Pension Bee or HUB financial Services, Experience or recommendation?

65Freddie

Hi Everyone, 

All experience/Information welcome.....

I have a very old Eagle Star Pension which is now under the Zurich Banner. I wanted to take my 25% Tax Free portion out of the pension, (i.e. start flexible drawdown) and leave the remaining 75% invested, for the time being, but due to Zurich's rules, I cannot do so and leave the pension pot with Zurich.  So if I wish to take anything out of my pension pot, either now or in the future, I have to move the entire pot to another provider/company/platform and then proceed with withdrawal with the new company. 

 Zurich suggested HUB Financial Services for one route/possibility and I have looked at Pension Bee, both seem to offer similar pathways.  Being mindful that at my age (59) I need to be savvy about charges etc. as well as stable-ish performance.  So, I am wondering if anyone has experience of either of these companies or have any other recommendations?  My entire pot that I need to move is approx. £83,000, so after I have taken the tax free amount, it will be around £62,000 that I will be leaving invested. I am self employed currently, with some rental income and a pot of savings, I am not really looking at this pension pot as a pension, more another savings account, but with more regs on how I can access the funds!

I would also really love to be able to have online access to my pension/drawdown account for easy viewing etc. currently my pension is only viewable by annual paper statements or by making a phone call, feels very old fashioned these days!   

Brie

Is HUB the same one you get your pension annuity quotes from?  I got quotes from them and was considering them but Aviva seemed to offer more value.  But I've not made any decisions yet so can't offer anything more than that.  

I'm sure I did see something here about Pension Bee not being good value, i.e. high charges.  Am sure someone who knows will be along in a bit.  

dunstonh

but due to Zurich's rules, I cannot do so and leave the pension pot with Zurich. 

It isn't down to rules as such.  Its down to having an old fashioned product and it cannot do things that were introduced several decades later.

 Zurich suggested HUB Financial Services for one route/possibility and I have looked at Pension Bee, both seem to offer similar pathways.  Being mindful that at my age (59) I need to be savvy about charges etc. as well as stable-ish performance.

Pensionbee are a robo-provider. So, you get robo-provider ballpark pricing with them.  i.e. not the cheapest.   Robo's are very good with apps.  They are not the cheap option, though.

Hub is the sales arm of Just. (ex Just Retirement) and they arrange annuities.  I believe they have an offshoot that gives advice but you may as well find a local IFA if you are going down that route.

Albermarle

If you do not want financial advice, there are many low cost DIY pension providers.
HL, Vanguard, Fidelity, A J Bell, Interactive Investor, Iweb etc 

xylophone

I would also really love to be able to have online access to my pension/drawdown account for easy viewing etc. currently my pension is only viewable by annual paper statements or by making a phone call, feels very old fashioned these days!   

Given your comments (including the above), it seems to me that one of the DIY SIPPS could suit you very well.

Have a look at Hargreaves Lansdown  (used by a relative) - the web site is very good and for a modest pot, the charges reasonable - see under

Open by transfer

https://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/sipp/apply-now

Sharkb0y

65Freddie said:

Hi Everyone, 

All experience/Information welcome.....

I have a very old Eagle Star Pension which is now under the Zurich Banner. I wanted to take my 25% Tax Free portion out of the pension, (i.e. start flexible drawdown) and leave the remaining 75% invested, for the time being, but due to Zurich's rules, I cannot do so and leave the pension pot with Zurich.  So if I wish to take anything out of my pension pot, either now or in the future, I have to move the entire pot to another provider/company/platform and then proceed with withdrawal with the new company. 

 Zurich suggested HUB Financial Services for one route/possibility and I have looked at Pension Bee, both seem to offer similar pathways.  Being mindful that at my age (59) I need to be savvy about charges etc. as well as stable-ish performance.  So, I am wondering if anyone has experience of either of these companies or have any other recommendations?  My entire pot that I need to move is approx. £83,000, so after I have taken the tax free amount, it will be around £62,000 that I will be leaving invested. I am self employed currently, with some rental income and a pot of savings, I am not really looking at this pension pot as a pension, more another savings account, but with more regs on how I can access the funds!

I would also really love to be able to have online access to my pension/drawdown account for easy viewing etc. currently my pension is only viewable by annual paper statements or by making a phone call, feels very old fashioned these days!   

Hi 65Freddie, like you I have legacy pensions that send out paper statements once a year. I also had a very small workplace pension which I transferred to Pension Bee as an experiment. I did this almost 1 year ago now, initially it didn't perform very well and I thought the worst. But actually now it has been doing much better and is currently at 9% growth, which is pretty decent I think.
Overall the process with Pension Bee has been good and I really like to see how it's performing at the tap on the app. 

Once the full year is up, I'm thinking I'll transfer one of my larger DC pensions to it.
I hope this is of some help to you.

Albermarle

Sharkb0y said:

65Freddie said:

Hi Everyone, 

All experience/Information welcome.....

I have a very old Eagle Star Pension which is now under the Zurich Banner. I wanted to take my 25% Tax Free portion out of the pension, (i.e. start flexible drawdown) and leave the remaining 75% invested, for the time being, but due to Zurich's rules, I cannot do so and leave the pension pot with Zurich.  So if I wish to take anything out of my pension pot, either now or in the future, I have to move the entire pot to another provider/company/platform and then proceed with withdrawal with the new company. 

 Zurich suggested HUB Financial Services for one route/possibility and I have looked at Pension Bee, both seem to offer similar pathways.  Being mindful that at my age (59) I need to be savvy about charges etc. as well as stable-ish performance.  So, I am wondering if anyone has experience of either of these companies or have any other recommendations?  My entire pot that I need to move is approx. £83,000, so after I have taken the tax free amount, it will be around £62,000 that I will be leaving invested. I am self employed currently, with some rental income and a pot of savings, I am not really looking at this pension pot as a pension, more another savings account, but with more regs on how I can access the funds!

I would also really love to be able to have online access to my pension/drawdown account for easy viewing etc. currently my pension is only viewable by annual paper statements or by making a phone call, feels very old fashioned these days!   

Hi 65Freddie, like you I have legacy pensions that send out paper statements once a year. I also had a very small workplace pension which I transferred to Pension Bee as an experiment. I did this almost 1 year ago now, initially it didn't perform very well and I thought the worst. But actually now it has been doing much better and is currently at 9% growth, which is pretty decent I think.
Overall the process with Pension Bee has been good and I really like to see how it's performing at the tap on the app. 

Once the full year is up, I'm thinking I'll transfer one of my larger DC pensions to it.
I hope this is of some help to you.

Your Pension  Bee pension does not perform, it all depends on which of the investments available you have chosen and how they perform.

You can transfer pensions to many other pension providers than Pension Bee, and just as easily and with lower charges.
There is nothing wrong with Pension Bee as such, but they have clever marketing that makes out they offer some kind of special/unique service, when in fact they do not.

Sharkb0y

Whatever, you're obviously an expert.

dunstonh

Sharkb0y said:

Whatever, you're obviously an expert.

Albermarle is not wrong.

Most robo-providers are double the cost of other DIY options using similar assets.