???? totally lost in pensions maze HELP>

cheepskate_2

Hi Guys

Bear with me , as i am not normally so ill-informed when it comes to money matter and can normally read and research on such things,. But i am totally lost when it comes to Pensions.

My husband has 3(that i can find) pensions and opted out of serps.
only 1 pension gets money still paid into it.
1 pension is from 1996 , and gets no more money paid into it.
the other one is from 2006 and no more no money gets paid to it.
3rd is current.

At this moment in time , i will worry about current one later, how do i find out what they invest in and what do i do with them. All i know with hunting through the lot of paperwork he has is that 1 is going down each year, not by much sometimes , but if you go by how much pension he would get today , it goes down, and both are paying 1% fees.

Sorry if i am not making any sense WHERE DO I START.

Many tnanks in advance
cheepskate

dunstonh

how do i find out what they invest in

Ask an IFA or research it yourself.

IFAs will have research software and data which can tell you exactly where the money is, what risk profile and how good (or not) it is. The providers themselves will give you some data as well if you ask them but it will likely to be biased.

and what do i do with them.

Again, use an IFA or research yourself.

Pensions are no different to any other investment whether it is investment bond, unit trust/oeic or ISA. The only difference is that the money is earmarked for retirement. However, the investment principle is the same as all the rest.

EdInvestor

If you want to do it yourself write to the provider and ask them for this info:

1.Current value
2.Transfer value
3.Annual charges
4.Funds invested in
5.Additional fund choice
6.Any guarantees attached
7.Any penalties for changing funds or transferring pension

That will give you a basis for comparison at least.

If there are any company final salary pensions, they are usually best left alone.

cheepskate_2

hi
Thanks for the reply's

there is not any final salary pensions but there is a " preserved " pension is this the same ?
thanks

EdInvestor

cheepskate wrote: »

hi
Thanks for the reply's

there is not any final salary pensions but there is a " preserved " pension is this the same ?
thanks

It might be, but it could be something else. .A final salary pension guarantees you a specific amount of pension income when you retire (usually expressed as 40/80ths of final salary or something like that)..

A non-final salary pension provides a pot of money (unguaranteed) which you then have to use to buy an annuity.