My Wealth Private (Wealth At Work)

TheChucklebus

Does anyone have any experience of moving their savings and/or DB pension to My Wealth Private for them to manage? I'm approaching retirenment in BT.

Their seminars and individual advice has been very good so far, but I'm undecided about transferring everything to them to manage, as I can find very little around their performance. Transfer and annual fees are quite high, so you'd expect better returns in the good times, and lower losses in the bad (in which they still take their fee).

MallyGirl

what makes you think that they will get you better returns- did they say that (in writing)?

You are unlikely to be better off transferring out of a DB pension

Albermarle

To transfer out of a DB pension you are forced to take very expensive financial advice.

If you type 'DB transfer' into the search box at the top of the page you will see lots of threads on the subject.

However you will see that there have not been so many recently as, transfer values have dived in the last couple of years, so making it an even less attractive idea.

Marcon

Transfer and annual fees are quite high, so you'd expect better returns in the good times, and lower losses in the bad (in which they still take their fee).

High fees don't guarantee high returns! Also you need to remember that advisers help you to achieve your goals, not shoot the lights out regardless. If those goals are high returns but you completely risk averse, then you're going to be disappointed however good the adviser.

af1963

As a rule of thumb, I assume any organisation with "Wealth" in its name is most likely a bad deal, until proved otherwise.

This one also has "Private" which doubles the red flags.

dunstonh

Does anyone have any experience of moving their savings and/or DB pension to My Wealth Private for them to manage? I'm approaching retirenment in BT.

DB transfers are only suitable in around one in ten cases nowadays. Why do you think you're in the one in ten? And why would you use a restricted farm?

Their seminars and individual advice has been very good so far, but I'm undecided about transferring everything to them to manage, as I can find very little around their performance. 

If it's been very helpful, how come you're still undecided?

The seminar model is generally a sprat to catch a mackerel. They're expensive to put on, but they hope that they'll get business from it.

 Transfer and annual fees are quite high, so you'd expect better returns in the good times, and lower losses in the bad (in which they still take their fee).

That's not how it works.

The general rule of thumb is to avoid FAs and tied sales forces. You should either DIY if you know what you're doing or use an IFA.

daveyjp

How did they come to your attention? You mention BT, a testimonial also mentions BT and NHS are mentioned in some reviews. Are they in some way promoted by your employer for pension advice?

CoboCali

I too had my DB pension (BTPS) and my Standard life DC (BTRSS) pension in place when I left BT around 5 years ago. I contacteded 'Wealth at Work' and had around 3 'phone call meetings with them. I found their advice useful and thought provoking. However I also considered their % fees expensive, so I used their personalised report to educate myself and manage my own BTRSS DC pension thereafter. I didn't transfer my DB pension… I am now taking that as a monthly payment having worked out that the 'early retirement' reduction factors didnt put me off giving that I will have been paid for more years. Take their advice, do your own research and explore your options… also worth setting up a free call with the government PensionWise organisation.

CruisingSaver

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004522#Comment_82004522

For the NHS they run a couple of different webinars around understanding the NHS pension but there’s no obligation for anything else. In my case I also had 2 very old DC pensions in addition to my NHS pension plus another DB pension so I wanted to see what they could do with my DC pensions.

In the end, I transferred the DC pensions to them as they didn’t give me the flexibility I was after due to the age of them. So far I’ve been happy with the service I’ve received but fully aware it wouldn’t be for everyone.

TheChucklebus

I'm thinking there's no clear answer here unless someone who's bought into My Wealth can show how their services beat the performance of them managing their own investments in a broad managed fund such as can be provided by Standard Life, Hargreaves Lansdowne etc.

cfw1994

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82005265#Comment_82005265

A relative had W@W brought into their local authority to run a seminar - as @dunstonh put it, to try to catch the mackerel.

Follow-ups were online, so I agreed (as a savvy relative) to join the next call.
To put it mildly, I was NOT impressed. At all.

They had tried to give the impression they were “Independant”, which they were not.

They wrote a massive ~60 page report, mostly “boilerplate”, and near the end had a small section which essentially illustrated (their numbers) that they would not do as well as leaving her Aviva DC pot where it was 🤦‍♂️

She shook them off, but my view was that they were a bunch of shysters trying it on. I would steer very clear 👀

In your case, I cannot imagine them being anywhere near as good as your DB pot. Leave it alone!

Good luck 👍