Fees and Consolidation

BankerInTheBlack

Hi All, I have a couple of (probably stupid) questions - wondering if any kind soul can help my understanding. 

1) Fees

My partner (aged 37) has recently changed work place and the company DC pension scheme is with TPT Retirement Solutions. I supported her to choose the fund - "TPT Global Equity Fund" rather then the default. What struck me was the fees TER 0.12 % I checked my existing pension with Aviva and the fund with the lowest fee I can choose is 0.75.% AMC. Am I missing something here? 

I then checked my statement and in April 2025, despite having c. £120,000 the yearly charge was listed as around £60. Now I'm confused. 


2) Consolidation

My partner has multiple small pots from previous roles. 17k with Standard Life, 7k with Aviva, 1k with Aviva (different employer). She has a few others we're yet to track down. The ones I've looked at all have AMC of 0.75 - 1.1 %. It would seem sensible to explore moving them to her new provider? Is there anything specific she needs to be aware of here? Obviously the fee structure looks advantageous. The fund selection is fine, although the 'global equity fund' is over weighted in the UK (c.30%). I'll check with each provider if there are exit fees. Anything else? Feels a bit of a minefield. 

Thanks in advance! 

Albermarle

Pinning down the exact fees can be tricky with some pensions ( not all).
Some have a platform/management fee and a separate fee for the investments.
The former you pay every month and is visible. The latter is paid within the fund so you do not see any transaction.
It could be with TPT that the 0.12% is the platform fee and there is another fee for the global equity fund . Or it might be 0.12% all in but that sounds too low.

With your Aviva pension, I think there is only one fee ( unless you choose some more expensive specialist fund)
Also your employer may have negotiated a discount, but clearly the cost will be more than 0.05% so not sure what is going on there. You need to call them. 

On the second point it would make sense to consolidate these very small pensions. Normally there will not be any exit fees.
She needs to check though that TPT accept transfers in. Normally they should and on their website there should be a way of organising the transfers. She should not contact the pensions she wants to transfer as that will just confuse the issue.
Alternatively she could consolidate the pensions into an existing one that is not TPT. 

gm0

The fund management charges (the ones on any factsheets provided - for the exact fund you are in - same title, same ISIN (ref number).  Are the first thing to look at.  These are "inside" the unit prices and the valuation so the charges are implicit - not explicit.  Reporting may be minimal.  It's in the valuation. 

A good value benchmark for "retail consumer" SIPPs for a global equities holding fund of passive nature - is 0.10% or thereabouts. 

This isn't ALL the inside the fund charges but the regulated declared ones - there are some transaction and FX and withholidng tax things going on - it's complicated but the regulated method of declaration is what we have and a place to start).  Anything from 0.06 - 0.12% is fair value.  0.25 is a tad over. Anything >0.5% for "passive" adjacent performance is overcharging.  True stock picking actives have higher charges. 0.5% - 1.5% or whatever the specialist thing is. And they work or they don't to offset higher cost with higher performance. Which is not today's rabbit hole.  Assuming broadly passive intent for long term buy and hold and market returns less drag - those numbers are a benchmark you can use.  

This is just a drag that you are paying (to the fund manager) for the assets held. There are additional complications on this - with occupational trusts - you are not an individual consumer - the scheme brings a pool of assets under management and a deal is done to provide access to the "range" of funds and provide trading services etc.  Customer = scheme.  You = member.  Which can make things more complex as the "deal" between scheme and fund provider/admin company - plays in to other costs. 

The second this time explicit charge category is referred to upthread as a "platform charge" which is often how it is described for retail consumer SIPPs/personal pensions.  But there are other words used on older occupational employee trusts - "scheme cost or fee etc".  The words platform charge may not appear. Older schemes may not have drawdown options - annuity purchase or transfer out only. At all. Or an admin/life company may have a default drawdown offer - at a scheme specific price - which is implemented as a transfer to something niche they offer. Which is not sold retail generally.  These can be good or poor value as well depending on the deal done by the trustees.

As stated up thread - it is in general helpful to you and increasingly to your executors to have fewer small schemes and old pensions.  Fewer is indeed mostly better.  

But it is very difficult to generalise entirely as it is situational.  The exact costs of particular scheme for when you were in it will dictate if it is a "good" old one.  Or an "expensive" yet inflexible old one.  

The latter a good target for consolidation.  The former - not so much.  Why pay more to hold the same assets.  I kept one of mine.  And will do so for a long time yet.

dunstonh

My partner (aged 37) has recently changed work place and the company DC pension scheme is with TPT Retirement Solutions. I supported her to choose the fund - "TPT Global Equity Fund" rather then the default. What struck me was the fees TER 0.12 % I checked my existing pension with Aviva and the fund with the lowest fee I can choose is 0.75.% AMC. Am I missing something here? 

The Aviva pension would be "bundled".  That means all costs are included in that single charge.   Its an older style plan and that was the way it used to be.     The more modern Aviva plans are "unbundled" and have a platform charge and investment charge.

The reference to TER is interesting as that hasn't been a valid measure for over 7 years except for ETFs.    ETFs would have charges around 0.12%.    However, there would usually be a platform charge in addition to the fund charges.

With very large employers, they often subsidise the platform charge to some extent.   

A general benchmark for a global equities passive fund on a platform is around 0.3x% nowadays.    So, anything less than that is good. 

Brie

Check that the previous pensions are all DC.  If they are DB (defined benefit) it won't be worthwhile trying to move them but simply keep track until the normal retirement date comes up. I was quoted £7k to get advice on a DB scheme transfer which I knew would likely come back as a "no, don't do it".

BankerInTheBlack

Thanks everyone that's really useful!