Aegon Pension savings

Albermarle

Normally an employer will only contribute to their associated workplace pension . So if you move out you could well lose the 8% from your employer. You might be able to transfer out some of the funds, and leave the workplace one active but this is not always possible . You need to check .
The Aegon retire ready pension standard charges are on the higher side , but often an employer will have negotiated a discount , so you need to double check this as well.

dunstonh

As it is a workplace pension and the retireready range, it is basic middle of the road option.  It won't be best.  It won't be the worst.   You can do little wrong with it.    It is designed to do what it is meant to do and does it well.

Workplace pensions are typically far more basic than whole of market individual options.  But the average consumer doesn't need those more advanced options.

sultan123

Snapdragon said:

dunstonh said:

sultan123 said:

Has anyone used Aegon previously for pension? Any views on if good/bad etc

Which Aegon are you referring to?  They have multiple propositions operating different models.

Aegon Retirement Choices
Aegon Pension Ready
Aegon Cofunds
Aegon Scottish Equitable

Not sure which of those names mine would be, its a Retiready Pension account, invested in the Scottish Eq Bal Lfstyl Pn 2027 (ARC). However it appears very expensive coupled with poor growth. Have been intending switching it to a Vanguard SIPP for lower costs, but just as I decided to do that the markets dropped so have delayed the move as am now worried its not a good time to switch.

What do you mean it is very expensive when it is a workplace pension?

Albermarle

From the Aegon retire ready website 

Service charge	0.3% - 0.5% depending on the value of your fund
Investment charge	0.38% - 0.86% depending on your fund choice

That is on the higher side , although not by a large amount . As I already mentioned there might be a discount from the standard charges negotiated by the employer.

Snapdragon

sultan123 said:

Snapdragon said:

dunstonh said:

sultan123 said:

Has anyone used Aegon previously for pension? Any views on if good/bad etc

Which Aegon are you referring to?  They have multiple propositions operating different models.

Aegon Retirement Choices
Aegon Pension Ready
Aegon Cofunds
Aegon Scottish Equitable

Not sure which of those names mine would be, its a Retiready Pension account, invested in the Scottish Eq Bal Lfstyl Pn 2027 (ARC). However it appears very expensive coupled with poor growth. Have been intending switching it to a Vanguard SIPP for lower costs, but just as I decided to do that the markets dropped so have delayed the move as am now worried its not a good time to switch.

What do you mean it is very expensive when it is a workplace pension?

My Aegon pot isn't a workplace pension anymore. My employer changed suppliers and everyone in the workplace scheme was moved to this retire ready option. Then employer started new scheme with Scottish Widows, so both my employer and I pay into that. The Aegon pot isn't getting any new money and I was worried about the costs eating away at what was in it. Platform cost is 0.73% which is higher than a Vanguard Sipp for example at 0.15% and if I chose to move it, the investment charge would likely be lower too. Its dropped about £10,000 since last year's statement, (obviously what the markets were doing on statement date will have had an impact) hence my comment about poor growth combined with high costs. Just wasn't sure it's the right time to move it. 

Albermarle

The 0.73% is presumably platform and fund cost ( see details in my previous post)
Vanguard is 0.15% + fund costs.
Have you compared the current SW pension charges ?

Its dropped about £10,000 since last year's statement, (obviously what the markets were doing on statement date will have had an impact) hence my comment about poor growth combined with high costs. Just wasn't sure it's the right time to move it. 

Without knowing how big the fund is , then it is not clear how significant a drop £10K is . Investments generally are down 5 to 15% so far this year. Also as it is a lifestyle fund , it depends on at what stage /age you are at .

hyperhypo

Argon ARC had a wide range of generally available funds, including popular low cost multi assets.I had it as my former work scheme at 0.23% platform. I could have stayed put on retiring but it was the user interface that did for me..it was clunky and had the feel of a lot of corporate software written in house. Moved off to Fidelity. OP might ask about partial transfer out whilst still contributing.

Snapdragon

Albermarle said:

The 0.73% is presumably platform and fund cost ( see details in my previous post)
Vanguard is 0.15% + fund costs.
Have you compared the current SW pension charges ?

Its dropped about £10,000 since last year's statement, (obviously what the markets were doing on statement date will have had an impact) hence my comment about poor growth combined with high costs. Just wasn't sure it's the right time to move it. 

Without knowing how big the fund is , then it is not clear how significant a drop £10K is . Investments generally are down 5 to 15% so far this year. Also as it is a lifestyle fund , it depends on at what stage /age you are at .

No incorrect, I did look at figures on your earlier post but they don't match with what they are in fact charging, the investment cost is on top of the .73%. They show both on the statement. Platform at 0.73% and Investment charges at 0.27% total of 1% and yes down about 14% which is why I was dithering about moving it now.

Particularly as I was considering due to the fact I'm likely to take early retirement within the next 12 months, whether to leave this particular pot (smallest of my pensions) in cash after moving it, so would be selling low but maybe not re-investing. Won't start taking any withdrawals for at least 18 months as will still have income, hence thinking I can probably wait.

dunstonh

hyperhypo said:

Argon ARC had a wide range of generally available funds, including popular low cost multi assets.I had it as my former work scheme at 0.23% platform. I could have stayed put on retiring but it was the user interface that did for me..it was clunky and had the feel of a lot of corporate software written in house. Moved off to Fidelity. OP might ask about partial transfer out whilst still contributing.

I would go along with that.  I have special terms on the Aegon platform that makes it very very cheap but I warn people of the potential issues of Aegon, who have had major software issues over the years and have some of the visually worse software of all the providers/platforms.

No incorrect, I did look at figures on your earlier post but they don't match with what they are in fact charging, the investment cost is on top of the .73%. They show both on the statement. Platform at 0.73% and Investment charges at 0.27% total of 1% and yes down about 14% which is why I was dithering about moving it now.

Are you sure your charges are for the current version of retire ready?   They don't match the default maximums published by Aegon for RR. They are also not compliant with auto-enrolment rules.

Aegon did move some of their older Scottish Equitable plans onto the RR software. Those plans retained the legacy charging structures although used the RR software.  The charges you mention are more in line with those legacy plan maximums (i.e. 1%).

Alistair31

My Aegon pension has a minimum 1.02% fee, some of the fund choices significantly more. 

Not ideal but my company contribute 8% so...