Royal London SIPP without an adviser & moving abroad

TallGirl

As a caveat to this post I have tried to take advice on this particular question but unable to get anywhere because I am moving away from the UK. I have spoken to Pension Wise and also my FA company (True Potential).

I am 54 and plan to take my lump sum from my SIPP when I turn 55 Aug 25 and shortly thereafter move to Denmark my country of birth. The reason for taking the lump sum now although I do not need it is because Denmark tax (15%) you on any gains before you start taking your pension. Obviously they tax you when you do draw down about starting rate 40%. They have no tax free savings vehicles so you pay capital gains tax from £0 which would affect my ISA. Denmark does not have any capital tax to bring money in so I will only be taxed on the on the gains which is 30 - 40%. I have checked out how Denmark will deal with my pension once I drawdown taxwise so I am ok on that. My plan is to carry on working and then cut down and live off an S&S ISA and then eventually draw down on my pension and obviously get my State pension at 67. 

My issue is should I move my pension away from Royal London prior to moving and taking the lump sum? I did have an adviser who set this up but he retired and I refused to have TP take over so there is no adviser linked to it. I have had issues communicating with them (they paid compensation) and I saw a post here that they only allow people to set up a pension via an adviser. 

I was at one point advised to set up an international pension but that would cost quite a bit to set up and also the fees are higher than a normal SIPP (I was told). I asked in Denmark and they could not really see a need to open one. I asked RL and they confirmed they were ok for my to be a customer once I have moved but I am just a bit worried they are so hard to deal with. 

I would be really happy to pay to take advice on how to sort my finances out prior to my move but not been able to find anyone who can due to the move (and FCA regulation I suspect).

If anyone has any ideas I would be really grateful. 
 

dunstonh

Royal London SIPP without an adviser & moving abroad

Whilst Royal London has a bolt on to give SIPP functionality, very few people have it.   The vast majority are on the PPP and not the SIPP.   

My issue is should I move my pension away from Royal London prior to moving and taking the lump sum? I did have an adviser who set this up but he retired and I refused to have TP take over so there is no adviser linked to it. I have had issues communicating with them (they paid compensation) and I saw a post here that they only allow people to set up a pension via an adviser. 

If you had the Royal London PPP, then chances are that is actually a better option than TP.   However, as you say you have the SIPP bolt on, that makes it a different scenario and it would really depend on what SIPP functionality you are using that requires you to have that SIPP bolt on.

I was at one point advised to set up an international pension but that would cost quite a bit to set up and also the fees are higher than a normal SIPP (I was told). I asked in Denmark and they could not really see a need to open one. I asked RL and they confirmed they were ok for my to be a customer once I have moved but I am just a bit worried they are so hard to deal with. 

RL are very good to deal with directly if you have the PPP.    They are my go to provider for transactional clients and not one has reported problems when accessing the fund.  Although none had the SIPP bolt on.  So, I don't know if that would cause a problem as its not like a platform SIPP.

I would be really happy to pay to take advice on how to sort my finances out prior to my move but not been able to find anyone who can due to the move (and FCA regulation I suspect).

The big problem is you would need an adviser with knowledge of Danish rules and taxation for it to be of any real value.    That is going to limit you to a very small number of firms.   

Whatever you do, make sure everything is in place regarding financial services before you leave the UK.   Once in the EU, your ability to open new UK products becomes extremely limited.  

TallGirl

Thank you Dunstonh this might sound really stupid but how do I check if I have the PPP or a SIPP what does the PPP stand for? Once I know this I will read the answers again and try to understand it. I just know that I put my own money into RL and the tax was added so I just assumed it was a SIPP as it is not a workplace pension. Many thanks  

dunstonh

Thank you Dunstonh this might sound really stupid but how do I check if I have the PPP or a SIPP what does the PPP stand for? 

PPP is Personal pension plan. 
  
The Royal London offers multiple pension types:  a personal pension, stakeholder pension, Section 32 buy out bond and section 226 Retirement Annuity contracts.   They also had stakeholders and personal pensions in group form for employers to use.    Only the personal pension has the bolt on SIPP functionality but its a very old fashioned way of doing it and I have never seen one in force.

Royal London also have several closed insurers books under the Royal London brand.  Refuge, United Friendly, CIS and Scottish Life being the more common ones where policies are found.  None of those had a SIPP offering (though the current Royal London product originates from the Scottish Life product).

 I just know that I put my own money into RL and the tax was added so I just assumed it was a SIPP as it is not a workplace pension. 

I would guess it is a personal pension rather than SIPP.    If it is the personal pension plan with no SIPP bolt on then it should be fine for direct to consumer contact.