....or his?

There are several threads about True Potential on here.......reading through those could offer some enlightenment.

If you don't want to handle your pension yourself, could you not find another IFA close to you, and see what he/she says about it.....and see what he/she recommends.

cfw1994

I would firmly avoid moving to TP
A few posts here - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77892742#Comment_77892742 for one.
If you wish to remain with advisors, look locally (or nationally!) for an Independent Financial Advisor.     They can advise based on options across the whole market, not just "what they sell".   
Maybe I am being disingenuous, but I can imagine True Potential becoming the next St James Place - FAs that I would not touch with any sized bargepole!!
The choices really should be either DIY, or IFA.
Curious about your history, as you say you are "a novice when it comes to pensions and investments", & yet you moved a DB scheme to a DC one.   Did you understand why you did that?

MEM62

MK62 said:

Hmm.....is your IFA acting in your best interests....or his?

Probably not.  

dunstonh

My IFA as now changed to a restricted FA and he is thinking of retiring so he has recommended I transfer the pension to True Potential Wealth Management as he said they have been out performing Royal London.

Your FA is no longer in a position to be acting in your best interests.   

Going forward you can maintain the RL pension without an adviser.  Or appoint a new IFA, who can maintain the RL pension or alternatively they may have better options open to them.      Do not move to a restricted option.

Albermarle

 I am a novice when it comes to pensions and investments so any advice would be welcome the pension pot is £285,000.

It is substantial amount of money , so could be a good idea to get more up to speed in this area,

Then you will feel more confident in handling it yourself , or if you employ another IFA then you can have a better informed discussion with them .

This book is often recommended  https://www.amazon.co.uk/DIY-Pensions-Simple-Retirement-Planning-ebook/dp/B00B7QN8XM

Plus these sites can be useful 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/discount-pensions/

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/

xylophone

https://adviserbook.co.uk/
You would tick "confirmed independent" and such other specialities required when the menu comes up.

zagfles

Also when looking for a new IFA, worth checking the ombudsman site for any judgements against them, apparently 85% or so of IFAs don't have any, I researched one for a relative and they had 9 judgements against them just in the last year!!

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions

terilyn

cfw1994 said 

Curious about your history, as you say you are "a novice when it comes to pensions and investments", & yet you moved a DB scheme to a DC one.   Did you understand why you did that?

Thanks think I need to do some more reading. Don't think I did fully understand what I was doing by taking the money out of a DB scheme everyone working there was saying g it was a good thing to do but think we may have been blinded by the lump sum we could get immediately and we were told the transfer would be higher if we took it at that time

Albermarle

terilyn said:

cfw1994 said 

Curious about your history, as you say you are "a novice when it comes to pensions and investments", & yet you moved a DB scheme to a DC one.   Did you understand why you did that?

Thanks think I need to do some more reading. Don't think I did fully understand what I was doing by taking the money out of a DB scheme everyone working there was saying g it was a good thing to do but think we may have been blinded by the lump sum we could get immediately and we were told the transfer would be higher if we took it at that time

Usually it is a bit 50:50 so unlikely you have made a catastrophic mistake .
Normally cautious types tend to keep the DB scheme, but it is true the amounts on offer do seem very large and tempting .
However the average person vastly underestimates the potential cost of providing a pension for the next 30 years, and especially they underestimate the value of the inflation linking these pensions usually have .
Anyway it is done now, so you need to concentrate on making sure the transferred sum is invested sensibly , to give a good income and not to run out . In theory you should be able to generate a larger income than the DB one and have some left at the end to pass on as an inheritance, but this is not guaranteed ( like the DB pension was )