Moving to SIPP with AJ Bell

ruflonger

I am currently moving into drawdown with AJ Bell. The problem is there are lots of guides about SIPPs, drawdown strategies etc  but not a guide to ‘going into drawdown and managing a SIPP in drawdown’. The fact for most individuals who will be managing their own SIPP and will at some point have similar questions this should be a simple information sheet available via their website with screenshots of the relevant web pages focusing on the drawdown section. Having raised a number of questions I thought others may find these responses relating to this area from AJ Bell of use.

R - Is there a guide you can provide for ‘going into drawdown and managing a SIPP in drawdown’?
AJBell - Attached a guide (Standard guide to accessing your Pension - which I already told them I had so No) that is available via ‘Useful forms’ section on web site  - their teams are available to help

R - What web pages differences can I expect to see when a portfolio is in drawdown ?

AJBell - On the ‘Manage my SIPP’ page, you will see one box that states the total you have to access. ‘Amount I haven’t accessed’

R - Can I manage drawdown through the app as well as the web?

AJ Bell - No it is managed via Web Only

R - Is the tax free amount shown separately from the ‘crystalized’ sum?

AJ Bell - Once you start to take any tax-free cash, there will be a 2nd box called ‘Amount I have accessed’. This 2nd box will contain cash that has been moved to drawdown relating to the value of each tax-free amount you take i.e if you take £1,000 in tax-free, we populate the 2nd box with £3,000 ready for when you take drawdown. This separates the movement of cash within your SIPP between cash that is still available and cash that has been moved to taxable drawdown.

R - How do I select the tax free lump sum I want? 

AJ Bell - You click on ‘Access my SIPP’ from the box called ‘Amount I haven’t accessed’. Submit a tax-free lump sum from the 4 withdrawal options. ‘Tax-free lump sum and drawdown’. As mentioned above, we remove what will become your taxable drawdown income from the 1st box and place it in the 2nd box ‘Amount I have accessed’

R - How do I select the ‘crystalized’ sum I want if it not the full amount? 

AJ Bell - When you use the ‘Access my SIPP’ button, you can select ‘Request income’ as a one-off payment and enter an amount.

Bianchiintenso

Interesting, I am just about to start the drawdown process with AJBell, looking forward to more comments/information 

ruflonger

If you have other annuities or DB pensions it is useful to have all that information to hand. I have had a number of both email and phone conversations regarding lump sum payments from a DB company pension and annuity where I have had to (understandably) provide evidence of the payments from the organisation.

Albermarle

Is there a guide you can provide for ‘going into drawdown and managing a SIPP in drawdown’?
AJBell - Attached a guide (Standard guide to accessing your Pension - which I already told them I had so No) that is available via ‘Useful forms’ section on web site  - their teams are available to help

Different providers have differences in the way they operate, partly due to different IT systems. So you really always need to discuss with your provider before starting drawdown.

For example some expect you to sell sufficient investments to cash to fund withdrawals. Others will do it for you.

BurkieDaddyo

Anyone got any updates or feedback on AJ Bell specifically around drawdown.  I am looking at moving over to them as it looks like they allow you to select any of their portfolios to invest your crystallised funds (my current provider only offers 4 drawdown portfolios to choose from).

how easy was the transfer over to AJ Bell process

how easy is it to request tax free lump sum

how easy is it to request payments from crystallised funds (I think you can’t just ask them to send you£xx.xx per month as a pension,  is it right you have to do this yourself by selling each
month/quater so you have cash in your pot to then withdraw your “pension” yourself, If so how simple is that)

any other advise/comments/feedback would be massively appreciated.

Roger175

BurkieDaddyo said:

Anyone got any updates or feedback on AJ Bell specifically around drawdown.  I am looking at moving over to them as it looks like they allow you to select any of their portfolios to invest your crystallised funds (my current provider only offers 4 drawdown portfolios to choose from).

how easy was the transfer over to AJ Bell process

how easy is it to request tax free lump sum

how easy is it to request payments from crystallised funds (I think you can’t just ask them to send you£xx.xx per month as a pension,  is it right you have to do this yourself by selling each
month/quater so you have cash in your pot to then withdraw your “pension” yourself, If so how simple is that)

any other advise/comments/feedback would be massively appreciated.

I have been with A J Bell for over 15 years now. I have been using them alongside an old Prudential pension and another SIPP with Hargraves Lansdown. Until the last year I have just been making my contributions, choosing my investments and letting it all do it's thing.

Last year, in preparation for impending early retirement, I transferred both the HL and Prudential pensions into AJB and have recently done my first drawdown payment. 

Regarding the transfers, the HL one went without a hitch and the money was transferred with days (can't recall exact timing, but certainly under 10 days start to finish). The Prudential one was an absolute farce with Prudential proving to be totally incompetent and absolutely useless. I was however very impressed by AJB with both transfers. Everything was done in a timely manner and where I needed to contact them for various queries regarding the Pru transfer, they answered the phone promptly and were always super helpful.

Regarding my first drawdown, I was surprised by how ridiculously simple this turned out to be. I was trying to mop up a bit of my tax free personal allowance for the current year and did this on an UFPLS basis, so having sold something to make sure the cash was there, I simply calculated the figure to adjust for the tax free/taxable amounts and did the on-line request. The money was in my account within 3 days. As expected they held a bit more tax than I should be paying, but that will come out in the wash when I do by tax return in April.

All-in-all, I remain very impressed with AJB's service and would not hesitate to recommend. 

Albermarle

BurkieDaddyo said:

Anyone got any updates or feedback on AJ Bell specifically around drawdown.  I am looking at moving over to them as it looks like they allow you to select any of their portfolios to invest your crystallised funds (my current provider only offers 4 drawdown portfolios to choose from).

how easy was the transfer over to AJ Bell process

how easy is it to request tax free lump sum

how easy is it to request payments from crystallised funds (I think you can’t just ask them to send you£xx.xx per month as a pension,  is it right you have to do this yourself by selling each
month/quater so you have cash in your pot to then withdraw your “pension” yourself, If so how simple is that)

any other advise/comments/feedback would be massively appreciated.

You already asked this question...........
AJ bell drawdown — MoneySavingExpert Forum

BurkieDaddyo

Yea sorry I created a thread of my own and also ambushed someone else’s thread with my same question 🤣.  Appreciate all the answer forum has been massive help.