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And in the darkness bind them?

James
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And in the darkness bind them?

#211679

Postby James » March 31st, 2019, 3:06 pm

My other half has a series of small pensions from previous employers and is considering moving them to her current employer's pension scheme.
One is a defined benefit pension that won't be touched. But there are a couple of sub 15K funds and one c.30k fund.
Her current pension is run through Aviva, as is at least one of the others, and has an okay amount in it now she's earning more.
Main thinking behind it is just to rationalise; if she moves jobs again, which is likely, the current one would be yet another pension to have to keep an eye on.
It seems to make more sense to consolidate all the old ones [bar the db one] into her current one, then if/when she moves jobs again, take that one to her new scheme.
Does this make sense or are there pitfalls? Do schemes charge like wounded bulls for exiting/transferring?
Any experience or wisdom gratefully accepted.

Alaric
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Re: And in the darkness bind them?

#211682

Postby Alaric » March 31st, 2019, 3:15 pm

James wrote:It seems to make more sense to consolidate all the old ones [bar the db one] into her current one, then if/when she moves jobs again, take that one to her new scheme.


Another approach is to set up a SIPP and consolidate all the closed funds into it. When or if she leaves her current employment, transfer that one as well.

A possible advantage of this approach is that a wider choice of investments is likely to be available in a SIPP as compared to a Company scheme.

Howard
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Re: And in the darkness bind them?

#211696

Postby Howard » March 31st, 2019, 5:05 pm

I'd second the SIPP suggestion. It worked for me and gives flexibility especially after retirement.

regards

Howard

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Re: And in the darkness bind them?

#211731

Postby Urbandreamer » March 31st, 2019, 7:18 pm

Can I put in a plug for Aviva?

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a SIPP.

SIPP's are great, but often more effort than many want to put in. Aviva offer a great degree of flexibilty, but restrict you to funds rather than allowing you to bet £XYZ on a small company that offers games developers localisation (translation) services, as I have done in my SIPP.

My company pension is with Aviva and while the bulk is in a global index tracker I do have 5% in a property fund. Currently they will "lifestyle" my pension, moving the funds to safer investments from 60 to 67.

Do schemes charge when you change employer? Yes they do, or rather they put the fees up. However that is the time to look at the new costs rather than in advance. In simple terms my Aviva pension has lower charges because the company that I'm with is putting significant business their way. Were I to leave my current employment they would percieve the effort of dealing me would grow, though if a new employer used Aviva I suspect that the charges would change to those employees of the new employer pay. There are often significant advantages to the pension scheme chosen by your current employer.

I STRONGLY advise that your other half registers with "my Aviva" and the pair of you look at the options that are available with their pension.

Ps Caviets, as well as having a pension with Aviva I also own shares in them.
One last point, how much effort does your partner want to put in? Review performance at 6 months, each year, every 5 years, never?

James
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Re: And in the darkness bind them?

#211762

Postby James » March 31st, 2019, 10:26 pm

Urbandreamer wrote:Can I put in a plug for Aviva?

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a SIPP.

SIPP's are great, but often more effort than many want to put in. Aviva offer a great degree of flexibilty, but restrict you to funds rather than allowing you to bet £XYZ on a small company that offers games developers localisation (translation) services, as I have done in my SIPP.

My company pension is with Aviva and while the bulk is in a global index tracker I do have 5% in a property fund. Currently they will "lifestyle" my pension, moving the funds to safer investments from 60 to 67.

Do schemes charge when you change employer? Yes they do, or rather they put the fees up. However that is the time to look at the new costs rather than in advance. In simple terms my Aviva pension has lower charges because the company that I'm with is putting significant business their way. Were I to leave my current employment they would percieve the effort of dealing me would grow, though if a new employer used Aviva I suspect that the charges would change to those employees of the new employer pay. There are often significant advantages to the pension scheme chosen by your current employer.

I STRONGLY advise that your other half registers with "my Aviva" and the pair of you look at the options that are available with their pension.

Ps Caviets, as well as having a pension with Aviva I also own shares in them.
One last point, how much effort does your partner want to put in? Review performance at 6 months, each year, every 5 years, never?


We have no problem with Aviva; my own company scheme is with them.

Other half is not massively into investing. No plans to invest in anything more than a broad-based tracker so I'm not sure if the freedoms of a SIPP would interest her. Checking performance would be an annual event at most.

I presume, if she did go that route, she could just buy a Vanguard fund; and that it is okay to run a SIPP concurrently to a work scheme.

But I think we're veering to just shifting everything to her current Aviva scheme and then, if she moves jobs, taking that to the new job.

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Re: And in the darkness bind them?

#211781

Postby Urbandreamer » April 1st, 2019, 7:25 am

James wrote:I presume, if she did go that route, she could just buy a Vanguard fund; and that it is okay to run a SIPP concurrently to a work scheme.


Yes you can run/manage/contribute to a "personal" pension as well as a company one.
I do, though I would benefit financially were I to arrange all my contributions into the company scheme.

The reason that I have a SIPP is that I enjoy investing and if I am to contribute/manage my investments, doing so in a SIPP rather than ISA has significant advantages for me.

I should also state that I consolidated some Free standing AVC's (remember them) into my company scheme when the company changed owners and scheme's.

One thing to consider though is if the Aviva fund is invested appropriately. Many, especially those with little interest, wind up in funds with too little upside and high charges (such funds are very low risk). To be blunt if the choice is consolidating to a SIPP holding a chosen fund or consolidating to a unknown fund with Aviva then it's quite likely that the former will provide better returns simply because of the difference in risk accepted.

I repeat my former advice to register* with Aviva and review the current situation. Their website is good and they offer a large range of options. Alternatively, companies often invite a pension adviser in once a year and knowing more about yourself and situation can help them to provide better advice.

*If you have not done so with your own pension then you could do so to find out what the options are. When I registered I got a discount on insurance that I was already paying!

https://www.aviva.co.uk/


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