What type of pension have I got?

spoovy

As I'm now definitely middle-aged I thought I'd try to get my head around my pensions.  My largest pension is with Aviva but I'm falling at the first hurdle as I can't find out what type of pension it is.  It allows me to select various funds and shift money between them, so is it a SIPP, or something else? The Aviva website has lots of type-specific information but without knowing what type I have in the first place it's not much use.  Incredible that nowhere do they actually say what type of pension I have, they just list possibilities, for example, "if your pension is a.."

* Company Pension @ Aviva

* Company Stakeholder Pension @ Aviva

* Company Pension Freedom @ Aviva (Isle of Man Section 61 Plan)

* Group Personal Pension (schemes established from August 2000)

* Group Self-Invested Personal Pension

* Variable Money Purchase Plan & Variable Group AVC Plan

* ’98 Series Personal and Group Personal Pensions

* Defined Contribution Scheme Replacement

* Lifestage Personal Pension
But I have no idea beyond the fact that it was opened by my employer around 18 years ago.

Their website says they have phone lines open to answer such questions, but when I phoned the automated voice said they were shut.

IvanOpinion

It should tell you in your statement.  Do you have a MyAviva account that you can log in and see your pension details?  If so then there should be a documentation section which will statements etc.  You should find the information there.

Albermarle

 It allows me to select various funds and shift money between them, so is it a SIPP, or something else?

I wouldn't get too hung up on these definitions, stakeholder; personal pension, Sipp etc .

The main point is that they all Defined Contribution pensions, and therefore from a legal and tax point of view they are all the same. Like with many products , new versions appear from time to time but the older ones are kept running as well .

Newer versions will probably be a bit more flexible when you take the pension, and maybe more choice of funds, but fundamentally they are very similar. 

Even the name SIPP can mean different things .

dunstonh

Aviva offer individual stakeholders, personal pensions and SIPPs as well as group personal pensions and group stakeholder pensions.  A master trust scheme, section 32 buy out bonds, S226 retirement annuity contracts and are involved with occupational pensions.

They pretty much have every pension type there is available.

spoovy

IvanOpinion said:

It should tell you in your statement.  Do you have a MyAviva account that you can log in and see your pension details?  If so then there should be a documentation section which will statements etc.  You should find the information there.

That's just it -- it doesn't.  I've scoured the documents both paper and online.  I mean there's lots of guff but nothing that uses the exact terms that they later use.  It honestly seems like it's deliberately confusing with them using different terms in different contexts for what I assume is the same thing.

I'm thinking of transferring it all out anyway, they're charging 1% PA in fees (plus additional for some funds) whereas my Aegon scheme seems to offer access to similar (or the same exact same?) funds for 0.15% PA.  And it seems a lot less opaque as well.

Marcon

spoovy said:

IvanOpinion said:

It should tell you in your statement.  Do you have a MyAviva account that you can log in and see your pension details?  If so then there should be a documentation section which will statements etc.  You should find the information there.

That's just it -- it doesn't.  I've scoured the documents both paper and online.  I mean there's lots of guff but nothing that uses the exact terms that they later use.  It honestly seems like it's deliberately confusing with them using different terms in different contexts for what I assume is the same thing.

I'm thinking of transferring it all out anyway, they're charging 1% PA in fees (plus additional for some funds) whereas my Aegon scheme seems to offer access to similar (or the same exact same?) funds for 0.15% PA.  And it seems a lot less opaque as well.

It may be frustrating, but you're over-thinking it. From what you've said, you have some sort of personal pension, which means it is a defined contribution scheme. If you can see the funds in which your pension is invested, and can switch these around, what more do you believe you need to know, and why? If you could clarify that, someone here may be able to give some general help (or at least reassurance!) until you can get a reply from Aviva. Their website confirms telephone lines are open Monday to Friday, so if you tried today, it's no surprise you didn't get an answer.

Notepad_Phil

spoovy said:

I'm thinking of transferring it all out anyway, they're charging 1% PA in fees (plus additional for some funds) whereas my Aegon scheme seems to offer access to similar (or the same exact same?) funds for 0.15% PA.  And it seems a lot less opaque as well.

Just be careful that you are counting the costs in a like for like manner. You may well be receiving a discount from Aviva which you are not really made aware of (the fund brochures usually show the maximum pecentage that they can take, which may not be the same as what you are paying). And I don't know about Aegon, but 0.15% seems very cheap, are you sure that is not just the platform cost and then you have the fund costs on top.