Royal London / Scottish life offer

plumb1_2

Maybe donstonh or others who have knowledge about pensions can spread some light on it

plumb1_2

I phoned Royal London today to ask if I could either increase my monthly payment or add a lump sum into the pension.
I was informed No to both 

Redrock2020

Hi, a bit late to the party here, sorry!
I have checked my Talisman pension online, following the addition of the uplift and was surprised to see that, instead of being higher, it had devalued significantly since the change.
Anybody else noticed that? 

dunstonh

Redrock2020 said:

Hi, a bit late to the party here, sorry!
I have checked my Talisman pension online, following the addition of the uplift and was surprised to see that, instead of being higher, it had devalued significantly since the change.
Anybody else noticed that? 

What are your valuation date comparisons?  For example, markets fell in Autumn but recovered in December.  If your valuation point was Autumn, then it has a good chance of being lower than an earlier valuation.

plumb1_2

dunstonh said

What are your valuation date comparisons?  For example, markets fell in Autumn but recovered in December.  If your valuation point was Autumn, then it has a good chance of being lower than an earlier valuation.

The transfer value illustration I received valued my fund on 31/03/21
i would presume everyone’s was the same date ? As the voting packs were sent in September I think.

I can understand investment section going up/down slightly but not the qualifying with profits.
I was expecting £40k uplift disappointed if not.
I have been unable to log into my account to check.

Redrock2020

dunstonh said:

What are your valuation date comparisons?  For example, markets fell in Autumn but recovered in December.  If your valuation point was Autumn, then it has a good chance of being lower than an earlier valuation.

Hi, thanks for responding. The valuation was higher on 31st December, immediately prior to the uplift/adjustment, then lower as of 2nd January, immediately after the uplift/adjustment.
I regularly check online, so was able to make the comparison over a few days.
I was expecting a 29.8% uplift on qualifying WP funds, but the entire value reduced by 8%.
Thanks again

FatFred66

My transfer value dropped 2.22% between the illustration date (31/03/21) and close of business on 31/12/21. 

The 'uplifted' value is 26.52% higher than the value on 31/12, instead of the (apparently) guaranteed 29.9% uplift I voted on.

I suppose I should be grateful it didn't drop by 8%. I can't imagine what's happened to yours.

I feel there's something not quite right about the way RL have treated SL funds anyway. Yet again my SL pension has performed terribly this year while pensions in other funds have risen substantially.

Redrock2020

FatFred66
That's interesting, both my fund and transfer values increased by approx 2.8% between March and December, but both decreased by the aforementioned 8% post-uplift!
I have requested info of recent transactions, as there is precious little detail via my online account.

dunstonh

Some of the old Talisman plans with GARs used unit linked funds.  Some used With Profits.   That could be accounting for some of your differences.

I feel there's something not quite right about the way RL have treated SL funds anyway. 

Royal London actually used the Scottish Life products, funds and brand for nearly 15 years after purchasing Scottish Life.  It didn't offer pensions  under the Royal London name whilst doing that.    Even today, the current Royal London pension is actually an updated Scottish Life product.

 Yet again my SL pension has performed terribly this year while pensions in other funds have risen substantially.

That appears to be the opposite I have noticed on the RL Governed portfolios which had a poor 2020 but a good 2021 (last time I looked anyway).    The tracker portfolios did what you expect tracker portfolios to do.    Their managed funds are mostly what you expect from insurance companies.

FatFred66

dunstonh said:

Some of the old Talisman plans with GARs used unit linked funds.  Some used With Profits.   That could be accounting for some of your differences.

As far as I remember the scheme only applies to qualifying With Profits funds.

dunstonh said:

I feel there's something not quite right about the way RL have treated SL funds anyway. 

Royal London actually used the Scottish Life products, funds and brand for nearly 15 years after purchasing Scottish Life.  It didn't offer pensions  under the Royal London name whilst doing that.    Even today, the current Royal London pension is actually an updated Scottish Life product.

With everything taken into consideration the fund's performed (just about) reasonably. However the 'everything taken into consideration' includes increases due to the trumpeted demutualisation 'benefits' and the loss of GARs. Strip those out and it seems to me that it's performed extremely poorly and that RL have been happy to obfuscate the performance with poor reporting to clients.

dunstonh said:

 Yet again my SL pension has performed terribly this year while pensions in other funds have risen substantially.

That appears to be the opposite I have noticed on the RL Governed portfolios which had a poor 2020 but a good 2021 (last time I looked anyway).    The tracker portfolios did what you expect tracker portfolios to do.    Their managed funds are mostly what you expect from insurance companies.

Yes, I was comparing (as far as it's possible to do through the obfuscation) SL With Profits 1 to RL Governed Portfolios 4 & 5. 

Everything had a poor first 4-6 months of 2020. Many funds (including the RL Governed Portfolios) more than made up for it this year. SL With Profits 1 has done nothing.

It's just my opinion, and I'm no expert. It just feels like there's something not quite right happened and we've accepted it because our losses have been covered up by the demutualisation etc.