AVC pension advice

niftythrifty33

Hello, I'm trying to add AVC to my local government pension but it's asking me whether I want to use Prudential or Standard Life and with each choice is a big list of contribution types. How can I work out which one is best for me? Do I need to pay for a financial advisor? My work have stated they can't advise me.

Thank you in advance.

dunstonh

How can I work out which one is best for me?

By comparing the two and seeing which one best meets your investment choices.   Both are very basic and limited as they are aimed at people that don't know about investing.   

Do I need to pay for a financial advisor? My work have stated they can't advise me.

   Your work cannot advise you because you advice is a regulated activity.  You don't need an adviser.   You just need to read the options.

Most people who don't understand investments will typically be best suited with a multi-asset fund (sometimes called mixed asset or equity and bond funds).    So, focus on those.     

Marcon

niftythrifty33 said:

Hello, I'm trying to add AVC to my local government pension but it's asking me whether I want to use Prudential or Standard Life and with each choice is a big list of contribution types. How can I work out which one is best for me? Do I need to pay for a financial advisor? My work have stated they can't advise me.

Thank you in advance.

Not worth paying for advice when there is so much information readily available if you're prepared to don a wet towel round the head and have a bit of a read!

If you google on 'choosing an AVC fund Local Government scheme' you'll get lots of information to help you make your decision eg https://www.mandg.com/dam/pru/shared/documents/en/lavs209701.pdf

niftythrifty33

Thank you both, Dunstonh & Marcon, that's great advice, thanks again

OldBeanz

You might want to search on this forum for Prudential. My wife did very well out of them because they were so inept and rather than solve issues or employ people who could - found it easier to pay compensation. Once you got overall the initial concept that they had no service level at all, they were very much a milch cow.

Albermarle

OldBeanz said:

You might want to search on this forum for Prudential. My wife did very well out of them because they were so inept and rather than solve issues or employ people who could - found it easier to pay compensation. Once you got overall the initial concept that they had no service level at all, they were very much a milch cow.

I was going to suggest if it was me I would be looking at Standard Life, due to the well documented problems with The Pru. 

Chloe_G

I've got my AVC with Standard Life and they are extremely helpful (in contrast to my inept employer who deducts my contributions from my salary but then fails to pay it into my AVC).  However, I opened it in a huge rush and I feel the charges I'm paying on my fund are quite high.  If I were you, I would look at the ongoing charges for the various options.

dunstonh

Chloe_G said:

I've got my AVC with Standard Life and they are extremely helpful (in contrast to my inept employer who deducts my contributions from my salary but then fails to pay it into my AVC).  However, I opened it in a huge rush and I feel the charges I'm paying on my fund are quite high.  If I were you, I would look at the ongoing charges for the various options.

Many AVCs are out-of-date and never improved since the 2006 rule change that no longer required defined benefit schemes to offer them.   So, if the AVC is an old version, then it would be expensive compared to a modern retail individual scheme.   However, some schemes have changed their AVC offering in recent years.  Usually the AVC is still more expensive but better than the old defaults.

Albermarle

Chloe_G said:

I've got my AVC with Standard Life and they are extremely helpful (in contrast to my inept employer who deducts my contributions from my salary but then fails to pay it into my AVC).  However, I opened it in a huge rush and I feel the charges I'm paying on my fund are quite high.  If I were you, I would look at the ongoing charges for the various options.

Normally the SL charging model is to have one charge for platform and fund ( typically 1% for standard funds) and then have a discount. This discount will probably have been agreed by your employer at some point, but may not be obvious in the paperwork you see. Probably best to double check with SL.