Interactive Invester SIPP transfer

lucyandthomas

I’ve been dithering about transferring a 250k stakeholder pension held with Standard Life for a year or so. Charges are 0.8%. No charge to leave and no guarantees I’d be throwing away.

I understand that this will have to be transferred as cash, as the SL funds are in house ones.

I like the charging structure at II, and plan to invest all the money in HSBC Global Strategy Dynamic. I plan to add £1000 as a regular monthly investment. No other investing. Would probably open next year’s ISA with II too. 

II is doing a transfer offer until the end of Jan, and TopCashback have a deal too. Think the time has come to make the jump.

Anything else to consider? I’m 51 and don’t plan to access the pension at all for at least 5 years, probably longer. 

Thanks

MK62

Sounds like you've already done your homework.........as long as you are happy with switching from your current fund(s) to the fund you've chosen, then from the info you've given there doesn't seem to much else to consider really.***.......it appears you'll be saving around £1400pa in fees and getting £1000 cashback for doing it.
I made a similar transfer last year (SL to II) and apart from the usual getting used to the way II and their website work, I've not had any real issues.

***The only thing I can think of which hasn't been mentioned, is that AFAIK you may have slightly more FSCS protection with SL and their "wrapped" funds, though for me the very slight extra peace of mind wasn't worth the fee difference......and you might be able to inch your FSCS protection up slightly at II by not placing more than 85k with any single fund house/provider.......if this is of any concern to you.

Albermarle

These cash back deals are rife at the moment.
It seems crazy that II can offer £1500 to transfer a £250K pension, when they only charge fees of about £20 a month ( do not know the fees exactly ) .
HL will give me £1000 to transfer a £100K ISA, which I will mainly have in ETF's and the max annual charge is £45 pa+ maybe £30 in trading fees.
It must be about market share rather than profits.

artyboy

Albermarle said:

These cash back deals are rife at the moment.
It seems crazy that II can offer £1500 to transfer a £250K pension, when they only charge fees of about £20 a month ( do not know the fees exactly ) .
HL will give me £1000 to transfer a £100K ISA, which I will mainly have in ETF's and the max annual charge is £45 pa+ maybe £30 in trading fees.
It must be about market share rather than profits.

I agree, the cashback amounts available (if you have a decent amount to bounce around) are huge - yes it does require a lot more effort than something like a current account switch, but once you get familiar with the general process, it's a lot of money for a fairly modest amount of work.

Make hay I say... I'm targeting about £15k in incentives by the end of next year. With minimal to zero market risk. This ain't going to last forever.

Albermarle

artyboy said:

Albermarle said:

These cash back deals are rife at the moment.
It seems crazy that II can offer £1500 to transfer a £250K pension, when they only charge fees of about £20 a month ( do not know the fees exactly ) .
HL will give me £1000 to transfer a £100K ISA, which I will mainly have in ETF's and the max annual charge is £45 pa+ maybe £30 in trading fees.
It must be about market share rather than profits.

I agree, the cashback amounts available (if you have a decent amount to bounce around) are huge - yes it does require a lot more effort than something like a current account switch, but once you get familiar with the general process, it's a lot of money for a fairly modest amount of work.

Make hay I say... I'm targeting about £15k in incentives by the end of next year. With minimal to zero market risk. This ain't going to last forever.

When a market gets very competitive and companies seem desperate to get new customers, it probably means either :
They will all come to their senses and stop chucking money at acquiring new customers of the type who will probably not be loyal long term anyway.
Or There will be market consolidation sooner rather than later.

michaels

Albermarle said:

These cash back deals are rife at the moment.
It seems crazy that II can offer £1500 to transfer a £250K pension, when they only charge fees of about £20 a month ( do not know the fees exactly ) .
HL will give me £1000 to transfer a £100K ISA, which I will mainly have in ETF's and the max annual charge is £45 pa+ maybe £30 in trading fees.
It must be about market share rather than profits.

I wonder if they negotiate bulk discount on the fund charges but can't see how that works with ETFs.

lucyandthomas

Thanks all. Going to bite the bullet!

older_and_no_wiser

I'm with II and regularly (every year or so) transfer my workplace SIPP into it. Each time I get cashback and save a lot on fees compared to HL which is where my workplace SIPP is.
The process is smooth but can take time especially for in specie transfers. 
No hesitation in recommending doing this. I also invest in that HSBC GS fund.

foofi22

Thanks OP for the Topcashback spot.  Was already planning to take advantage of the offer

SamDude

older_and_no_wiser said:

I'm with II and regularly (every year or so) transfer my workplace SIPP into it. Each time I get cashback and save a lot on fees compared to HL which is where my workplace SIPP is.
The process is smooth but can take time especially for in specie transfers. 
No hesitation in recommending doing this. I also invest in that HSBC GS fund.

The cashback (via TCB and II directly) is for new customers, so how are you getting cashback 'each year as an existing customer'?

cmundo

I’m debating whether to transfer my Vanguard SIPP to II, but not sure I could go through the pain.  I would transfer as cash though but worried about timescales out of market, anyone had a speedy transfer between the 2?