Cash in Stock ISA and put into SIPP?

older_and_no_wiser

Good point about the 2 pensions. The second one is originally my AVC pension from the 90s when I was self employed. I just kept it going and recently transferred it into II. I think I'll transfer it into my workplace pension. That's with HL and we've recently been given a reduced platform fee of 0.25%. that was one of the reasons I didn't transfer as there's £250k+ in there and I thought transferring the other £160k from II would attract more costs as II is a flat fee of £240 a year. As you say though, there's ni savings in the workplace pension. I'm already on salary sacrifice with that one though and the company won't contribute any more to match my increased contributions.

dunstonh

 The second one is originally my AVC pension from the 90s when I was self employed

You have never been able to pay into an AVC if you were self employed.  So, it must be something else.

MallyGirl

Unless it was something else that just called itself an AVC like my current company DC pension

dunstonh

MallyGirl said:

Unless it was something else that just called itself an AVC like my current company DC pension

in the 90s, the only options for the self-employed were personal pensions or S226 retirement annuity contracts (if taken out prior to 1988).      AVC is certainly a misused term nowadays but going back to the days when things were less about marketing names and closer to generic names, I doubt any individual PPP would have referred to itself as an AVC as that would have caused a lot of confusion.   Anything is possible though!!

older_and_no_wiser

When I started the pension in around 1992/3, it was sold to me by a financial advisor. I was operating as a sole trader. I thought it was an AVC pension at the time but may be wrong. I knew nothing about investments or pensions being so young but knew I needed to contribute to a scheme. No internet or easy ways to learn about things back then. I trusted the advisor who was probably on commission at that point but I'm so glad I opened it and kept contributing - even when I became employed soon after and started a workplace scheme. It was around £200 a month which increased with inflation each year and  that pot was worth £125,000 in April when I transferred it. It's really set me up now combined with my workplace pension..

I'll enquire about combining them tomorrow and look at increasing my workplace salary sacrifice to replace the account each month I'm paying into the personal SIPP.

I'll need to wait before transferring as I'm still waiting for a chunk of HMRC tax topup to come through from contributions made from June onwards.

pip895

The only downside I can see in transferring is a loss of some flexibility.  ISA withdrawals, being tax free, are good for occasional large expenses that might otherwise push you into a higher tax bracket if taken from the SIPP.   

sevenhills

pip895 said:

The only downside I can see in transferring is a loss of some flexibility.  ISA withdrawals, being tax free, are good for occasional large expenses that might otherwise push you into a higher tax bracket if taken from the SIPP.   

But if you just needed the 25% tax-free element, there is no need to touch the rest.