Nest Pension - anyone have experience of taking money?

DE_612183

I'm looking to start taking money out of Nest, but I'm getting conflicting advice from them.

On the one hand they have said "If you have £3000 or more in your pot you can take some cash out and keep saving with Nest. You can do this once every calendar month. Up to 25% of each withdrawal will be tax-free, and the rest will be taxable.

Remember, you must have a minimum of £2000 still left in your pot after each time you've taken your cash."

When I asked about this I was told that once I do that I get automatically moved to a different fund - I want to stay with the existing fund but the person I spoke to was not sure if that was possible or not - the advice was - once you get moved automatically, just ask to move back.

As it's getting closer the more apprehensive I am about Nest - the investments have worked ok in the fund I'm in. but I wonder whether I'd be better with another provider that will give me the growth and flexibility without huge fees.

dunstonh

I pretty much always move pensions out of Nest for those wanting to take retirement benefits. That is unless its a small post where UFPLS would be viable (over 1,2 or 3 years).

I'm looking to start taking money out of Nest, but I'm getting conflicting advice from them.

Firstly, they do not give advice. They state the options they have. Nest dont offer all options. So, if you want an option that they do not offer, then you will have to transfer it to an alternative pension.

When I asked about this I was told that once I do that I get automatically moved to a different fund - I want to stay with the existing fund but the person I spoke to was not sure if that was possible or not - the advice was - once you get moved automatically, just ask to move back.

Again, they haven't given advice. They have just stated what they believe happens (I added the "belief" as what you say sounds like they had no confidence in their statement).

Once you start drawing from Nest and assuming you have over £10k they will move you to their guided retirement fund. They only offer UFPLS. They do not offer drawdown.

They have effectively split their product offering into a pre-retirement product and a post-retirement product. So, you either sit in one or the other.

DE_612183

Thanks @dunstonh you are correct they gave me options rather than advice ( sorry for incorrect terminology ).

Regards the Guided Retirement Fund - Once you start taking money they automatically drop the reminder into pots, however their fact sheet states that if you want to take money out of the "Vault" you then come out of the GRF - however it doesn't say what those options are.

I'm looking to take my funds over the next 5 years on a monthly basis ( don't worry I have a cunning plan ) - if Nest is not the best option to do this who would offer that sort of mechanism and still provide growth?

dunstonh

I'm looking to take my funds over the next 5 years on a monthly basis ( don't worry I have a cunning plan ) - if Nest is not the best option to do this who would offer that sort of mechanism and still provide growth?

nest only offers UFPLS. Not drawdown. Which method are you looking to use?

Next is an extremely basic option. It may not be ideal for what you are looking. Most modern alternatives give you better functionality with respect to drawdown.

DE_612183

can you give some examples of where to look for alternatives ( I know you can't give advice! ).

I've got about £100k, looking to take about £1800 per month for the next five years

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81926752#Comment_81926752

I think you are a regular on the forum? you must have seen many posts mentioning pension providers, but the common ones used for drawdown ( where there is no advisor involved) would be AJ Bell; Hargreaves Landsdown; Fidelity; Interactive Investor as examples.