Which provider to consolidate to

DRS1

Guide discussion: Should I combine my Pension? — MoneySavingExpert Forum

You may have seen this.  No discussion there yet but it links to an article (which may not tell you anything you don't already know but does include a link for looking at SIPPs which I will try to copy.  

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cheap-sipps/

dustymil59

Albermarle said:

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.

Aegon portal is extremely limited, unlike SL which is excellent (who very quickly confirmed no exit penalties nor benefits to be lost). I'm impressed with what i see from AJ Bell, of course the proof is in the pudding!. I've used HL previously and like them although their charges always felt heavy.

Zurich don't offer drawdown or annuities

bjorn_toby_wilde

Albermarle said:

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.

Pretty sure Zurich were swallowed up by Scottish Widows. Their website was very clunky and the choice of funds limited IMO.  I couldn’t find a way to turn off lifestyling without contacting customer services either, so I moved mine out a couple of years back.

Albermarle

bjorn_toby_wilde said:

Albermarle said:

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.

Pretty sure Zurich were swallowed up by Scottish Widows. Their website was very clunky and the choice of funds limited IMO.  I couldn’t find a way to turn off lifestyling without contacting customer services either, so I moved mine out a couple of years back.

For  sure Zurich sold their workplace pensions arm to SW a few years ago. I know as I still have one of these pensions. Poor website and customer response, but very cheap. Helped by the fact that my very large ex employer drove a good deal with them.
I think there are some old Zurich personal pensions still around. Sounds like the OP has one.

 I'm impressed with what i see from AJ Bell, of course the proof is in the pudding!.
They offer a very wide range of investments, so you have to be careful not to pick something unusual or expensive, or it could work out costing more.

MallyGirl

Depending on the combined value, if moving them all to a SIPP then the type of charging comes into play. Some SIPPs charge a percentage of the value so are better for lower amounts whereas some charge fixed fee (Interactive Investor is one) which would be expensive for a low amount but comes into its own for higher amounts.

bjorn_toby_wilde

MallyGirl said:

Depending on the combined value, if moving them all to a SIPP then the type of charging comes into play. Some SIPPs charge a percentage of the value so are better for lower amounts whereas some charge fixed fee (Interactive Investor is one) which would be expensive for a low amount but comes into its own for higher amounts.

Beat me to it!

AJ Bell charge a percentage and I think if you have over £100k Interactive Investor would be cheaper. The Monevator comparison table is a good source of info.

Moonwolf

The charges on Standard Life are quite variable.  I get a "discount" of 0.72% on some funds (mostly SL branded) and 0.54% on others.  This means for one SL Global tracker I'm paying 0.28% costs and overall I'm currently paying 0.34%, I used to pay more but I have dropped some expensive managed funds in favour of trackers.  They are also keeping the charging structure for new payments.

This is apparently an old fashioned charging mechanism, but the overall charges seem quite competitive.

Other people are paying different charges for the same products.

As a result I would check with Standard Life that they will honour the best charging structure of the two pensions you have if you transfer everything into that and make sure it is the lowest.

The app is OK and easy to use. 

I would have probably moved to AJ Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown without all of the above.

MEL1981

I've only really got experience of SL & Aegon. I find the SL app is far superior to Aegon. Also the customer support I have had from SL is by far better.

My SL charges 0.237% which includes a discount. This is one of the generic standard life multi asset funds, but it feels to me a reasonable rate so I've been happy with it. 

Mel