Poor Pension - What Can I Do

"The Finance Zone - A guide to sorting out your Pension"

Frequently Asked Questions About Pension Transfers.

How do I know that my current pension provider has competitive charges or investment performance? In simple terms you do not, your plan needs to reviewed by an Independent Financial Adviser before I can confirm the situation. If your provider is on this list you can pretty sure that you could be doing better. (LIST)

How much does the review cost? Initially nothing, before any advice or guidance can be offered I need to review your existing plan, then carry out the comparison. Only once this work is done and only then can I let you know your options. There is never any charge or obligation for this work. For me you see it's "Chicken and Egg" without the information I can't provide the guidance. There is no obligation to use my services at any stage in the process, nor am I able to alter adapt or amend your existing plans without your authority.

How bad are older style Pensions? If you have taken out a Pension more than 5 years ago there is a good chance you have a poorer, higher charging pension than a modern contract.

If I change providers how much will it cost? It could end up costing you nothing ( Nada, Zip or Zilch), this is because the New Provider could provide an enhancement to your Transfer Value/and also pay us a commission. Either way I will make sure you are better off and/or explain why.

Do all Older Style Plans need to be moved? No, some of them are very good.

Is there a minimum fund value? Yes usually around £20,000 however it can be less.

What choice of Investment Funds do new providers offer? With older style Pensions you can be assured that the fund choice is limited with many providers. I will make sure that any new provider offers a range of funds in line with your overall approach to Investment Risk. This means that you end up with a Pension Fund that suits you.

My Pension Fund has a Penalty for moving to another provider what can I do? When I carry out the comparison on your behalf I will factor this in for you.

Can you give me some examples? Of course I have recently carried out a review of a Closed Fund Company which had managed to produce investment returns of less than 2.5% pa over the last 15 years (net of charges) which can only be described as appalling. Another example is a very large provider of Personal Pensions has the following level of charges Monthly Plan Fee £5.75 per month, initial charge on monthly investments 5% of contribution. Initial Capital Unit Charge for the first 5 years of the plan = 80% of the investment amount. Compare this with a modern pension contract, overall charge 1.5% of the fund value per year. Fixed.

How long does it take to carry out the review process? Once I have the letters of authority returned the process normally takes about 3 weeks to obtain the data.

Can you advise on Company Pension Schemes? Yes.

For further information you can contact me here. Or you can call me on 0845 226 9106 (Richard Smith).

If you think you are affected by this issue of Poor Pension you should contact me today in order to move this forward.

More information is here Free Pension Review

Small Print - Big Message Richard Smith (this site owner) is an Associate of Independent Financial Services (UK) Ltd is an appointed representative of the Falcon Group Plc which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered in England No. 2937166. Registered Office: 404 The Waterfront, Stonehouse Business Park, Stonehouse, GL10 3UT