Pension switching incentives

granta

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

artyboy

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

michaels

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

artyboy

michaels said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

There are some pretty simple fixed allocation ones that I can live with. In fact they have a money market focused one for liquidity if I wanted to use it as a risk hedge. But I doubt I'll be there for that long anyway...

granta

artyboy said:

michaels said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

There are some pretty simple fixed allocation ones that I can live with. In fact they have a money market focused one for liquidity if I wanted to use it as a risk hedge. But I doubt I'll be there for that long anyway...

Which Moneyfarm transfer value cashback band would you say is the optimal one taking into account the fees etc? Trying to work out the maths!

artyboy

granta said:

artyboy said:

michaels said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

There are some pretty simple fixed allocation ones that I can live with. In fact they have a money market focused one for liquidity if I wanted to use it as a risk hedge. But I doubt I'll be there for that long anyway...

Which Moneyfarm transfer value cashback band would you say is the optimal one taking into account the fees etc? Trying to work out the maths!

Well it will depend on your objectives, risk tolerance, amount transferred etc... but for me, the highest equity fixed allocation one looked ok...

granta

artyboy said:

granta said:

artyboy said:

michaels said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

There are some pretty simple fixed allocation ones that I can live with. In fact they have a money market focused one for liquidity if I wanted to use it as a risk hedge. But I doubt I'll be there for that long anyway...

Which Moneyfarm transfer value cashback band would you say is the optimal one taking into account the fees etc? Trying to work out the maths!

Well it will depend on your objectives, risk tolerance, amount transferred etc... but for me, the highest equity fixed allocation one looked ok...

I was meaning the relative cost:benefit ratio of the actual cashback bands, e.g. 100-200k gets you £XX etc. Sometime some bands are disproportionately more generous in Fidelity/HL promotions and I tend to transfer at the lower end of the more generous bands.

So was wondering if you'd calculated which bands were more worth it for MoneyFarm given their relatively higher fees?
Now that I have most of my holdings in ETFs, it's less attractive to transfer to them and be out of the market

artyboy

granta said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

artyboy said:

michaels said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

There are some pretty simple fixed allocation ones that I can live with. In fact they have a money market focused one for liquidity if I wanted to use it as a risk hedge. But I doubt I'll be there for that long anyway...

Which Moneyfarm transfer value cashback band would you say is the optimal one taking into account the fees etc? Trying to work out the maths!

Well it will depend on your objectives, risk tolerance, amount transferred etc... but for me, the highest equity fixed allocation one looked ok...

I was meaning the relative cost:benefit ratio of the actual cashback bands, e.g. 100-200k gets you £XX etc. Sometime some bands are disproportionately more generous in Fidelity/HL promotions and I tend to transfer at the lower end of the more generous bands.

So was wondering if you'd calculated which bands were more worth it for MoneyFarm given their relatively higher fees?
Now that I have most of my holdings in ETFs, it's less attractive to transfer to them and be out of the market

There are limits to the attraction of finding the 'sweet spot' you're talking about. In Moneyfarm's case it would be the Quidco offer of £250 for a £5000 contribution, so 5% or almost 6% if you timed it with the extra £40 bonus that Quidco had listed.

But I'm way past the point where I can be bothered with setting up anything that small. Obviously may appeal to others though...

granta

artyboy said:

granta said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

artyboy said:

michaels said:

artyboy said:

granta said:

IvanOpinion said:

Are these incentives only worthwhile if doing an in specie transfer?
I have received a couple of incentives over the last few years, with in specie transfers. My pension is now at a level where the amount it can go up, or down, in a single day, exceeds any transfer incentive. So if it had to be moved to cash I could very easily lose out.

I only ever do in specie transfers otherwise the potential for market loss would not be outweighed by the incentive as you say

Ordinarily I'd agree, but for my most recent Moneyfarm one, a 2.5% effective cashback on a small transfer, I decided it was worth a punt. Perhaps I need more excitement in my life 

Aren't you locked into moneyfarms 'dodgy' choice of 'funds' though?

There are some pretty simple fixed allocation ones that I can live with. In fact they have a money market focused one for liquidity if I wanted to use it as a risk hedge. But I doubt I'll be there for that long anyway...

Which Moneyfarm transfer value cashback band would you say is the optimal one taking into account the fees etc? Trying to work out the maths!

Well it will depend on your objectives, risk tolerance, amount transferred etc... but for me, the highest equity fixed allocation one looked ok...

I was meaning the relative cost:benefit ratio of the actual cashback bands, e.g. 100-200k gets you £XX etc. Sometime some bands are disproportionately more generous in Fidelity/HL promotions and I tend to transfer at the lower end of the more generous bands.

So was wondering if you'd calculated which bands were more worth it for MoneyFarm given their relatively higher fees?
Now that I have most of my holdings in ETFs, it's less attractive to transfer to them and be out of the market

There are limits to the attraction of finding the 'sweet spot' you're talking about. In Moneyfarm's case it would be the Quidco offer of £250 for a £5000 contribution, so 5% or almost 6% if you timed it with the extra £40 bonus that Quidco had listed.

But I'm way past the point where I can be bothered with setting up anything that small. Obviously may appeal to others though...

Yeah I agree. I'm sticking with the main platforms that offer a a capped charge for etf holdings to maximise cashback whilst it lasts.
Moneyfarm was great in the first year when they offered a fee free deal up to £10k but not so cost-effective now

Bumblingbee

I have c£57k to transfer, how does an in specie transfer work? Is that where it stays invested in the funds you are in and moves? I'd ruled out doing any incentives due to to the potential loss of money over the transfer duration. However I may have completely misinterpreted what the in specie transfer is!