Being forced to use a Financial Advisor to transfer pension to pension.

scoobyjones1

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

HappyHarry

scoobyjones1 said:

IHappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

We will see Harry. We feel it's way too much,,,though less than the 5-10k many wrongly said we would have to pay, on here. One thing though, we have all of the paperwork the IFA needs ready for him to fill in and it is up to the client to provide it, not the DB holder. No way they should need 40 days.

It is usual for the IFA to get your wife’s permission to contact the DB administrators directly in order to get the required information. Are you sure that you have all the information about the DB scheme that the IFA requires? 

Yes. We have spoken many times to the DB holders. We have all of the forms, links for the IFA and pension valuation. The IFA does not need to contact the DB Holder, they only have to advise on the move and the pensioner has to supply all the info, which we have in hand. It's a pretty draconian DB fund, capped growth at 5 % and with zero death benefit. We are wanting to find a friendly IFA that will at least indicate that they agree with our feelings and would be inclined to agree that a transfer would be a good thing, all risks considered...ie including accidental death or sudden illness, God forbid.

The IFA needs to demonstrate that transferring out of the DB scheme is in your wife’s best interest. To do that, the IFA requires a large amount of information about the ceding DB scheme. Full details of indexation pre and post retirement, full death benefit details (none is very unusual), commutation rates, early and late retirement penalties and benefits to name the key ones. 

HappyHarry

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

As mentioned before, an IFA giving advice on a pension transfer is going to give the best advice they can. They will not advise against transferring just to protect themselves. That is a myth repeated many times on this board.

MeteredOut

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

If you want to waste some time, start a campaign with your local MP to have the rules relaxed if a DB pension is a small part of someones overall retirement provisions. The current regs. are very blunt, and its not the IFAs fault that they have to comply with them.

scoobyjones1

eastcorkram said:

scoobyjones1 said:

HappyHarry said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

Thanks for coming back with quotes - I'm sure this will be of interest to many others.

What I don't get (and if I was in your position, would probably preclude me from choosing this IFA) is why is the cost a % of CETV. Would the advice be any less time consuming/complex/risky/difficult if it was a £40K CETV?

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

Thanks for coming back with quotes - I'm sure this will be of interest to many others.

What I don't get (and if I was in your position, would probably preclude me from choosing this IFA) is why is the cost a % of CETV. Would the advice be any less time consuming/complex/risky/difficult if it was a £40K CETV?

It may be a low minimum fee of £3000 for DB transfer advice? 

No. Fixed fee. We would not consider open ended fees. Way too high already. 

Would there be VAT added to that? 

I presume so! But we would check. Not likely to go ahead though as this would cost her a year and a half of her pension benefits. Madness.

scoobyjones1

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

As mentioned before, an IFA giving advice on a pension transfer is going to give the best advice they can. They will not advise against transferring just to protect themselves. That is a myth repeated many times on this board.

I'm not saying they would do that just to protect themselves. But advising against DOES protect them. And it costs you a year and a bit of your pension either way. Great for the IFA but not great for the pensioner.

scoobyjones1

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

If you want to waste some time, start a campaign with your local MP to have the rules relaxed if a DB pension is a small part of someones overall retirement provisions. The current regs. are very blunt, and its not the IFAs fault that they have to comply with them.

Point taken. I agree with you. It's a blunt, government mandate. It's not the pensioner's fault either. At least IFAs get paid, the pensioner loses part of their retirement money. As you say, no point wasting my time with our MP. They likely won't be our MP next year! 

HappyHarry

scoobyjones1 said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

As mentioned before, an IFA giving advice on a pension transfer is going to give the best advice they can. They will not advise against transferring just to protect themselves. That is a myth repeated many times on this board.

I'm not saying they would do that just to protect themselves. But advising against DOES protect them. And it costs you a year and a bit of your pension either way. Great for the IFA but not great for the pensioner.

 Not really great for the IFA - no IFA enjoys having a disappointed client. Some of the reasons why so few IFAs offer a DB transfer service is because it is expensive, time consuming and frequently leads to disappointment. 

scoobyjones1

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

As mentioned before, an IFA giving advice on a pension transfer is going to give the best advice they can. They will not advise against transferring just to protect themselves. That is a myth repeated many times on this board.

I'm not saying they would do that just to protect themselves. But advising against DOES protect them. And it costs you a year and a bit of your pension either way. Great for the IFA but not great for the pensioner.

 Not really great for the IFA - no IFA enjoys having a disappointed client. Some of the reasons why so few IFAs offer a DB transfer service is because it is expensive, time consuming and frequently leads to disappointment. 

Yes Harry, I can imagine. Crazy that some legislation that is supposedly designed to protect pensioners money actually costs them money. Pensionwise offer a great, free service. But not for DB pensions. Shame.

wjr4

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

scoobyjones1 said:

MeteredOut said:

HappyHarry said:

scoobyjones1 said:

First IFA / PTS quote received. They want 5% of the CETV, so £3000 in this case. That's for the advice/work as they called it and no idea if they would approve the transfer or not. So could be money wasted. At least that would satisfy the DB holder that she had taken the correct advice and maybe then she could transfer into a stakeholder pension. However she is pretty adamant that £3k is way too much to pay...and they also said they would need 40 days. We will keep looking.

I think your wife may be disappointed if she is hoping for DB transfer advice for under £3000. That cost is lower than should be expected. 

40 days would be a long time if the IFA had all the required information on day 1. Unfortunately, what tends to happen is that the DB administrator does not send all necessary information to the IFA when requested, and there are then delays in getting the required information from the administrator. The 3 month deadline from the date of the CETV sounds a long time, but in reality it is frequently found to be quite a tight deadline due to delays in getting all the required information together.

Not sure why she'd be disappointed. From reading this thread, the expectation should be that the IFA will advise against the CETV transfer, but I'm sure at least one person said they can still take that advice to a SIPP provider and say "look, i've had advice, but I don't agree, I still want to transfer".

So, the OP is effectively paying to be able to do the transfer, so the cheapest he can get an IFA he can get to do that, the better.

No, the SIPP will not take the transfer against IFA advice.

All SIPP providers, or just your current one? I thought someone had said up-thread that it was the getting of the advice that was the blocker. I must admit, I do feel for you on this one - you're willing to accept the consequences of your your decisions and should be allowed to do so IMO.

I think all SIPP providers and certainly our one. I'm glad you see it, she has to pay for advice and sign indemnity forms also.
It is hypocritical for an IFA to advise you, probably advise you against, which protects themselves... yet STILL take 5% of your investment pension for his/her time. That's a terrible start to your retirement fund...day one, 5% down!

Either pay it or don’t, you’re going round in circles here.