Help with pension consolidation

xylophone

Are you currently a member of a pension scheme?

If so, will the scheme accept a transfer in of your other pensions?

g002ahe

For me, pensionbee gave great service when consolidating many pensions, made it really easy for me and did all the legwork for free.
I then transferred to ii

g002ahe

Crookesmoor said:

Transfers and pension management have costs, which might not always be apparent in the marketing blurb or noticed as the funds transfer.
Pension Bee might provide a good 'service' but they are then investing your pension. In many circumstances, the investment performance could be better elsewhere.
I use a financial advisor. I do pay for this but I hope/believe that the investment performance outweighs this.

Why not check this? Pensionbee funds are OK and fairly low cost.
A IFA should be matching your risk level to your investment choices, but that does not mean better performance!
Also your percentage annual charges will likely be much higher than DIY through pensionbee, eating into your pot.

Albermarle

kuratowski said:

Sjudy22 said:

At the beginning of the lockdown I considered doing it myself. I was advised that I have to contact my current pension providers to request a transfer out valuation.

Are they definitely all pension pots (defined contribution pensions)?  It's just, from the way the above is worded, I wonder whether there is a chance any of these old pensions might be defined benefit pensions - in which case transfers would be a whole different ball game.

The distinction is explained well on the following site:

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pensions-basics

If they are definitely all defined contribution pensions then you would have no need to contact the old provider for a valuation, you would just log in and take the value off the screen.

Yes the OP saying this also made me wonder :
. At the beginning of the lockdown I considered doing it myself. I was advised that I have to contact my current pension providers to request a transfer out valuation. Two of my current providers sent to me a form to complete and I wasn’t sure what boxes to tick so I gave up.

OP - As Kuratowski says , for a straightforward transfer of standard Direct Contribution pensions, the receiving scheme is normally the only one you have contact with . The fact you had to get transfer values from the existing pension is indicating not all your pensions are the same sort .
Read the link provided and make it clear what types of old pensions you have .

dunstonh

Also your percentage annual charges will likely be much higher than DIY through pensionbee, eating into your pot.

I just set up a pension for a transactional client with a 0.36% ongoing charge.  here are the pensionbee charges from their website by way of comparison:


Do not assume that going DIY will result in lower annual charges.   The DIY market has cheap options and expensive options in much the same way advised options can be cheap or expensive.       There will be DIY investors in this section getting much lower than 0.36% or the above.

g002ahe

dunstonh said:

Do not assume that going DIY will result in lower annual charges.   The DIY market has cheap options and expensive options in much the same way advised options can be cheap or expensive.       There will be DIY investors in this section getting much lower than 0.36% or the above.

How much was the one-off charge?
How long until you expect to charge that again for another one-off?
What was the amount invested?
How typical is it for clients (not yours, i mean in general), to get this kind of service?
(These are rhetorical questions probably )

These charges, even though one off, need to be factored in to the equation right??

Crookesmoor

Money Helper is the new name for Pensionwise.

dunstonh

How much was the one-off charge?

£500.

How long until you expect to charge that again for another one-off?

Probably never as it was a one-off transactional piece of advice and I put them with a provider that can take instructions direct from the policyholder.

What was the amount invested?

About £40k plus a regular contribution.

How typical is it for clients (not yours, i mean in general), to get this kind of service?

All general practitioner IFAs would offer it.   Less likely with firms tagging themselves as wealth management.

These charges, even though one off, need to be factored in to the equation right??

They do.  However, that £500 equates to around 1.25% of the single amount (nothing charged against the regular).  Howver, there would be breakeven point where the upfront charge and lower ongoing is cheaper than the no upfront charge and higher ongoing.

(These are rhetorical questions probably  )

They are fair questions.   And as I mentioned, there will be expensive IFAs and there will be cheaper ones.  Just as there are more expensive DIY options and cheaper ones.  I'm not suggesting that using an IFA is the right option here.    I was just pointing out that you cannot assume DIY=cheap and IFA= expensive.     Look at the current top 10 most popular funds bought on HL (the largest DIY provider) and there isn't a cheap fund in the list.

g002ahe

Thanks @dunstonh

That is interesting. I guess some IFAs would not take on such a small task due to admin inefficiencies driving costs & time?

If exactly the same advice was applicable to an investment of £600k, morally/logically the charge should also be £500 right? If the charge would be higher, what are the drivers for this? (are the IFA's costs/time increased due to some reason?)