Scottish Widows App

dunstonh

Interestingly, although they've recently informed me I can transfer from my GPP to a SW product with flexi-access without advice, I received a letter in July saying that my GPP will offer flexi-access from December 2022. I presumed online management will be available. There is also a caveat around the date which leads me to believe that is based on IT architecture being in place. 

They do, but you may wish to consider alternatives, as that product has pretty dated software and is restricted in investment selection, and alternatives are better priced.

That goes for most in-house options where providers offer a move over to their modern product.

rubble2

Albermarle said:

rubble2 said:

I have money invested in SW. I am passed retirement age and have already drawn down the 25% tax free sum from the account which leaves me with approx. £45000 available for future drawdown as required (subject to tax deduction of course).

I would be interested to hear from those with more knowledge than me about what they would recommend my best course of action would be regarding moving this sum to a better performing investment.

I would still like to retain the flexibility of ad hoc drawdowns as required but if there is a significantly better performing home for my money that is available with minimum costs for setting up and safe long term performance I would like to hear about it please?

FIA

The complaints about SW above are mainly down to ease of use of their website and the customer service. 
Nobody has said that their investment funds perform better or worse than any others .

Better performing can be interpreted in different ways. Do you mean you want it to grow faster than an average fund? If so it will almost certainly also drop faster than an average fund when markets turn down.

In any case you need to tell us what SW fund(s) your pension is invested in, and why you are unhappy with it . It could just be a matter of choosing another SW fund for your pension,

I didn't really consider that I had a problem with SW until I read some of the posts on this thread.

To be honest, the limited interactions I have had with them so far have all been fine (if a bit long winded). It was only seeing what was being said up thread about how useless they were that made me start to question if I should stay with them or move to an alternative provider. 

P1Fanatic

I have a workplace pension with SW and have not yet received any such email but must agree that their website is very basic and old school so would look forward to a modern looking app.

As a sidenote I've just made a new post about SW AMC's and would appreciate some input from fellow SW users.

dunstonh

rubble2 said:

Albermarle said:

rubble2 said:

I have money invested in SW. I am passed retirement age and have already drawn down the 25% tax free sum from the account which leaves me with approx. £45000 available for future drawdown as required (subject to tax deduction of course).

I would be interested to hear from those with more knowledge than me about what they would recommend my best course of action would be regarding moving this sum to a better performing investment.

I would still like to retain the flexibility of ad hoc drawdowns as required but if there is a significantly better performing home for my money that is available with minimum costs for setting up and safe long term performance I would like to hear about it please?

FIA

The complaints about SW above are mainly down to ease of use of their website and the customer service. 
Nobody has said that their investment funds perform better or worse than any others .

Better performing can be interpreted in different ways. Do you mean you want it to grow faster than an average fund? If so it will almost certainly also drop faster than an average fund when markets turn down.

In any case you need to tell us what SW fund(s) your pension is invested in, and why you are unhappy with it . It could just be a matter of choosing another SW fund for your pension,

I didn't really consider that I had a problem with SW until I read some of the posts on this thread.

To be honest, the limited interactions I have had with them so far have all been fine (if a bit long winded). It was only seeing what was being said up thread about how useless they were that made me start to question if I should stay with them or move to an alternative provider. 

The vast majority of inexperienced investors would not have a problem with SW.  They don't need an APP and don't care about SW's limited technology options.   Experienced investors would be pretty appalled by SW's offering but the SW product range isn't aimed at that sort of person.

Albermarle

P1Fanatic said:

I have a workplace pension with SW and have not yet received any such email but must agree that their website is very basic and old school so would look forward to a modern looking app.

As a sidenote I've just made a new post about SW AMC's and would appreciate some input from fellow SW users.

Scottish Widows on the App Store (apple.com)
Scottish Widows - Apps on Google Play

House_owner

I have a a SW stakeholder pension - I pay in a set amount in every month, but also make up top up payments which can vary from month to month depending on what I can afford. 
I log in online to do this, now I guess I will have to phone up every time I do this. I have downloaded the app, but it is quite basic and does not let me make payments in. 
So not happy with this decision from SW - is it may be temporary?

dunstonh

So not happy with this decision from SW - is it may be temporary?

The SW Stakeholder pension is an old fashioned product and no longer offered.     So, you wouldn't expect much in the way of online functionality improvements in the future.

GrahamLM52

dunstonh said:

So not happy with this decision from SW - is it may be temporary?

The SW Stakeholder pension is an old fashioned product and no longer offered.     So, you wouldn't expect much in the way of online functionality improvements in the future.

I would not expect online functionality improvements for a product that is no longer offered, but I am surprised by the removal of the on-line method of managing the product, particularly if the app functionality is so poor.

dunstonh

GrahamLM52 said:

dunstonh said:

So not happy with this decision from SW - is it may be temporary?

The SW Stakeholder pension is an old fashioned product and no longer offered.     So, you wouldn't expect much in the way of online functionality improvements in the future.

I would not expect online functionality improvements for a product that is no longer offered, but I am surprised by the removal of the on-line method of managing the product, particularly if the app functionality is so poor.

Running old systems that are only used by a few people is expensive.      Sooner or later the support has to end and it will encourage people to move to newer products with better systems which is effectively what the providers really want.

House_owner

dunstonh said:

GrahamLM52 said:

dunstonh said:

So not happy with this decision from SW - is it may be temporary?

The SW Stakeholder pension is an old fashioned product and no longer offered.     So, you wouldn't expect much in the way of online functionality improvements in the future.

I would not expect online functionality improvements for a product that is no longer offered, but I am surprised by the removal of the on-line method of managing the product, particularly if the app functionality is so poor.

Running old systems that are only used by a few people is expensive.      Sooner or later the support has to end and it will encourage people to move to newer products with better systems which is effectively what the providers really want.

Well, I have decided to move to a newer product with better systems - but not with SW - so I guess they got what they wanted?!