Please help re transferring pensions into NEST. Is it worth it?

ET22

Hi, Im looking for advice re transferring civil service, council and private pensions into NEST? I started work in the civil service mid 90's for a couple of years meaning the pension is only 1000 p.a.,worked for the council starting 2011 to 2015 which is also 1000 p.a and have a couple of private pensions with small amounts in. 

I understand i will be charged exit fees by the private pensions. My question is mainly the civil service and council pensions. Is it worth transferring them into my NESTpension? I am planning on retiring in 15 years time.

Any advise would be very welcome and much appreciated as I want to sort it all out in January         

Dazed_and_C0nfused

ET22 said:

Hi, Im looking for advice re transferring civil service, council and private pensions into NEST? I started work in the civil service mid 90's for a couple of years meaning the pension is only 1000 p.a.,worked for the council starting 2011 to 2015 which is also 1000 p.a and have a couple of private pensions with small amounts in. 

I understand i will be charged exit fees by the private pensions. My question is mainly the civil service and council pensions. Is it worth transferring them into my NESTpension? I am planning on retiring in 15 years time.

Any advise would be very welcome and much appreciated as I want to sort it all out in January         

Even if it was possible why would you want to transfer gold plated civil service and LGPS(?) pensions into a DC fund, Nest or any other 🤔

Have you got details of the deferred pensions, how much they were worth at the point they became deferred and current amounts following each annual increase?

Do you fully understand the difference between DB and DC pensions?

xylophone

Even if you wanted to, you cannot transfer your CS pension into a pension scheme offering flexible benefits.

A transfer from LGPS would be a possibility but as the value could well be in excess of £30,000, expensive advice would be required and would likely be negative so that NEST would not accept it.

And why would you not wish to keep your deferred, index linked DB pensions?

Transfer in of  small personal pensions would probably be accepted - check with NEST.

Have you obtained a State Pension forecast?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Linton

If you look through past posts you will fiud people trying to get out of NEST.  Moving out of a guaranteed Defined Benfits scheme into NEST could well be an expensive mistake, even if you could do it,which you cant with a civil service pension.

ET22

Thankyou for your replies and help,its much appreciated.

 Dazed and confused ( sorry i cant tag people, forgot how) , I have no idea what the difference is between DC andd DB, all i know is a council or civil service pension is different from a private one, eg Aviva. 

Xylophone, I did wonder if NEST would accept something that would be detrimental to any value. 

In respect of one of the private pensions an employer paid my deductions into, I just googled them and they were The Carey company now known as Options apparently. I know it was investing  in poor performing "things" from the website i just read and there was a court case.   

Yes i am entitled to full state pension, luckily I earn enough to fund a decent retirement lum sum and annuity. However, i really do only know very basic aspects of pension schemes.Do you know if NEST is well known or evidenced anywhere to be more risk averse? 

            

Mark_d

I would suggest that anyone with a DB pension should not transfer to a DC scheme.  I think it's very worthwhile to have the security of a DB pension to pay for a guaranteed standard of living in retirement.  DC schemes do allow more flexibility but because of the risks, you'd need a much bigger pot to ensure your retirement meets a certain standard of quality.

ET22

Hi, thankyou for all your replies, its very helpful. 

Im planning on retiring with 200 thousand in a pension pot which i will be on track for according to the NEST pension calculators so its enough....I think. I know i had read something on here a long time ago about different CS schemes but didnt fully understand it so its helpful to know I cant transfer anything and that it would be a bad idea because it saves me messing around.   

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Maybe the simplest way of thinking about the civil service and council (LGPS?) pensions are theat they are deferred wages.

Even with shortish service you might be pleasantly surprised at what you will get after many years of revaluation (inflation protection) and it's probable both will have a one off tax exempt PCLS (pension commencement lump sum).

If you were in the Classic scheme whilst working in the civil service the PCLS would be 3x your pension.

ET22

@Linton , do you know why are people trying to get out of NEST?  I presume theyre paying into private pension schemes instead. Has NEST performed poorly? 

Marcon

ET22 said:

@Linton , do you know why are people trying to get out of NEST?  I presume theyre paying into private pension schemes instead. Has NEST performed poorly? 

NEST is a private scheme.

It doesn't offer much flexibility in terms of fund choices, and the initial contribution charge of 1.8% is a major deterrent, especially for those in the older age bracket.

ET22

@Marcon, sorry forgive my ignorance, but other private pension schemes offer more flexibility? i read somewhere on here just now its not wise to invest into a pension which invests in UK equity funds? So i need to find one that offers a variety of different investment options?