wrong financial advice concerning annuity pension

mumdoeseverything

hi, I wondered if anybody can help.
My late father asked for some financial advice from a financial advisor. He wasn't well as he had kidney failure and as always wanted to invest his money wisely.
The advisor told him to invest the money in his pension that was already set up in his work pension. He agreed to this on the trust that this was the best advice for both of them and their future.
4 years later my father died and we have since found out that his pension died with him as it was an annuity pension. My mother and father were under the impression that after my fathers death the money would go to my mother. Therefore I believe the advice given was totally the wrong advice.  I do not believe he would have invested like this if he knew my mother would be left without this money, he would have left the money in the joint bank account.


























































My 



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Keep_pedalling

Was this “financial adviser” FCA regulated?

p00hsticks

I'm sorry for your loss.

I think you need to provide a bit more information. I'm not an expert but I think these questions may help....

Where did the money come from that your father invested in his pension ? Was it savings ?

Presumably at this stage your father was still working ?

What sort of work pension did he have ?

At some point later he stopped work and started to draw his pension ?

How old was he then ?

What options was he given at this point ?

The financial advisor should have asked your father to complete some forms at the time to give him an understanding of your fathers assets, his attitude to risk and what he was looking for - do you have access to any of those records from the time which would confirm that your father wanted a vehicle that woudl leave money for your mother ?

mumdoeseverything

yes I do believe they were.

Keep_pedalling

mumdoeseverything said:

yes I do believe they were.

In which case you need to lodge a complaint with the firm he used and if that gets you no where you raise it with the 

mumdoeseverything

The money came from a joint savings account.
My father was not working at this time due to ill health.
think his work pension was a annuity pension.
he drew his pension at 65
when he started to draw his pension he was not given any options.
we have now discovered the firm has stopped trading under that name, but is now trading under another name.

tooldle

I thought annuities had to be the choice of the recipient, and not something that happened automatically without the ‘pensioners’ involvement.
Do you have any paperwork for the pension?
was the original advice about the pension investment or the selection of an annuity? The FA normally provides a report setting out their advice and reasoning. If you can find this, it might give you some answers.
if you are really unclear on the pension, and cannot find any paperwork, might the employer be able to shed some light?

mumdoeseverything

i have been trying to get paperwork from the pension company i have requested 5 times each time they say they will send it. they have said twice that it has been sent, still not received anything.

tooldle

Might it be worth posting on the pensions board. The folks on there are very knowledgeable. I’m assuming you have a letter confirming payments are not continuing? 

Malthusian

It would help if you were clearer about where this money came from before it was used to buy the annuity - you first said that it came from a "work pension" and then from a "joint savings account". 

Was the work pension defined benefit (aka final salary or career average) or defined contribution (aka money purchase)?

The purchase of a single life annuity suggests the money came from a defined contribution pension - but in that case he would certainly have had other options (especially as this was presumably in 2017).

Were your parents married?

mumdoeseverything

my father wanted to invest some money from his bank account and the financial advisor told it to invest it into his works pension pot. not sure what the work pension was.
yes my parents were married.