db pension

i just dont like the idea if i die then the majority of the pot remains with the company/investment co etc

There is not pot and its not an investment company. You are paying a monthly amount to get a selection of defined benefits. These would be a guaranteed annually increasing pension for the rest of your life along with a tax free lump sum at the start.

If you transfer the pension, you lose those benefits in exchange for a lump sum that must be transferred into another pension. That pension will be invested and will go up and down in value and your income may have to go up and down with it.

Depending on your draw rate, you may not have the scope to have an annually increasing income.

Depending on the level of investment risk you take, you may not be able to afford the draw rate. CETVs are often quite high in value when there has been long service. That means periods of relatively small losses in terms of percentages can turn into quite large monetary amounts. That can often spook people who are not used to investments.

For example, if your transfer value is £500,000 and its now sitting in a mainstream medium risk investment with a ballpark asset mix that most people end up with and a typical stockmarket crash of 25% occurs (the type you see every 3-7 years), that is a loss of £125,000. So, your £500k is now £375,000. If you saw your value drop from £500k to £375k, how would you react?

You could say that you would take lower risk from the outside. But that means long term investment returns are going to be lower and may not support the income. So, each withdrawal you take from the pension is unlikely to be covered by the investment returns and you will see capital erosion. So, that balance of £500k will start to fall and will accelerate. (less value means lower returns and each time you take money out, that is getting lower). It starts a spiral or erosion and the end game is running out of money.

The problem with risk-based options is that you have to take risks. Risks that will sometimes pay off and leave you in a very nice position and sometimes not leaving you worse off. It maybe that you live a frugel lifestyle and your required draw rate is low. It may be that you live a consumer lifestyle and have inadequate provision to maintain that in retirement but use the pension fund to keep it up and you will run out of money.

ive not even looked at going to a ifa wouldnt know where to start, would i have to pay him out of my own pocket if i go ahead with it

If it goes ahead, it can come out of the fund. If it doesnt go ahead, then it comes out of your pocket.

also do all the fund have fees to pay, is 1% of the fund in fees, (a bit steep) my dc fund is charging 0.17% thats what i call fair

You are being unrealistic with your charges. Your DC pension benefits from economies of scale and probably part funded by the employer. Most workplace schemes are around 0.50% to 0.75%. Also, workplace schemes are basic and lack functionality (such as not being able to do drawdown). You need a drawdown scheme. Basic drawdown schemes can be available from about 0.35%. We use them sometimes but they consistently make less money than the more expensive options. Adviser costs typically add around 0.5% a year. Platform costs around 0.35% fund costs from 0.05% to 1.5%.