Top up old work pension or open new SIPP?

isayhello

I'm trying to sort some pension finances that I've delayed for a bit. I have an old Prudential Stakeholder work pension that I've not touched for a couple of years since I left that job, it has about 50k and I'm about 20 yrs from retirement. I have a new pension with Aviva that I contribute to and I get the max employer contribution where they match mine.

I've invested in an ISA this year and read that I should maximise a pension as well for investing. My Prudential plan has no separate charge, everything is bundled into the AMC for the funds that I buy, which mostly range from 0.35%-0.7% which seems good. They don't have a wide range of funds but I've got a few Blackrock equity funds for the US, UK, Europe and the world too.

I'm wondering whether to keep this Prudential pension as I'm not sure how it compares against others, or would I have lower costs moving to a SIPP?
Then is it worth adding to this old pension or increasing the contribution to my current  Aviva pension or open a brand new SIPP where the charges might be lower than what I currently pay and I have a wider range of funds.

Update - I've checked and my Aviva fund is an s6 North American equity fund and the charge is 0.34% with no separate charges made by Aviva.
Thanks for any help.

NoMore

Do you pay into the current workplace pension by Salary Sacrifice ? If so then that's probably your best option to increase, as you save NI as well as income tax. 

isayhello

NoMore said:

Do you pay into the current workplace pension by Salary Sacrifice ? If so then that's probably your best option to increase, as you save NI as well as income tax. 

I'm not sure, I've been told in the past that the pension is being deducted before tax but I need to confirm that. If it wasn't the case, then which would you suggest?

Does the Prudential with it's charges rank well against other SIPPS and work providers?

Marcon

isayhello said:

NoMore said:

Do you pay into the current workplace pension by Salary Sacrifice ? If so then that's probably your best option to increase, as you save NI as well as income tax. 

I'm not sure, I've been told in the past that the pension is being deducted before tax but I need to confirm that. If it wasn't the case, then which would you suggest?

Does the Prudential with it's charges rank well against other SIPPS and work providers?

What you're describing isn't salary sacrifice, so might be worth talking to your employer about whether they would consider doing this.

Charges vary depending on the underlying funds in which you are invested. What are the charges on your particular contracts with Pru/Aviva?

isayhello

What you're describing isn't salary sacrifice, so might be worth talking to your employer about whether they would consider doing this.

Charges vary depending on the underlying funds in which you are invested. What are the charges on your particular contracts with Pru/Aviva?

I've updated my post to show that there is just 1 fund with a charge of 0.34% and on Prudential, I have a few different funds, with most at 0.42% and 1 at 0.6%

Would going through SIPPS be more beneficial in anyway apart from having a wider selection of funds? The 2 work pension charges don't seem so bad.