Best penison fund to transfer from West Yorkshire pension fund

jimrobbo2

I have recently finished after 12 years as police staff at the age of 33. I am in the priveate sector now. Can anyone recommend a good pension fund for this to be transferred to?

QrizB

Do you have a reason for wanting to transfer?

jimrobbo2

I'd ideally like to keep paying into a pension. My new business offer one which I haven't started yet but I would like to explore options as the WYPF was a good one...

Silvertabby

One of your options will be to leave your WYPF pension where it is, where it will increase in value in line with CPI inflation each year.  You can still open another pension with your new employer.

In theory, as the LGPS is a funded scheme, it is legally possible to transfer your WYPF benefits to another scheme.  In practice, that will be just short of impossible due to the requirement to obtain positive advice (to transfer) from an IFA pensions specialist.   You only have to read some of the threads on these boards to see how difficult that has become, even when the CETVs (cash equivalent transfer values) have been in excess of 30 X or even 40 X the annual pension given up.  As LGPS transfer values are set by GAD, a CETV of just 20 X  the annual pension given up wouldn't raise my eyebrows. 

jimrobbo2

So is it better to have 2 than one? And by that I'm guessing it will decrease before it gets better and I'll just be in the same situation at the end? or worse? 

MallyGirl

It is just very hard/impossible and expensive to transfer from a final salary pension into a DC one. Just leave it to run and let that guaranteed income form part of your retirement plans.
Why do you think it will decrease?

hyubh

jimrobbo2 said:

I have recently finished after 12 years as police staff at the age of 33. I am in the priveate sector now. Can anyone recommend a good pension fund for this to be transferred to?

Leave it where it is. While in this country the same word is used ('pension'), the one with WMPF and one either with your current employer or what you might set up privately will be very different in nature. The WMPF one is a promised income in retirement, where the precise income level promised is guaranteed to keep place with inflation (though no more than that); a private sector one, in contrast, will be more like a stocks and shares ISA, only with the tax relief given at the opposite end (meh), that you can only draw on later in life (boo) but come with a tax free cash option when you do (yay).

jimrobbo2

MallyGirl said:

It is just very hard/impossible and expensive to transfer from a final salary pension into a DC one. Just leave it to run and let that guaranteed income form part of your retirement plans.
Why do you think it will decrease?

If I transferred it, looking at previous suggestions I will technically be paying for it? Unless I've read that wrong? there are a lot of numbers in there that appear to be suggesting, as you say, just to leave it. 

jimrobbo2

hyubh said:

jimrobbo2 said:

I have recently finished after 12 years as police staff at the age of 33. I am in the priveate sector now. Can anyone recommend a good pension fund for this to be transferred to?

Leave it where it is. While in this country the same word is used ('pension'), the one with WMPF and one either with your current employer or what you might set up privately will be very different in nature. The WMPF one is a promised income in retirement, where the precise income level promised is guaranteed to keep place with inflation (though no more than that); a private sector one, in contrast, will be more like a stocks and shares ISA, only with the tax relief given at the opposite end (meh), that you can only draw on later in life (boo) but come with a tax free cash option when you do (yay).

True, with the WYPF I can draw at 55 I believe if I am desperate, fingers crossed I won't be or at least live that long, and I know it won't be worth that much but it would be a good top-up, and then still have the private one running which sounds abysmal. I've been oblivious to all this not realising how lucky it was to have a decent pension fund. 

Albermarle

Yes defined benefit /final salary type pensions are one of the advantages of working in the public sector.
In the private sector they have largely been closed , as they are so expensive for the employer.
Many years ago I changed jobs in the private sector , from a company with a final salary scheme to one with a defined contribution scheme with a relatively poor % contribution from the employer. On top of an increase in pay anyway, I asked for another 10% to compensate for the poorer pension scheme , and got it . In reality probably would have needed more than that but the job had other attractions.

What you need to do now is leave the WYPF where it is and keep them informed of any changes in address.
Then join your new employer scheme and contribute at least the minimum needed to get the % contribution for the employer ( free money ) 
Then as soon as you can afford it increase your own contributions. These types of pensions are not 'abysmal', just not as good as the one you had before .
For more info this govt site is useful.
Pensions and retirement | Help with pensions and retirement | MoneyHelper

MallyGirl

jimrobbo2 said:

MallyGirl said:

It is just very hard/impossible and expensive to transfer from a final salary pension into a DC one. Just leave it to run and let that guaranteed income form part of your retirement plans.
Why do you think it will decrease?

If I transferred it, looking at previous suggestions I will technically be paying for it? Unless I've read that wrong? there are a lot of numbers in there that appear to be suggesting, as you say, just to leave it. 

It would cost you in advisor fees to transfer from final salary to DC pension - maybe £5k as a one off payment. If you managed to transfer at all, which is unlikely.
Then any DC pension has fees - a small percentage of the pot. The funds within the DC pension also have fees.

A suggestion for some basic reading on the subject would be a series of short books on Pensions, Investments etc by John Edwards. Available on kindle unlimited or not expensive to buy. Easy language covering the basics which will put you in a better place to make decisions. There are plenty of other things you can read but I think these offer a good start.