Written by richard on 12 August 2010
Interestingly enough, over the last couple of weeks I have had several (more than 4 queries) relating to Abbey Life Pensions and problems close to or at retirement.
If you own an Abbey Life Pension you will need to be aware of the following points;
Abbey Life will automatically send you Retirement Options a couple of months before you are due to retire. If you do not respond the following will happen.
Abbey Life will automatically purchase you an annuity with the value of the fund and put this in payment to the last known bank details held.
You should therefore take immediate action to ensure that Abbey Life Pension have your correct address details on file in order that you are in receipt of the information relating to your Pension in advance of your retirement date.
Remember once an Annuity has been purchased there is nothing you can do about it to either increase the value of your Pension or by having some increased flexibility over your planning.
Richard Smith
Richard Smith – Personal Financial Planning Expert
http://www.thefinancezone.co.uk 0845 226 9106
“if you really think any of the banks are acting in your best interests you are mistaken” Richard Smith UK Investment Forum comment.
Tags: Abbey Life, Abbey Life Pension, Abbey Life Pension Transfer, Annuity Purchase
Posted in Abbey Life, Abbey Life Executive Pensions, Best Pension Annuity Rates, Best Savings Account Rates, Equitable Life | No Comments »
Written by Richard Smith Financial Expert on 24 June 2010
As most of you reading this comment will know, I have been on rant about Poor Performing Pension Plans for the past couple of years and for good reasons.
Let me take you through a couple of these now, and of course I will highlight a couple of facts about Abbey Life Pensions.
Firstly the level of service offered by them has fallen in recent years primarily due to the fact they Abbey Life is now closed to new business and no longer has any Financial Experts working for them that are able to provide the modern financial planning advice that is required .
Secondly and perhaps the primary reason to consider moving your Pension planning away from Abbey Life is the fact that the level of charges with most of their plans are so high ( when compared with a modern Pension contract). Now of course this is not the fault of Abbey Life indeed when you first started your Pension Plan with them you would have found that the contract was fairly well positioned charge wise. Certainly in the “above average charged” plans it was at the lower end of the scale.
There are a good number of other issues surrounding Abbey Life Pension and of course many other providers in the market place and some of the problems surrounding Abbey Life Pension are outlined below:-
Customer Service Levels are lower than you could achieve elsewhere.
Charges are normally higher than could reasonable achieved from another more modern provider.
Investment Fund Choice is often limited and there is certainly no member of staff to provide you with the level of advice you require in order to obtain the right range of funds.
Investment Fund Performance with many providers the overall investment returns are poorer than you could expect from some of the better providers in the market place.
Retirement Options are often limited and if you take no action at Retirement you will be left with a product that is probably unsuitable. Certainly it will be lacking in some areas. Annuity Purchase is something that I have been concerned about for sometime now . By making the right decision and by moving to the right provider you will benefit from a greatly increased income for life.
Most Financial Experts are just not interested in providing you with the guidance you require if your Pension Plan Value is less than £30,000 or so which is why we have developed a service that will provide you with the guidance you require.
Please contact me using the form below, or on 0845 226 9106 for a further conversation about your Pension Planning options.
Richard Smith
Pension Advice Expert
Tags: Abbey Life Pension Transfer, Abbey Life Pensions
Posted in Abbey Life, Abbey Life Executive Pensions, Equitable Life | No Comments »
