Lifesight Pension - any good?

OliverLacon

My DC pension pot is with WTW Lifesight. I've around £500K in there. I'm at the stage in life where I'm looking into moving into drawdown. I have protection for my tax free lump sum of 26.7% (from my previous employers scheme that was transferred in).

I've seen very many bad reviews of Lifesight on the TrustAdvisor site - in fact almost all are bad. Very slow response to email, letters, transfers etc are mentioned. As a result I'm tempted to transfer to a SIPP from another provider (AJ Bell for example have a wider range of products to invest in and lower charges). I would of course loose the protection if I transferred.

I'd be interested in anyone that is in the drawdown phase with Lifesight that might have an opinion about whether there really are issues with this provider. Also I'd be interested in opinions about whether it would be worth losing 1.7% of tax free cash in order to change providers.

FIREDreamer

The 1.7% extra PCLS is £8,500 saving tax of £1,700 at basic rate or £3,400 if withdrawn at 40%.

That’s just peanuts in the scheme of things.

Lower charges at AJB would regain that amount in a very short period of time in my opinion.

Other opinions may differ.

Albermarle

Personally I would not want to be in drawdown with an unresponsive pension provider.
These big administrators like WTW have a pretty dreadful reputation for customer service.

This current thread is probably worth a read.
Making a pig's ear of pension transfer! LifeSight to Interactive Investor - can anyone help please? — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Sarahspangles

I’ve noticed since OH retired he has more time to get cross at his pension administrator. He can’t move but it might be good for your blood pressure if you do? 

GenX0212

I'm with LifeSight through my Company Scheme with a similar sized pot, was move to LifeSight by my Company about 18 months ago and probably have another year before I start drawdown.

What charges are you paying? Mine were only £500 ish for the whole of last year. 

I have gone with the standard managed funds and achieved about £100k of real growth across my Diversified Growth fund (2/3 of pot) and Equity fund (1/3 of pot). Seems like pretty good returns (so far) to me so I don't really have much inclination to move anywhere else at the moment (unless someone has a crystal ball and knows where I can guaranteed achieve higher growth.....)

I need to look into it further but the drawdown info seems to indicate that you can operate it pretty much like an online bank account when you commence drawdown. I'm also interested in what the reality actually is.

OliverLacon

Fees were around £90 pounds per month - so just over 1K for the year. Currently I've 80% in Diversified and 20% in Cash/bonds (I guess this is because I'm closer to retirement than you are (GenX0212). Growth has been 70K - around 16%.  I'm satisfied with the growth - but I've no idea whether Lifesight will perform well over the long term. 

GenX0212

coopej4 said:

Fees were around £90 pounds per month - so just over 1K for the year. Currently I've 80% in Diversified and 20% in Cash/bonds (I guess this is because I'm closer to retirement than you are (GenX0212). Growth has been 70K - around 16%.  I'm satisfied with the growth - but I've no idea whether Lifesight will perform well over the long term. 

But that's surely also true if you move your funds to another provider? Open question but if you are a straightforward customer and your are happy with the charges and fund performance then does LifeSight provide what you actually need for drawdown? The grass isn't always greener.

For instance I see a lot of people moan about poor customer service from their Electricity supplier. I have had many Electricity suppliers over the years but because I have always paid my bills by Direct Debit my customer service interaction with them has pretty much been non-existent. Signup online, leave online. 

TimeToEatCake

I've just started the process of transferring my Lifesight fund to Interactive Investor.  The main reason is that as I get closer to drawdown, I'm not satisfied with the limited options available to reduce risk.  It's been fine whilst in growth phase and fees are low (although not as low as Interactive Investor).  The secondary reason is that I had a terrible  experience transferring a fund into Lifesight a few years ago.  My Lifesight account was not credited for more than two weeks after my previous provider advised the transfer was complete and communication was terrible (lazy and inconsistent and slow response to queries). It was stressful - I thought my cash had gone missing.
 
I'm hoping to be retired for a long time and expect to draw down flexibly and change the risk in my pension more than once as I drawdown, start receiving a DB pension several years later then eventually SP.   A SIPP is going to suit me better and I want a provider with a good reputation  for execution and communication.

OliverLacon

GenX0212 said:

coopej4 said:

Fees were around £90 pounds per month - so just over 1K for the year. Currently I've 80% in Diversified and 20% in Cash/bonds (I guess this is because I'm closer to retirement than you are (GenX0212). Growth has been 70K - around 16%.  I'm satisfied with the growth - but I've no idea whether Lifesight will perform well over the long term. 

But that's surely also true if you move your funds to another provider? Open question but if you are a straightforward customer and your are happy with the charges and fund performance then does LifeSight provide what you actually need for drawdown? The grass isn't always greener.

For instance I see a lot of people moan about poor customer service from their Electricity supplier. I have had many Electricity suppliers over the years but because I have always paid my bills by Direct Debit my customer service interaction with them has pretty much been non-existent. Signup online, leave online. 

I'm more concerned about the poor customer service as mentioned by TimeToEatCake and also the many negative reviews on TrustAdvisor. My main reason for posting on here was to find out if the perception of poor service is valid or not. Does anyone have any positive experiences with LifeSight with regard to customer service?

dunstonh

I'm more concerned about the poor customer service as mentioned by TimeToEatCake and also the many negative reviews on TrustAdvisor. 

Reviews are largely pointless on financial services.
a) there are companies that push people to do reviews when they sign up, when they have had no experience of servicing or the end result and they will score those ones highly.     Lifesight doesnt get that bias on its reivews.
b) there are people giving reviews that are completely way off the mark and blaming lifesight for things where there is no wrongdoing.

I looked at their trustpilot reviews and I can see many 1 star reviews that are blaming Lifesight for things where there is nothing lifesight can do or where there are issues outside of the control of lifesight.

That is not to say I would use them.  I wouldn't.  As an IFA I have better options with more control that Lifesight do not give.   But their offering is a basic, no frills option that won't be best, wont be worst and will give limited functionality that caters for most people but not all.

GenX0212

dunstonh said:

" As an IFA I have better options with more control that Lifesight do not give."   

@dunstonh - do you mean better investment options/choices or something else? In general I would have nothing against paying an IFA for investment management and advice but am the moment I don't really see that it would be worthwhile to me. That might change in time if my pot doesn't keep performing of course.

I have a medium risk approach with 2/3 of my fund in LifeSight Diversified Growth and 1/3 in LifeSight Equity.  Across 18 months I have achieved £100k of actual growth from a starting pot of £360k with £60k of additional contributions made, current value £520k all whilst paying very low investment charges. 

Realistically do you think you would you be able to advise and achieve better results without increasing my risk?

It's a genuine question and I hope no offence is taken at me asking it.