Pension Advisor would want £21,000 for a failed transfer

michael1234

HappyHarry said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Have you got a current CETV?

No doubt someone else will point out of this is completely wrong but I think they have a limited life span and once expired you need a fresh one to continue with a transfer.

And soke scheme providers might charge for a secord one (in a 12 month period).

Let the IFA apply for the CETV - no point in starting the 3 month clock ticking beforehand. The 3 months goes very quickly with this kind of work. 

On the other hand could it be cheaper if I attempt the transfer myself (once I've got the advice). Not sure what the risk/reward is there.

So on to looking for IFAs. Xylophone gave me a website to work which while useful seems to largely list the IFA practices in order of distance to my home. I'm guessing that these days its not so important how close they are. Nevertheless, it turned out the closest FA was also a pension specialist and an IFA. I just about qualify for their minimum but they look like they would prefer super rich people so not sure about contacting them.
https://adviserbook.co.uk/financial-advisers/gTGEmTLIKZC

I then saw quite a few mentions of the company Grove. I liked that they publicly state they accept insistent clients. The most important thing to me is to move the money and keep the transfer costs down. Reading around I'm starting to get an understanding of how valuable a service IFAs provide but in my case it feels like its being forced on me.

I think I need at least one more IFA to compare. Any ideas how to go about looking? Or are IFAs more like doctors in that you pick a specialisation and then find the nearest ?

Edit: Hmm Looks like Grove would be 12.5K. Already cheaper than SJP I guess but still quite a bit. Plus a glaring grammar mistake on their form which doesn't instil me with confidence: "What is above pension scheme (sic)"

dunstonh

On the other hand could it be cheaper if I attempt the transfer myself (once I've got the advice). Not sure what the risk/reward is there.

It wont be any cheaper.   You are paying the adviser whether the advice is suitable to transfer or not.

The issue is that the adviser has to do a lot of work and then get it checked (usually by third parties) and that is time consuming.  If your CETV is already a month or two old, then you may run out of time.

michael1234

Filling in the SL Stakeholder form and came across this.

How do they expect a non-FA person to understand it?
More importantly, would someone be kind enough to translate this into laymen's terms?

sandsy

Might be worth checking out whether any firms you find have any complaints upheld against them by checking the Financial Ombudsman Service website. If you're going to pay all that money, you at least want some comfort that they are competent at giving advice.

Go to the FOS website, click on the dropdown arrow next to Decisions a Case Studies, then select  Database of decisions. Start typing the name of the company under business name, and the full name should appear. Tick Investments and Pensions, and Upheld. Then Search decisions. Any upheld complaints should then appear. Often, you can tell from the brief summary if they are DB transfer related and you can read each one in full too.

xylophone

More importantly, would someone be kind enough to translate this into laymen's terms?

It appears that you are not compelled to choose a with profits fund as one of your investment choices?


https://www.standardlife.co.uk/pensions/stakeholder-pension#:~:text=Investment options,-With our Stakeholder&text=Option 2: you can choose,with a with-profits fund.

Investment options

With our Stakeholder Pension Plan you can pick from a carefully selected range of investment options.

• Option 1: you can choose from three strategic lifestyle profiles, which are investment options specifically designed to make it easy for you to save for retirement. Once you’re in a lifestyle profile, you don’t need to do anything, although we do recommend that you regularly review your investments to make sure they’re on track to meet your goals.
   
• Option 2: you can choose from over 50 funds to invest in. You can invest in up to 12 funds at any one time, but if you decide to pick a lifestyle profile, you can only combine this with a with-profits fund.

If you don’t want to choose a fund, that’s fine too. We will automatically invest your money into a lifestyle profile.

For more information on Stakeholder Strategic Lifestyle Profiles, please read our helpful guide (111KB).

You can learn more about the different funds, their cost and performance, and take a look at their factsheets by using our fund checker.

 

dunstonh

michael1234 said:

Filling in the SL Stakeholder form and came across this.

How do they expect a non-FA person to understand it?
More importantly, would someone be kind enough to translate this into laymen's terms?

If you invest in the WP fund then they have the right to reduce the value in some scenarios.  If you are not investing in the WP fund (which most people would not nowadays as its a legacy fund) then you don't worry about it.

Stakeholder pensions were introduced in 2001 but by around 2006 they were already dated.   So providers have either pulled their product or left it in place without changes.   There wasn't really a DIY market 20 years ago.  So, you have a products that is largely out-of-date available to you via a method of distribution that very few used and the language used reflects the era.

Triumph13

Or to put it more simply, unless you want to invest in an old fashioned with-profits fund for some unknown reason, you really don't need to know.

michael1234

So far I've only found two IFAs that specialise in DB pension transfers. Grove and another one.

Grove want 2.5% "...unless you have been referred to us by an IFA in which case we will charge less....". Best of all, without me so much as signing anything or talking to anyone they have applied for a CETV from my existing pension. I wouldn't have known that had it not been for my pension provider to CC me in their answer to Grove. I am allowed one free CETV and then its several hundred pounds so really I think they should have made clear their intentions. Even the man from SJP was pretty clear about if and when he'd do stuff.

So not overly impressed with them so far.

dunstonh

Best of all, without me so much as signing anything or talking to anyone they have applied for a CETV from my existing pension

Not sure how that will work as the scheme administrators would want a signature from you (either wet or e-signature).   If they gave your data out without any indication of permission from you then that could be a data protection breach.

michael1234

Good to know existing provider will want my approval for CETV release.

Now I have two IFAs in contention (Grove and Pension Works) although the former is obviously in second place right now.

I've realised they will of course both want a CETV before they can do any calculations. I'm thinking of getting that myself so that I can at least get the free abridged advice (and Full Advice quotation) before proceeding.

One other thing, I'm 53. Is that going to seriously tip the scales against a transfer as I'm not 55 ?