Going into Drawdown either Aviva or Quilter

alan014

I am 60 and taking early retirement. The bulk of my pension is invested in my existing company scheme  (Aviva) and would apparently not incur a transfer charge and lower annual charges going into drawdown.  My financial adviser advises I transfer to Quilter but that would incur a 2% transfer charge saying not to pay too much attention to this as long term it would not be significant and would be better actively managed.......   I am unsure which way to turn really so any experience of others appreciated

MallyGirl

Are they an FA or an Independent Financial Advisor?

alan014

Financial Adviser

pip895

So Quilter has both higher long term charges and an initial 2% charge? 

Why can’t you pick Active funds in Aviva?  Very few transfers are charged these days - or is this actually the advice charge?  Is your FA an IFA?  I would be most concerned about the ongoing charges being higher..

MallyGirl

alan014 said:

Financial Adviser

Maybe time to find an IFA if you still want to pay for advice - it will give you access to the whole market rather than being recommended the best of what an FA is able to sell

Albermarle

Can you say what the actual Aviva charges are ? I assume it will be the same charges now as they will be in drawdown?
Also if you could say what funds the Aviva pension is currently invested in that would help.

There is no hard evidence that actively managed funds perform better than passive ones .
However some funds have a history of underperformance so even if you stay with Aviva it might be worth looking at alternative funds,

  Very few transfers are charged these days - or is this actually the advice charge?

I would assume it is not a transfer charge as such , but the FA charge for organising it . 

alan014

pip895 said:

So Quilter has both higher long term charges and an initial 2% charge? 

Why can’t you pick Active funds in Aviva?  Very few transfers are charged these days - or is this actually the advice charge?  Is your FA an IFA?  I would be most concerned about the ongoing charges being higher..

Apologies its a one off initial adviser charge of 2% and an ongoing adviser charge of 0.85% PA which adds up The benefit being yearly meets with the adviser who advises in tax and any issues etc and combining several schemes into 1 drawdown pension .  Are these sounding like like usual charges.    

alan014

MallyGirl said:

alan014 said:

Financial Adviser

Maybe time to find an IFA if you still want to pay for advice - it will give you access to the whole market rather than being recommended the best of what an FA is able to sell

Thank you .  The more advice would possibly just lead to more costs and options and dilemmas ?

MallyGirl

Only you can say whether you need ongoing advice. You haven't given any info on the size of the fund or whether you have other pensions etc.

If you went DIY and opened a SIPP then transferring existing DC pensions (assuming no safeguards/funnies) is free and the receiving SIPP sorts it for you. You would need to know what to invest in once in the SIPP. Do you have some knowledge - or, if not, are you interested in gaining that knowledge? If not then an IFA would be helpful.
Charges are influenced by the value being handled.

alan014

The total pot is approx 300k 

Yes the same charges as currently invested 0.8%   as opposed to the Quilter ongoing charge of 2.2% (which includes a 0.85% PA adviser charge)

dunstonh

My financial adviser advises I transfer to Quilter

Quilter have their own salesforce that only recommend Quilter platform and their own brand of investments.  Some can use a slightly wider panel but are not whole of market.

If you used an IFA, the could access the Aviva platform.  Aviva discounts their platform charge for existing Aviva investors with more than £50k.    Aviva and Quilter both use the same FNZ software.  So, cost and additional functionality are really the only differences.      That said, Quilter have only just moved to FNZ and functionality is not comparable to many other FNZ platforms.  Aviva are only a year or so ahead of Quilter with their move to FNZ and they too have it locked down pretty tight as well.  So, from a functionality point of view, other platforms may offer better value.

 The more advice would possibly just lead to more costs and options and dilemmas ?

No. It would likely lead to less costs (as Quilter is easily beaten on cost by an IFA) and IFA is required to present the solution and not get you to decide the options.    FAs often present the options for you to pick but in most cases, you are not in a position of knowledge to pick.  So, the IFA would likely be cheaper and better for you.