Please help me choose a pension provider

[FannyChmelar]

I have an old workplace pension that I need to kick into gear with my own payments now that I’m self employed. It’s with Scottish Widows and I’m really not happy with the phone support so far. Mumsnetters seem to be hugely knowledgable on pensions and seem to be squirrelling away thousands on the regular, so would like to get an idea of the most recommended providers out there please.

Also, do you know how easy it is to move your pension from one provider to another? Do you lose money?

Finally, I wanted to pay a single amount into my Scottish Widows pension for the previous tax year (21/22) but they wouldn’t let me. Doesn’t seem right?

Any advice around pension providers and/or paying into pensions retroactively would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

Get some proper advice from an IFA

Thank you, I do have a plan to but not really sure how to go about getting one?
Any advice on selecting one?

Thank you!

I honestly don’t know why they don’t teach these sorts of financial basics in school. Everyone needs to know!

www.unbiased.co.uk

Pensions are complicated. Get an IFA.

You can transfer your pension pot from one provider to another, subject to acceptance. You'll need to find out what the transfer value is of your current pension pot which will take into account charges etc. Look at your last pension statement - it should show you the TV, which is the transferable worth.

You can’t pay money into a pension and backdate it but you can carry forward your pension allowance from previous years. you should be able to pay a lump sum into your pension this year unless you have exceeded the maximum allowance plus carry forward. It may not be worth an ifa - look on money saving expert and read around.

As other pp's say, you need an IFA. They are independent of any financial product provider and are heavily regulated, so they will give you impartial advice.

There are a lot of factors to consider (and a heck of a lot of small print), so nobody on here can advise you really.

Not sure of the term provider.

DH moved his pension from his old work into Hargreaves and landsown and runs it himself in index funds?

You don’t mention whether your old pension is a Final Salary (Defined Benefit) pension, or defined contribution (ie just an invested pot of money). The two types are treated very differently in terms of what you can do with them.

Whilst you can generally move a DC pot easily to a new provider such as Hargreaves Lansdown or Interactive Investor (you would need to open a SIPP - Self Invested Personal Pension - with the new provider), it is much harder to transfer out of a Final Salary pension scheme.

You would need to take advise from a specialised IFA for moving out of a Final Salary scheme, and even then the answer is generally no, as it’s unlikely a SIPP would give you the same benefits as your Final Salary scheme.

I wouldn’t say that you necessarily need an IFA if you are just moving from a DC pot to a SIPP, but you do need to compare ongoing SIPP charges of a few providers.

Thanks so much! I am definitely going to get an IFA. I’ve wanted to get one for years but was worried about costs.

Thank you very much, that makes sense. So I can overpay this year for it to apply to previous tax years (read you can do up to 3). It’s just a couple of thousand if that, nowhere near limit!

Thank you - I’m happy to see that name mentioned as it’s come up a lot online, but I trust mumsnet more than a google search!

Very useful info, thank you, I didn’t know about the distinction. It’s a DC, just a lump sum from an old job.

Hargreaves don't " provide" my DH pensions though...they are the platform' he runs it from. He chose his own investments.
They don't do anything except charge him for using it

It’s a DC, just a lump sum from an old job.

So you should be able to move it to a SIPP provided by a new provider/platform (whatever you want to call it!) without losing any money, although the current provider would need to confirm whether there are any exit fees.

My family all use Hargreaves (DH started using them 25+ years ago) and we like their platform and how things are managed, but there are cheaper platforms, so maybe do some research. You can usually pick your own funds to invest the money in, or use the platform’s tracker funds.