Which provider to consolidate to

dustymil59

Hello All,

I'm a newbie registered but have been reading this forum over many months. 

I can't get my head around consolidating my pensions, my wife has four, one main personal and three from previous employers. I want to bring them into one so that it would be easier for her to deal with if I'm not around. 

The question is how to decide which company to consolidate with. I've tried to compare performance, but now realise that the company doesn't matter so much as the funds they are invested in, so is it simply a case of personal preference and who will provide the preferred retirement scheme (currently looking at monthly drawdown). She will potentially retire later this year in order to care for her aging father.

Current provide are Standard Life, Aegon and Zurich. 

Any comments would be most helpful. 

TIA.

Marcon

If these are all defined contribution pensions, find out if your wife has any 'safeguarded benefits' (in broad terms, some sort of promise, such as a guaranteed annuity rate) in any of her previous pensions. If she has and the value is at least £30K, she'll need to receive financial advice before the benefits could be transferred. That advice isn't cheap, and it may in any case be in her interests to leave such a pension pot where it is.

Are any of the schemes defined benefit (final salary or CARE) with a transfer value of at least £30K? If so, advice will be even more expensive and it's even more likely she'd be better to leave them alone.

Brie

Check what charges are on each of the pensions and then let your wife decide how she wants to manage her money.  

dustymil59

Thank you both for your comments. 

All are DC and no protected/safeguarded/final salary benefits. Where it's not clear, I've also asked if there are penalties for transfer out.

I also have all the AM charges for each fund.

Unfortunately, my wife is not great with the financials, which is why I'm also assembling all our other financial matters in a spreadsheet just in case. I'm not expecting to go anywhere soon but I'm at an age where it's best to be prepared, we just know that she'll struggle unless I simplify things. 

Thanks again.

Albermarle

If there are no protected benefits, then normally nowadays there are no transfer out penalties.
In fact there are cashbacks available to transfer in from time to time.
Not that should be the deciding factor.

LHW99

Maybe also worth checking what flexibility the schemes offer at pension age. Some older schemes don't allow all the options brought in under pension freedoms (eg UFPLS, phased drawdown).

If one only allows the pension to be taken as an annuity, she may prefer not to consolidate there (or she might!).

Of course rules now may not be he same in 20, 10, 5 ....years time.

DRS1

You say she has 4 pensions but only name 3 providers.  Does she have 2 with the same outfit?

How would your wife want to deal with them if she was on her own?  For example does she prefer the phone or online?  Has she a preference for one over the others?  Is one better than the others for her preferred method of getting in touch?

I guess you are hoping someone on here will say X is better than Y and Y is better than Z but I am not sure if anyone here can say such a thing.  You might want to search the names and see what comes up.  I have seen references to Aegon but not the other two (although they are both big outfits).

You may also want to think about consolidating them all in a SIPP with some outfit like AJBell (Lots of threads on here about who to use which may give you others to consider based on the fund size your wife has when it is all added together - or perhaps when the 3 old ones are added together).  And no doubt some of them will be running a cashback offer (as mentioned above)

A SIPP should offer monthly drawdown - do all her existing pension schemes?  Older ones may not do so.  It is worth checking because if one or two say they don't or don't without you transferring to a more modern scheme then you maybe cross that one or two off your list.

dustymil59

DRS1 said:

You say she has 4 pensions but only name 3 providers.  Does she have 2 with the same outfit?

How would your wife want to deal with them if she was on her own?  For example does she prefer the phone or online?  Has she a preference for one over the others?  Is one better than the others for her preferred method of getting in touch?

I guess you are hoping someone on here will say X is better than Y and Y is better than Z but I am not sure if anyone here can say such a thing.  You might want to search the names and see what comes up.  I have seen references to Aegon but not the other two (although they are both big outfits).

You may also want to think about consolidating them all in a SIPP with some outfit like AJBell (Lots of threads on here about who to use which may give you others to consider based on the fund size your wife has when it is all added together - or perhaps when the 3 old ones are added together).  And no doubt some of them will be running a cashback offer (as mentioned above)

A SIPP should offer monthly drawdown - do all her existing pension schemes?  Older ones may not do so.  It is worth checking because if one or two say they don't or don't without you transferring to a more modern scheme then you maybe cross that one or two off your list.

Yes she had two with Standard Life. A great point regarding phone or online, I prefer online but whilst she's no technophobe, she'd prefer talking to someone, I'll consider that when presenting to her! 😊.

I wasn't necessarily looking for recommendations, however, I suppose that i would have like to hear if there are any known issues with any of them. 

A SIPP maybe too complicated for her but I'll look into it anyway. 

Thanks for your comments, they have certainly given me further cause for thought.

DRS1

One thought - it is all well and good me talking about a modern all singing and dancing SIPP that will support drawdown (and UFPLS etc) but if she is really averse to complications and to managing investments then buying an annuity at retirement or later (when you think you may not be able to help her out) may be a thing to consider.  It keeps things very simple once she has decided on the type of annuity she wants.

af1963

Are there any children ?
(presumably adult by now if so) 

Two reasons to ask: inheritance could be part of what you need to consider (e.g. if she buys an annuity with all of the pensions, there's no inheritable pot left). And any children, or other relatives, might be able to help with the paperwork even if your wife isn't keen.

Also:  what happens with your own pensions if you're no longer around ? Are they straightforward for her to deal with?

 

Albermarle

dustymil59 said:

DRS1 said:

You say she has 4 pensions but only name 3 providers.  Does she have 2 with the same outfit?

How would your wife want to deal with them if she was on her own?  For example does she prefer the phone or online?  Has she a preference for one over the others?  Is one better than the others for her preferred method of getting in touch?

I guess you are hoping someone on here will say X is better than Y and Y is better than Z but I am not sure if anyone here can say such a thing.  You might want to search the names and see what comes up.  I have seen references to Aegon but not the other two (although they are both big outfits).

You may also want to think about consolidating them all in a SIPP with some outfit like AJBell (Lots of threads on here about who to use which may give you others to consider based on the fund size your wife has when it is all added together - or perhaps when the 3 old ones are added together).  And no doubt some of them will be running a cashback offer (as mentioned above)

A SIPP should offer monthly drawdown - do all her existing pension schemes?  Older ones may not do so.  It is worth checking because if one or two say they don't or don't without you transferring to a more modern scheme then you maybe cross that one or two off your list.

Yes she had two with Standard Life. A great point regarding phone or online, I prefer online but whilst she's no technophobe, she'd prefer talking to someone, I'll consider that when presenting to her! 😊.

I wasn't necessarily looking for recommendations, however, I suppose that i would have like to hear if there are any known issues with any of them. 

A SIPP maybe too complicated for her but I'll look into it anyway. 

Thanks for your comments, they have certainly given me further cause for thought.

We see comments on here that the website/IT  of Aegon is a bit clunky.
I think Zurich are nowadays not a big player in pensions in the UK.
Standard Life ( for me) have always offered good customer service and an easy to navigate website. A couple of years ago they were sold, but so far the new owners seem to be actively supporting the brand.
As mentioned an older SL pension may have limited flexibility on withdrawals, but they can change you on to a more modern product.
A modern SIPP ( like AJ Bell as mentioned but there are others) may work out a little cheaper than SL, as long as you only hold low cost investments though.