Phoenix Life with profits fund

SouthCoastBoy

I have a former protected rights fund, basically contracted out of serps and put into this as advised by an IFA many years ago. I get an annual statement, fund currently worth about 19k with a transfer value of around 12k so I guess not worth transferring to my sipp. The assumed pension date is 2030 is that when I will receive my final bonus and can then transfer out without having a penalty? The annual statement also gives projections on what the pension maybe worth. I assume this is based on buying an annuity?  The documentation isnt particularly clear, thanks for any responses.

Albermarle

Presume it is £12K with a final bonus of £7K.
I think this can be a bit misleading as if you transferred it now you should still get the final bonus , although there will be some caveats about the figure is not guaranteed .
I transferred a similar pension with profits fund into a SIPP , a few years before the end retirement date and got the full amount , including the final bonus. 
Probably best to wait for a real expert to comment first though before doing anything .

dunstonh

I get an annual statement, fund currently worth about 19k with a transfer value of around 12k

It would be unusual to have a difference as great as that at the current time.   Who was the original legacy company (before Phoenix)?  Have you got the figures the right way around?

The assumed pension date is 2030 is that when I will receive my final bonus

Final bonuses accrue as you go along and are included in the transfer value.

The annual statement also gives projections on what the pension maybe worth. I assume this is based on buying an annuity?  

There are a whole bunch of assumptions.  A lot of them largely pessamistic.

SouthCoastBoy

Thanks for the responses. Dunstonh, in answer to your first point I do have the values correct, the current statement says value of fund £19487.54, Transfer Value £12240.14 which is made up of former protected rights £12240.14. The original company was NPI.

                   

redpete

I've got an ex-NPI SERPS opt-out account with Phoenix, it includes a with-profits fund as well as a managed fund.  The penalty for transferring out before the with-profits fund maturity date is several £000, the account rules won't let me do a partial transfer (transfer out the managed fund and leave in the with-profits fund).

Sea_Shell

My Husband also has one of these, albeit with a much smaller amount.

His last statement shows a plan value of £2811, but then a transfer value of £1993 made up of "former protected rights" of £1993.

So that's a difference in the figures of almost 30%.    That seems a large percentage of the fund to be "lost".

It goes on to say on the statement that "The transfer value shown...allowing for any interim or final bonus, MVR or early claim charge"

It also goes on to state that "the annual rate of bonus on accumulation units is guaranteed to not be less than 4%"

So we're going to leave this pension well alone for a few years (possibly the full 10, to age 65) and see how the land lies later.   

LHW99

With Profits frequently have the possibility of imposing an MVR, my OH had one on an old policy.

The company decides whether or not to use one at a given time. Perhaps the level of MVR may be because this is an old policy that has been picked up by Phoenix, who won't be as flexible as the original company could have been.

SouthCoastBoy

I think I will leave mine where it is until retirement date, and transfer then.

Albermarle

LHW99 said:

With Profits frequently have the possibility of imposing an MVR, my OH had one on an old policy.

The company decides whether or not to use one at a given time. Perhaps the level of MVR may be because this is an old policy that has been picked up by Phoenix, who won't be as flexible as the original company could have been.

MVR's should only be imposed following a significant downturn in the markets ( as I understand it) so any that were imposed last year should really be removed by now .