Mattman42 Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 I really need to sort out my pensions. I’ve had a few jobs over the years which means I’ve got a few different old work pensions, with varying levels of value. i think it’s going to be easier and more valuable to consolidate the lot into 1 - perhaps leaving my current work pension going on it’s own. I’ve seen the ads for PensionBee and looking at the website it seems straightforward and potentially easier than going via a financial advisor anyone had any experience of using them? Good or bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted October 24, 2020 Report Share Posted October 24, 2020 Worth checking the AMC on your current work/GPP/DC as it might be worth moving them all there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXY Posted October 25, 2020 Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 Will keep an eye out for this thread as I'm in a very similar position to Matt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattman42 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 Whilst SWMBO was watching Strictly Come Sequins last night I dug out the paperwork and found I have 7 pensions running at different values, nothing exciting or huge amounts of money. thoughts of pulling it all out and buying a buy to let was met with a firm ‘NO’ by the sequin watcher 🤬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXY Posted October 25, 2020 Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 3 minutes ago, Mattman42 said: Whilst SWMBO was watching Strictly Come Sequins last night I dug out the paperwork and found I have 7 pensions running at different values, nothing exciting or huge amounts of money. thoughts of pulling it all out and buying a buy to let was met with a firm ‘NO’ by the sequin watcher 🤬 Hmmm, If I pooled all of my pensions I might have enough to buy a nice little car, providing it's less than £5k of course (One of) My Aviva pension statements is sitting on the desk in front of me. August 2019 it was worth the grand total of £2,757.29 Skip to August 2020 and it is currently worth £2,545.96 AND the kents actually charge you to let them lose money for you So the fekking thing is going backwards, good to know and why I detest the financial services so thoroughly as the ones I have come into contact with are a bunch of lying thieving wastrels, of course that's only the ones that I have met Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattman42 Posted October 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 I’ve not looked at recent performance yet, although did see one that seems to be charging me weekly to move money around. The total pot wouldn’t let me buy a place, but maybe enough for a BTL mortgage deposit. i think consolidation is the answer, I have a couple of old ones at less than 4K total that would basically let me buy a coffee each month when I retire - seems pointless keeping them going, I’m thinking if the investment pot is bigger, then the returns should follow (potentially) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXY Posted October 25, 2020 Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 9 minutes ago, Mattman42 said: I’ve not looked at recent performance yet, although did see one that seems to be charging me weekly to move money around. The total pot wouldn’t let me buy a place, but maybe enough for a BTL mortgage deposit. i think consolidation is the answer, I have a couple of old ones at less than 4K total that would basically let me buy a coffee each month when I retire - seems pointless keeping them going, I’m thinking if the investment pot is bigger, then the returns should follow (potentially) Similar though process to mine, plus it would be a hell-of-a-lot easier to keep track of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted October 25, 2020 Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 Pensions are a mine field for sure.Some 15 years ago I transferred about 5 years company pension into an NHS pension and all it was worth was 2 years NHS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanatoid Posted October 25, 2020 Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 I consolidated several smaller pensions into my then latest at ICL, and it was a good move, end result was it (by now a Fujitsu pension) started paying out at 60, it's worth a little more than what the government pension will be. I did it all by hand, was very easy - does this pensionbee cost anything? I recently ran one of those (company) annuity projections on my now company pension, having almost discounted an annuity as returning bad numbers, maybe drawdown instead, and was pleasantly surprised... it was a little like compare the meerkat sort of thing with the top 5 or 6 companies giving what they'd offer yearly, I will exhaust all the offers of free advice via government sites nearer the time. Lots of little bits, make a bigger bit 🙂 Consolidate! Rider on that was the ICL pension was of a particular type which I forget name of or how/what/where/when.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted October 25, 2020 Report Share Posted October 25, 2020 I would do lots more homework or get some advice. You can't pull the cash out. It's not the just the AMC you have to think about but also what the range of funds are and how easy it is for you to move around. Often the AMC headline rare applies to the default funds but if you want to self invest then of course the AMC on those funds will vary. Typically though your current employer AMC should be quite favourable. You also need to look at the charges for moving your pension funds from one to another. It's not really any harder than moving one savings account funds to another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menoporsche Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 17 hours ago, Mattman42 said: Whilst SWMBO was watching Strictly Come Sequins last night I dug out the paperwork and found I have 7 pensions running at different values, nothing exciting or huge amounts of money. thoughts of pulling it all out and buying a buy to let was met with a firm ‘NO’ by the sequin watcher 🤬 Didn’t know you were married to Cheddar Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike597 Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 Doesn't sound like you've done a lot of pension planning. This article might put the figures you need to retire comfortably onto perspective: https://moneytothemasses.com/saving-for-your-future/pensions/how-much-income-could-i-get-from-a-100000-pension-pot And this one if you can read it : https://www.ft.com/content/a5a6532e-f731-11e9-bbe1-4db3476c5ff0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menoporsche Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 18 hours ago, EXY said: (One of) My Aviva pension statements is sitting on the desk in front of me. August 2019 it was worth the grand total of £2,757.29 Skip to August 2020 and it is currently worth £2,545.96 AND the kents actually charge you to let them lose money for you So the fekking thing is going backwards, good to know and why I detest the financial services so thoroughly as the ones I have come into contact with are a bunch of lying thieving wastrels, of course that's only the ones that I have met Was heavily pressured into starting a private pension in the mid-90s (weren't we all), and paid in perhaps 10k over 2 years then gave up. Looked at it 5-10 years later, yes it was going well down. Whoever I started it with has been taken over and taken over. Stuart may or may not want to answer this (or maybe I said it 5 years ago and he answered it then!) but I'd be far more interested in paying for a service where the adviser gets 5% of the profit (and loses 5%, if it goes down), rather than those where the adviser gets a cash payment from the fund for recommending people to buy it, and then loses interest/motivation for the result, as is apparently often what happens. Perhaps I misunderstood. All rather theoretical as I've always been risk averse when it comes to money. 14 hours ago, Liberty said: Some 15 years ago I transferred about 5 years company pension into an NHS pension and all it was worth was 2 years NHS. We had that, but I think the idea is that the new pension will be a lot more generous than the old one. I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike597 Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 I'm quite surprised by some of these responses, I'm really surprised that people haven't got pensions or aren't paying into a pension. If you're a higher rate tax payer, it's literally the best investment you can make. The government gives you 40% back immediately on any contribution, nowhere in any investment can you get that sort of return over 5 years let alone on day one. So even if you just keep the pension in cash funds you getting an immediate return. If you invest in stocks you can get a better return. My current private pension has been running for 15 years and is an accumulation of other private and work related pensions. My actual contributions make up 64% of it's total current value. Of those contributions, the government has contributed 40%. The net result of that (if you do that maths) is that the total fund value that has come out of my pocket is 38% and the remaining 62% has been handed to me as tax relief or has been investment return. So to create a 100k pension fund over 15 years I'd have had to contribute 38k or ~ £211 per month net over that time if you flat line it (not wholly realistic but a decent approximation). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverinemac Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 have mine consolidated into a SIPP. Once it reached a level, i purchased a commercial property to have some control on what the pension generates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 It's not jus the amount going in tax free but you will also get employer contributions of varying levels. I get 10% for the 5% I put in. If you are in a lifestyle based default fund and you never touch it the fund types will vary depending on your age bracket. In many respects now may be a good time to plough more in while the market is quite flat. I got some great growth in one of my old employer schemes but over the years all my pensions have all ended up under Scottish Widows in 3 different pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanatoid Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 Side thought, last time I took advice from financial advisor it was to buy an endowment mortgage...... That went well - NOT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart21UK Posted October 26, 2020 Report Share Posted October 26, 2020 39 minutes ago, thanatoid said: Side thought, last time I took advice from financial advisor it was to buy an endowment mortgage...... That went well - NOT! The industry is so much more heavily regulated now, most of the cowboys are gone...and obviously the favour of endowment mortgages gone near 20 years ago ...still, some interesting financial products still exist...good old 'help for the masses'/first time buyer Help to Buy shared equity being one of them...have the powers that be thought about how many people will get to the end of their mortgage term, be on the verge of retirement and not realsitically be able to buy out of the 20% equity loan for instance? Or when they do look to buy out of it, the interest rates are sufficiently higher that they cant, or the value of the property hasnt gone up enough to support the ability to do so anyway (had one of those recently and they are having to put off a house move until that improves in a few years hopefully). We had HSBC doing 3 year interest mortgages only a few years ago, with the idea they were transferred onto full capital and interest at the 3 year point (but no guarantee what interest rates might be and whther it was realistic to be able to do so). 12 hours ago, Menoporsche said: Was heavily pressured into starting a private pension in the mid-90s (weren't we all), and paid in perhaps 10k over 2 years then gave up. Looked at it 5-10 years later, yes it was going well down. Whoever I started it with has been taken over and taken over. Stuart may or may not want to answer this (or maybe I said it 5 years ago and he answered it then!) but I'd be far more interested in paying for a service where the adviser gets 5% of the profit (and loses 5%, if it goes down), rather than those where the adviser gets a cash payment from the fund for recommending people to buy it, and then loses interest/motivation for the result, as is apparently often what happens. Perhaps I misunderstood. All rather theoretical as I've always been risk averse when it comes to money. We had that, but I think the idea is that the new pension will be a lot more generous than the old one. I think... Meno I'm not pension authorised (just mortgage and protection) Interesting business proposal though....do you think that could work with Tesco's (or any other trade or business for that matter)...I buy my food from them and if they make enough profit in the year I get a cashback? I know what you are getting at but no adviser can guarantee the future performance of anything, the model you suggest would make no sense to anyone long term, it would just fail.....that said I guess most people who have an IFA would only keep going back to them if their advice had proved sound, would they not anyway (i.e. current system works in a different way anyway?) apologies for the ramble.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2sam Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 I set up a pension private pension thru Prudential when I was 24 I'm now 55 , initially it looked a good bet but over the years the annual statement became less and less despite me paying 5% increase per annum , eventually I swapped it over to an IFA, untill 2008 when we had the crash , I froze my pension , and overpaid on my mortgage by the same contribution amount of pension, paid off my house 7 years early , for the last 2 years I swapped again to a sipp and managed my own pension through AJ bell you invest , I bought mainly tracker funds , with a few small gambles , I cashed mine out this year to help my two kids with house deposits , just worked out well for me as cashed out to avoid Brexit uncertainty ,but ended up missing covid too , I made more in 2 years than my IFA did in around 10, I'm self employed so for me pensions are a no go , the amount you have to pay in versus the amount you get out just doesn't compute , don't be afraid to to open a sipp , just do your research , AJ bell and Hargreaves landsdown , were the two I considered . In my case I think my IFA lost interest in managing my pension because I didn't want to invest more and more and of course I froze mine in the end due to the crash in 2008, long term investing it's supposed to smooth out the peaks and troughs but never seems to actually work out that way . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 An IFA isn't an investment or fund manager though. A pension is just a tax efficient savings vehicle. Growth all depends on what you are invested in. I had a previous pension with Sterling and the range of fund choices was in the 100s. With a SIPP you can just control and choose with more choice compared to the more limited range of consolidated fund offerings from a traditional pension provider. If you are not happy with your fund performance you can always change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EXY Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 21 hours ago, thanatoid said: Side thought, last time I took advice from financial advisor it was to buy an endowment mortgage...... That went well - NOT! That IS always my abiding memory. I've never punched anyone properly but would cheerfully punch the FA that sold us our first endowment until my knuckles bled, he was a lying chancer through and through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanatoid Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 59 minutes ago, EXY said: That IS always my abiding memory. On the good side of things, made me look at my pension stuff and make right decisions at the right times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menoporsche Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 22 hours ago, Stuart21UK said: Meno I'm not pension authorised (just mortgage and protection) Interesting business proposal though....do you think that could work with Tesco's (or any other trade or business for that matter)...I buy my food from them and if they make enough profit in the year I get a cashback? I know what you are getting at but no adviser can guarantee the future performance of anything, the model you suggest would make no sense to anyone long term, it would just fail..... Not a good metaphor. I think fund manager is the profile I'm imagining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart21UK Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 1 hour ago, Menoporsche said: Not a good metaphor. I think fund manager is the profile I'm imagining. fund managers would get paid on performance wouldn't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted October 27, 2020 Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 If you are happy to invest in the stock market you may as well invest in a pension. The money ends up in the same market. You will lay platform fees etc when you self trade like you will pay AMC as you now have an administration system and find manager as your tools. Likewise, if it's an employer pension scheme you will be getting employer contributions ie money for nothing. You may as well invest/contribute to a pension over a stocks and shares ISA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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