Getting financial advice from Pension Wise 14 February at 5:50PM in Pensions, annuities & retirement planning 45 replies 3K views

Outeast1000

I will be claiming my pension pot  from Aiva which will i guess be just under 10k before tax is deducted in less than one year , I have been asked do i intend to get financial advice from pension wise before i make a claim 

My question is what is the benefit of getting advice from pension wise on claiming my pension pot ?

dunstonh

I have been asked do i intend to get financial advice from pension wise before i make a claim 

I doubt that is what you were asked as they do not give advice.   Its more likely they have asked if you have sought guidance from pensionwise (and they often ask if you have had advice from an IFA)

My question is what is the benefit of getting advice from pension wise on claiming my pension pot ?

Probably none as the guidance wont tell you what is best for you to do or if other options are better.   It may point out certain pitfalls which you may or may not be aware of.

NedS

Pensionwise do not offer advice, they offer guidance.

The benefit of getting guidance is that they will run through all of your options with you and the implications of those options to ensure you are at least aware of them and can make an assessment whether you may then need to take advice. Hopefully this will prevent you from making a costly mistake.

It will likely make the process easier with your pension provider if you have had guidance. They also have an obligation to ensure you are aware of the consequences of your actions.

The sessions with Pensionwise are free and last around 1h max, conducted by phone. You can book an appointment online.

Marcon

Outeast1000 said:

I will be claiming my pension pot  from Aiva which will i guess be just under 10k before tax is deducted in less than one year , I have been asked do i intend to get financial advice from pension wise before i make a claim 

My question is what is the benefit of getting advice from pension wise on claiming my pension pot ?

It's now routine to 'signpost' people in your position in the direction of PensionWise, although taking up the suggestion remains optional.

If your pot is no more than £10K at the time you withdraw it, then you could take the lot under the 'small pots' regime. This could be valuable for various reasons, and PensionWise would be able to explain these in full e.g.

• doesn't trigger the money purchase annual allowance, which would limit you to contributions, including tax relief, of no more than £4,000 a year going forward;
• small pots use 0% of the annual allowance, which is especially useful to anyone with substantial pension savings who is nudging the Lifetime Allowance.

Such thoughts might be irrelevant to you, but could be useful for others - so taking a free guidance/information session could be worthwhile. 

Outeast1000

On another note why does a session with pension wise last 1h ?  which for me is a long time 

arnoldy

When I went to Pensionwise it was very much Ladybird 1a type stuff - Janet and John. Utter waste of time. They cater for the Lowest Common Denominator in  society so their starting point is not much more that explaining that there are 100p in the £, and if you spend all you pension money in one year there will not be any left. Another feeding frenzy for those involved at taxpayers expense.

Albermarle

They cater for the Lowest Common Denominator in  society s

Probably more accurate to say they cater for the large majority of people who are generally clueless in this area. Many in good well paid jobs but have never taken any interest in boring pensions, until forced. 

comeandgo

Outeast1000 said:

On another note why does a session with pension wise last 1h ?  which for me is a long time 

It may not last an hour, it lasts as long as you are on the other end of the phone, if you want to stop as all has been concluded to your satisfaction then stop the call.

NedS

I had an appointment with PensionWise recently, which lasted the full hour. They were very thorough, running through all of my options for taking a small DC pension. Having been through the process, I doubt they would be able to do a thorough job in much less than an hour (although I do like to chat!)

Pat38493

Outeast1000 said:

I will be claiming my pension pot  from Aiva which will i guess be just under 10k before tax is deducted in less than one year , I have been asked do i intend to get financial advice from pension wise before i make a claim 

My question is what is the benefit of getting advice from pension wise on claiming my pension pot ?

Just to be crystal clear on what you mean, you are saying that the entire size of your pension pot is £10K, or that you are expecting an income of £10K per year from it?

Marcon

arnoldy said:

When I went to Pensionwise it was very much Ladybird 1a type stuff - Janet and John. Utter waste of time. They cater for the Lowest Common Denominator in  society so their starting point is not much more that explaining that there are 100p in the £, and if you spend all you pension money in one year there will not be any left. Another feeding frenzy for those involved at taxpayers expense.

Looking at the questions OP was asking 18 months ago, that's exactly the sort of basic information they hadn't a clue about (in common with a lot of the rest of the population): https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6287897/taking-money-from-your-pension-pot#latest

Albermarle said:

They cater for the Lowest Common Denominator in  society s

Probably more accurate to say they cater for the large majority of people who are generally clueless in this area. Many in good well paid jobs but have never taken any interest in boring pensions, until forced. 

Quite.