Pension Bee Alternative

patpalloon

Deleted_User said:

1. Are you certain you had lost money in this fund before the “shenanigans started”? 

Thanks for the reply. I have made an appointment with Pension Wise/ Money Helper - the government's own pension advisor, which is free for over 50s.

It definitely lost money before I switched. I keep a close eye on the balance, and yes it did fluctuate but when I transferred to the new plan it lost 2k immediately, and that was before the mini-budget.

dunstonh

Thanks for the reply. I have made an appointment with Pension Wise/ Money Helper - the government's own pension advisor, which is free for over 50s.

Pensionwise is not government and they are not advisers.  They do not give advice.  They just give generic guidance of some of the options available (but not all).  Don't expect them to give advice as that is not in their remit and they will refuse.

Albermarle

 Pension Bee made it all nice, simple and wrong. 

4. Having said it, most vendors use the same misleading terminology as Pension Bee. 

I do not disagree, but to be fair to all pension providers, even when they oversimplify I would guess 80% of the people reading their stuff, would still not understand it.

At least by making it sound nice and fluffy, it at least encourages some to think about pensions, something the majority would rather not do.
It is a difficult balance.

[Deleted User]

Albermarle said:

 Pension Bee made it all nice, simple and wrong. 

4. Having said it, most vendors use the same misleading terminology as Pension Bee. 

I do not disagree, but to be fair to all pension providers, even when they oversimplify I would guess 80% of the people reading their stuff, would still not understand it.

At least by making it sound nice and fluffy, it at least encourages some to think about pensions, something the majority would rather not do.
It is a difficult balance.

In this particular case the gentleman really wanted cash but purchased a financial instrument which was close but not cash. 

There is no way around understanding the product before spending all your life savings on it. Lets say I want to buy a car. A see an ad for a brand new moving vehicle at a very reasonable price. All words. Great reviews. Excellent environmental ratings, which is what I want. I pay electronically and end up with a bike.  Does that sound likely?  

Beats me why people refuse to spend a few hours reading readily available material before spending all they got on a financial product they don’t understand. And its not complex at all but takes more than a sound bite on a slick website.  Vendors who dumb it all down by marketing to the uninformed are not really helping. Pension Bee website discourages thinking.  

patpalloon

True Pension Wise was guidance not advice - but it was over an hour phone appointment and well worth it. They don't tell you where to invest your money now, but they do explain in details all the options for drawing down on your pension and all the tax implications. So I would definitely recommend it.