Pension advice desperately needed??

Macka09

Hi folks
I have 2 old very small pension from previous employment that haven’t been paid in to for quite some years as I’ve been self employed for quite some years. I do have a 3rd that I can’t seem to track down for the life of me. 

Anyway, one of my pensions is with Nest and the other is with Standard Life. I’m unsure whether I should just merge them into one and whether it’s worth paying as much as I can into them or to potentially invest what I can manage to put towards the pension?
I have paid accountants in the past for advice in regards to pensions and investments but came out with very little info on what’s best for me. 

Any advice you guys may have would be greatly appreciated, thanks. 

El_Torro

You should really avoid posting similar threads in two separate MSE forums: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6495662/investment-advice

The Savings & Investments forum has very similar discussions to this Pension forum, with a lot of posters posting on both. 

Marcon

Macka09 said:

Hi folks
I have 2 old very small pension from previous employment that haven’t been paid in to for quite some years as I’ve been self employed for quite some years. I do have a 3rd that I can’t seem to track down for the life of me. 

Finding the 3rd pension would be a good idea. Do you have any info at all - who your employer was, whether it was a company (occupational) or personal pension, when you were a member...? If you could give some details, including the name of your employer (no reason not to - you aren't saying anything critical about them), maybe someone here could help.

Macka09 said:

Anyway, one of my pensions is with Nest and the other is with Standard Life. I’m unsure whether I should just merge them into one and whether it’s worth paying as much as I can into them or to potentially invest what I can manage to put towards the pension?
I have paid accountants in the past for advice in regards to pensions and investments but came out with very little info on what’s best for me. 

An independent financial adviser is more likely to be of help to you than an accountant if you're asking for investment advice.

xylophone

Value of SL and NEST pensions?

What do you know about the third pension?

How old are you?

What is shown at estimate to 5/4/23 on your State Pension Forecast?

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

Is a COPE shown (page 2)?

dunstonh

I have paid accountants in the past for advice in regards to pensions and investments but came out with very little info on what’s best for me. 

Accountants are accountants.  They are not advisers.    Circa 1995 when FIMBRA was abolished and regulation of advice stepped up saw the end of accountants giving advice in regulated financial services (i.e. Retirement planning and investment advice).   

If you have been paying someone to tell you things outside of their remit then its no wonder you didnt get back much from it.  Ideally, they should have told you to seek advice from an IFA (unless it was pre 1995 you are talking about)

Two key things about retirement planning are to start as early as you can and remember that its only as good as what you pay towards it.  Everything else is micromanagement that won't make a big difference (e.g. merging providers or shaving 0.x% off charges).

You need to look at when you want to retire and how much you want as income in retirement and what your capital needs will be in retirement (its not all about income.  you will have many capital purchases still to make).   That will give you a target lump sum need by a certain date.    So, you then look at how much it will cost you each month to achieve that lump sum.       

Every 5 years of delay means you need to roughly double your regular contributions to the pension to achieve the same lump sum, in real terms.  Until it eventually becomes too expensive and you need to accept some very hard decisions on retirement age being pushed back or your lifestyle needing to reduce.

Macka09

Marcon said:

Macka09 said:

Hi folks
I have 2 old very small pension from previous employment that haven’t been paid in to for quite some years as I’ve been self employed for quite some years. I do have a 3rd that I can’t seem to track down for the life of me. 

Finding the 3rd pension would be a good idea. Do you have any info at all - who your employer was, whether it was a company (occupational) or personal pension, when you were a member...? If you could give some details, including the name of your employer (no reason not to - you aren't saying anything critical about them), maybe someone here could help.

Macka09 said:

Anyway, one of my pensions is with Nest and the other is with Standard Life. I’m unsure whether I should just merge them into one and whether it’s worth paying as much as I can into them or to potentially invest what I can manage to put towards the pension?
I have paid accountants in the past for advice in regards to pensions and investments but came out with very little info on what’s best for me. 

An independent financial adviser is more likely to be of help to you than an accountant if you're asking for investment advice.

Thanks for the reply. 

I have contacted the company in the past about my pension and they haven’t been very helpful at all. The company were known as Iron Mountain which I believe were an American based company. Although our head office was in London. 

I have tried the hmrc site to trace the pension down but to no avail. 

xylophone

https://www.theretirementgroup.com/featured-article/5448091/lost-and-found-expert-tips-to-track-down-your-old-pension-how-to-locate-missing-money-for-iron-mountain-employees

Firstly, reaching out to former colleagues who worked for the same employer during the time you were paying into a pension scheme can provide valuable information. Social media networks can also be utilized to reconnect with former colleagues and gather details about the scheme.

Have you tried this avenue?

Was this pension "contracted out"?

Have you been a member of any "contracted out" schemes?

Is a COPE shown on your pension forecast?

Roger175

Macka09

You've got two similar threads running - I have replied under the other one in the Savings and Investments section

Macka09

xylophone said:

Value of SL and NEST pensions?

What do you know about the third pension?

How old are you?

What is shown at estimate to 5/4/23 on your State Pension Forecast?

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

Is a COPE shown (page 2)?

£1000

company name Iron Mountain

42😢

£203pw

I can’t see anything for page 2?

Macka09

xylophone said:

https://www.theretirementgroup.com/featured-article/5448091/lost-and-found-expert-tips-to-track-down-your-old-pension-how-to-locate-missing-money-for-iron-mountain-employees

Firstly, reaching out to former colleagues who worked for the same employer during the time you were paying into a pension scheme can provide valuable information. Social media networks can also be utilized to reconnect with former colleagues and gather details about the scheme.

Have you tried this avenue?

Was this pension "contracted out"?

Have you been a member of any "contracted out" schemes?

Is a COPE shown on your pension forecast?

I haven’t tried that. I will. 

I don’t believe so. 

Not that I know of. 

COPE? Nothing shows regarding this. 

Marcon

There are a number of companies with variants of 'Iron Mountain' in their name. Could you clarify what the company did, especially if their activities might fall under one of the following descriptions:

• artistic creations
• activities of head offices (!)
• warehousing and storage

You don't by any miracle remember the name of any senior people there (preferably directors)?