HL pension Letter received ; 'We're changing the way 'lifestylling works ..

another_casualty

Howdy ! 

I received the above in late February from Hargreaves Lansdown , and unsure how to act .
Hardky anything in the pension tbh but I have until 25th of this month to respond. 

I have to tick box either A or B 
option A ; I want to sign up to the new Lifestyling arrangement . ( Your pension investments will gradually be switched into BlackRick MyMap 4 Funds, Starting from April 22nd .) 
Option B ; I want to keep my existing Lifestyle Arrangement . ( Your pension will gradually be concerted to cash. This process will start 5 years before your selected retirement date . ) 

pleaee note As you are within 10 years of your selected retirement age , your lifestyling period will be shorter than normal .
This means that a larger proportion of your pension investments will be switched each month.
if You wish , you can cancel this new arrangement , and keep original 5 year cycle of lifestyling to cash but you'll need to let us know .

I will be 60 in Dec 🙀. I believe I quoted 65 as retirement age , but gvt has now made that 67 .

Pleaee advise if you can 

Thanks in advance 

another_casualty

My iPad is on low battery , Pleaee excuse spelling . Blackrock etc 😼

Albermarle

Firstly you can take this type of pension from age 55. The fact that HL have an indicative age in their system, or that the state pension pays out at 66, or the age that you actually intend to retire are all irrelevant to when you can take this pension.
There is no such thing as a 'retirement age ' and when you retire, and when you can take the pension are two totally different things .

Lifestyling means that when you are younger your pension is invested in higher risk/higher potential growth funds . Then as you move towards the age that you have given them ( 65) the funds are slowly moved into lower risk investments .

If you plan to buy an annuity ( as most people did in the past but not so much anymore ) or plan to take the pension as one lump sum , then  Option B is better as being in cash means you won't get any nasty surprises at the last minute .
If you plan to stay invested and drawdown the pension over a number of years then Option A looks better ( although without more detail it is difficult to be absolutely sure of how the lifestyling is working exactly ) 

another_casualty

Thanks very much @Albermarle
I have been digging into it for a few years due to being on universal credit . 

I could give more detail, but I have a drawdown which is the one I've been using .
The other is a group sipp .

At my age and currently on ltd capability for work I'm trying to think of the best thing to do around the time I'm 65 and not be penalised by universal credit ( assuming I'm still on it by then ) for having this small private pension . 

There are other things that I'm thinking about ahead , such as the cost to extend the lease on my flat ( 102 years left thankfully no mortgage  ) or move in 10 years etc . The small pension may have to be used for that .

Thanks 

Bimbly

The people on the benefits board would be best suited to ask about drawing from a pension and universal credit.

But I *think* universal credit stops when you are able to draw your state pension instead.

As above, have a think about what you intend to do with this pension and this will help determine whether you choose A or B. You can amend your retirement date with HL if you like. So, for example, if you decide you won't draw on this pot until you reach state pension age, you could change it to that date.

another_casualty

Thanks very much @Bimbly
I'll look into it on the Benefits board also . 

Thanks 

another_casualty

Just thought I'd give an update ..
I received letter of confirmation this morning of my agreement to change to the lifestyle arrangement .

I have / had the chance to change my mind should I so wish , and sent an email requesting that I cancel the Lifestyle arrangement .

The reason I decided to change my mind  rightly or wrongly , is that I dont think chucking everything into the Blackrock MyMap 4 fund and focusing solely on that seems logical as other companies my sipp is invested in would be neglected and the results overall could be worse . 

I'll leave it there ...

Thank you