Penfold Pension claiming to be a Stakeholder Pension

engagedandopen

Hi everyone

This afternoon on the Google search engine, Penfold Pension came up with the search title "Best UK Stakeholder Pension" - but it's a SIPP, isn't it?  Just checking as I don't like to think of the public being misled by false advertising.

All the best

xylophone

 Penfold Pension came up with the search title "Best UK Stakeholder Pension"

Odd.

https://getpenfold.com/documents/Penfold_Pension_Key_Features_Document_(From_06-Mar-2021).pdf

Is this a Stakeholder pension scheme?

No. Stakeholder pension schemes are a specific form of pension that must meet Government minimum standards relating to contributions, charges and provision of a default investment fund. Stakeholder schemes are generally available and it is for you to consider, with the assistance of a financial adviser, if required, whether one might meet your needs as well as the Penfold Pension.

dunstonh

Penfold Pension came up with the search title "Best UK Stakeholder Pension" - but it's a SIPP, isn't it?

It is neither a SIPP or a stakeholder pension.  I haven't looked at their contract in detail but I would guess it was a master trust scheme (which is how most robo-providers operate)

Marcon

engagedandopen said:

Hi everyone

This afternoon on the Google search engine, Penfold Pension came up with the search title "Best UK Stakeholder Pension" - but it's a SIPP, isn't it?  Just checking as I don't like to think of the public being misled by false advertising.

All the best

Take a screenshot and forward it to them if you think it's misleading. 

biscan25

Penfold Pension is indeed a SIPP, an expensive one at that.
For reference a list of Master Trusts is here: List of authorised master trusts | The Pensions Regulator

dunstonh

Penfold Pension is indeed a SIPP, an expensive one at that.

It only has 4 funds.

biscan25

dunstonh said:

Penfold Pension is indeed a SIPP, an expensive one at that.

It only has 4 funds.

A rather inflexible one too then! "SIPP stands for ‘Self Invested Personal Pension’ and is the type of pension we provide at Penfold. A SIPP allows for much more flexible investing and gives you the most control over where your money is invested."

engagedandopen

Thank you for your replies.  I agree it's too expensive for what it is: like with the gas suppliers, I feel happier staying *broadly* with the established providers.

I once posted on a 'review' site that I got a total charge of 0.23% through IPSE/Aegon and Penfold seemed to try to sow doubt as to whether it was the total cost - of course, it was (0.18% platform charge + 0.05% fund charge).

Malthusian

engagedandopen said:

I once posted on a 'review' site that I got a total charge of 0.23% through IPSE/Aegon and Penfold seemed to try to sow doubt as to whether it was the total cost - of course, it was (0.18% platform charge + 0.05% fund charge).

What a weird way of spending your marketing budget.

Parking your caravan on search terms that have nothing to do with your product is arguably misleading advertising (reminiscent of LCF and its ilk buying up all the searches for "best interest rates" and "best cash ISAs") but as the text of their ads is presumably accurate, they're probably not going to be rapped by the ASA. Mostly because it is extremely difficult to be rapped by the ASA.

It appears to be a "me too" of PensionBee. Get a bunch of VC money (including from ordinary punters on CrowdCrap - whether Penfold tapped up its own customer base a la Nutmeg is unclear), build a slick app, do a lot of advertising, lose loadsamoney, hope to get bought out by Abrrdrnn or one of the other big companies before you run out of cash.

Malchester

I transferred to Penfold from PensionBee. Say no more but I transferred back within a month. Thought PensionBee left a bit to be desired (especially their systems) but Penfold were atrocious. I think most of these new firms are really only interested in people who transfer a large pot to them and leave it to grow, maybe with some additions. Once you want to make monthly withdrawals they seem to not be able to cope as it causes them cost and effort.