Equitable Life: transfer it or take an annuity?

Simeva

I have a small pension with Equitable Life currently worth £4500.
There seems no point in leaving it with Eq Life, but am I better off transferring it in one go to another pension fund (and losing the 5% exit fee), or would I be better off to mature the policy (I'm just over 50), and reinvest both the 25% lump sum and the annuity?

Of course I plan to live a long time. ;-)

While I'm here, thanks to all the helpful people that spend so much time on this board answering questions from confused folk like me!
:T

EdInvestor

There is a third way - put it into income drawdown, take the 25% cash and reinvest the rest taking no income until you need to do so.

Drawdown is an alternative to an annuity and involves taking benefits so you may be able to avoid an exit penalty: but some companies do treat this as a transfer and charge a penalty.

Simeva

Many thanks for this, Ed.

The outcome is that EqLife will allow me to transfer the benefits to an income drawdown policy, without charging the exit penalty. The other thing to take into account is the charge for maintaining the Income Drawdown policy (£75 at HargreavesL, every five years).