Pensionbee

Does anyone have any experience with the above company - Pensionbee?

They post on the forum sometimes.

Seem much the same as every other basic robo-advice style offering.

I have 7 pensions - some personal and some company - which I want to consolidate into one and this company seem to have good reviews.

Whilst I have no issue with them at all. They are perfectly fine for smaller pensions. I do wonder the value of these reviews as they haven't been around long enough to build up any real history. That means the reviews are probably about simple tasks that even the worst providers, in terms of admin, wouldn't have issues with.

What made you select pensionbee?
investment selection? charges?
How does it compare to your workplace scheme? (if employed)
Does pensionbee features and options match your requirements?

I have 7 pensions - some personal and some company

Do any of them have "safeguarded benefits" with a value greater than £30,000?

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/495377/pension-benefits-with-a-guarantee-factsheet-jan-2016.pdf

I was just looking for an !!!8220;easy!!!8221; method of combining pensions.

Is it best to combine the pensions or leave them?

Combining can be beneficial for some plans but not others. For example, I have just finished the file on a case where someone had 5 pensions. Only 3 of them were suitable to combine. I would estimate, on avearge, around 1 in 5 are best left where they are.

The FCA themselves do not consider consolidation a viable reason by itself for advisers to use as justification. Pensionbee is not an advised service. They do what you tell them. You can do what you want (largely). So, effectively, you have to take on the role of an adviser when you DIY. You are responsible for the decision making.

I was going to transfer them all into my prudential person pension only to be told that my plan can!!!8217;t accept transfers in.

Most of Pru's legacy plans are closed for new money.

Pensionbee is not actually that cheap. The same can be said for most robo-advice offerings. They make that they are. Often giving misleading information on the websites about other offerings - and pensionbee do that on theirs too.

Pensionbee has three plans. One at 0.50%, another at 0.70% that they highlight as most popular - so people not knowing what they are doing are more likely to pick that. And another at 0.95%. Put three options together on the website as they do and most people will pick the middle one.

The pensionbee website says above those charges that others could charge you over 2.5%. Yes they can. SIPPs have over 30,000 investment options and the most expensive could be in that range. It doesn't make them bad though. And certainly does not reflect the mainstream.

However, lets stick to reality and not marketing.

That case I mentioned above was done with an annual charge of 0.34% and its investment style is similar to the pensionbee tailored option costing 0.70%. So, you can see that is quite a difference. I used Aegon but Pensionbees website says Aegons average charge is 0.8% and highest is 1.71%. Actually, Aegons highest can be higher than that but the fact it focuses on average and highest and not lowest or current offerings is misleading.

If you use an adviser then you suffer an adviser charge. However, if you have £100k in your pension and the charges difference is £360 in year one, it would not be long before the adviser charge is recovered and you are in profit. If you had £10k in your pensions, then it would not be cost effective to use an adviser and in that scenario pensionbee would be ideal.

Or there are other DIY options that give you more choice that can be better value for money but will require a little more time from you to understand them.

The big firms tend to pre-fund tax relief and you get it instantly. That is a cost to the provider though. So, the budget firms dont tend to prefund but wait until HMRC pay the tax relief.

Last time I looked into it I was told the provider should submit a consolidated return to HMRC by the end of the month for payments up to 5th of that month (6th to 5th being the month cycle). HMRC pay it on the 21st of the following month and it should turn up in the pension account a few days after that.


So, I would have expected September to have arrived (either late October or late November depending on your payment date). October possibly (depending on payment date). Nov would be due later this month or January (depending on your payment date).

I assumed Pension Bee was some guy designing a website in his parents potting shed but looking at their website they now have people to make human or process errors so are going up in the world.

I would rather keep larger amounts such as pensions with established players and their fees are too high.