Are company pension schemes compulsory?

dunstonh

That Pearl pension wasnt from a company as they didnt go group schemes. That explains the confusion there. Pearl is rubbish and A V1 prosperity plan is one of the easiest pensions to justify transferring out. 6 years of zero bonus and until recently the projections to age 65 showed a lower value than the current value. Pearl realised that and increased the projection rate. All a bit pointless though as it has no hope of hitting that projection rate as bonuses remained at zero.

Its an old fashioned pension which ceased to be available after around 1995.

I suppose I should see someone (I just got my stakeholder off the internet with the same big company I have an ISA with) but I was put off by this experince.

To put it another way, you bought an Austin Metro and you are basing all you views on cars today on the assumption that they are like that Metro.

lifebegins

Well, I found a bit more about the company pension scheme: if I put in 4% they will add double, a further 8% of my salary so a no-brainer really,: I've signed up.

On the Pearl issue, why is my transfer value so very low? What happens to the £2506? (i.e. diff between "plan value" and "transfer value" on my statement)
Is it still worth transferring out of this, tiny though it is?

Thanks for all your advice so far.

dunstonh

On the Pearl issue, why is my transfer value so very low?

They front load some of the bonuses which are paid on the assumption you hold until maturity. When you transfer early, they claw some back. The bulk of it is transfer penalty though. Years ago, pensions were never transferred and transfer penalties were never really considered. Modern plans tend to have no penalties but legacy plans do.

s it still worth transferring out of this, tiny though it is?

7 years of nil bonus and unlikely to change much in the future? Very often you can recover the charge in a very short period of a few years.

Retired_I.F.A.

lifebegins wrote: »

Well, I found a bit more about the company pension scheme.

And I've found out that Red Bull is 0% proof. It's only pop !!!.
I always thought it was a beer. Geeze I'll never get to fly with that stuff. I'm sticking to real ale from the wood at least if I drink enough of it I can illusinate i've got wings.