how long do i have to wait

iradfo01

Hi all, my first post so please be gentle,
well, after reaching the ripe age of 55 i thought i would get my pensions act together , so after watching and reading Martin's ideas i took the pensionwise interview and they were really good, pointing out different options, so going through MSE i followed the unbiased link to financial advisers and contacted a local one,

things progressed for a year then covid hit us. so after a discussion the FA said basically, i am in good shape financially so if i wanted i could retire ,GREAT i thought, so i signed the forms and gave my details at his place of work , so i got to see them and not just a mystery person online or phone. put my notice in and left my employment .

so a year later after much toing and froing and meeting and many promises of transfer i am still waiting for closure and a first payment, luckily i have savings but my question is, is this normal or due to the pandemic people working from home, general delays or anything else, should i cancel them and go to a different FA or just wait .

diystarter7

You need to ask them why the delays.
Check web reviews if others with the same woes.
If you are nor happy after that, complain to their governing body.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Why did you use a FA rather than an IFA?

iradfo01

Thanks for the replies so far, my mistake they are independent and the reviews were good hence choosing them, 

diystarter7

iradfo01 said:

Thanks for the replies so far, my mistake they are independent and the reviews were good hence choosing them, 

in that case do as I said. Possibly leave a review on one of those bigger review sites and if they are good but just slow you may see action. if they act and sort stuff out, revise or remove the honest review.

Albermarle

The IFA should have maybe warned you not to retire until everything was in place, as there can be delays. Some pension providers/administrators customer service has declined due to Covid/working from home, then if you add in some botched IT updates .....
On the other hand some can be pretty quick. In any case a year is ridiculous.

xylophone

so a year later after much toing and froing and meeting and many promises of transfer 

A year ago (July 2021), you engaged an IFA who advised you that your pension pot was large enough to support you if you retired from paid employment?

  Accordingly you resigned from your job  and agreed that the Adviser would arrange to transfer your (DC  workplace pension?) to another provider offering flexible drawdown?

You were expecting payment of the pension to commence shortly after this  but it didn't and the excuse (a year later) is that the IFA has submitted all necessary documentation but either the old or new provider is causing a delay?

cloud_dog

iradfo01 said:

Hi all, my first post so please be gentle,
well, after reaching the ripe age of 55 i thought i would get my pensions act together , so after watching and reading Martin's ideas i took the pensionwise interview and they were really good, pointing out different options, so going through MSE i followed the unbiased link to financial advisers and contacted a local one,

things progressed for a year then covid hit us. so after a discussion the FA said basically, i am in good shape financially so if i wanted i could retire ,GREAT i thought, so i signed the forms and gave my details at his place of work , so i got to see them and not just a mystery person online or phone. put my notice in and left my employment .

so a year later after much toing and froing and meeting and many promises of transfer i am still waiting for closure and a first payment, luckily i have savings but my question is, is this normal or due to the pandemic people working from home, general delays or anything else, should i cancel them and go to a different FA or just wait .

Are you dealing with Prudential by any chance?

dunstonh

Advised pension switches/transfers can take time.   After the letters of authority are signed and posted off, it can be between a week and 3 months before the adviser gets back the details.   Once the details are back, analysis is carried and the adviser can make their recommendation.    You then complete the forms/process to initiate the transfer.      The transfer will typically be between 3 days and 3 months.    If the pension is defined benefit, then you could be looking longer.

I have had one case recently take longer than a year but that was using in-specie transfers, which is notorious for being slow.  Cash transfers from DC schemes tend to be much quicker.

1 - Have you completed the forms to transfer the pension to the new provider? 
2 - What types of pension is it coming from?
3 - What does the adviser say about the delay?

xylophone

 If the pension is defined benefit, then you could be looking longer.

The OP mentions an initial interview with Pension Wise

they were really good, pointing out different options, 

so presumably the pension in question is a DC pension?

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise

Pension Wise is a government service from MoneyHelper that offers free, impartial pensions guidance about your defined contribution pension options.