To be wary of pension advisors

[Catsingangs]

I've got 6 pensions picked up from various jobs over the years and would like to get them reviewed in terms of how they are performing, charges applied, risks and maybe look at consolidating them to make them easier to manage. But I'm not sure who to trust to help me with this.

In the past I contracted out of serps on advice from a pension advisor, then a few years later was told this was a bad idea and to contract back in so I did. I have transferred a pension in the past under advice from an advisor, but then I think he was working on commission, and when it moved there was a charge put on the funds which I was not expecting. So I have very little trust in pension advisors now.

I'm not sure exactly how much I have in my pensions, the biggest has about 80k in it, ranging down to about 5k in the smallest. Maybe about 120k in total. I'm 48 and due to get state pension at 67. It would be nice to retire earlier if I could ! But anyway due to past experience I'm wary of pension 'experts', so where do I look to get honest impartial pension advice and what accreditations should I look for ?

YABU
I'm a qualified ifaand we work very hard for our clients.

Have a look at The money advice services leaflets "personal pensions" and "Your pension, time to choose " as a good starting point if you want to have a look yourself.

OP - I am a little older but in a similar position. The advice about contracting out and back in wasn't necessarily wrong.

One thing I have learnt in my working life is that you can't trust (any) government not to keep moving the flaming goalposts. So when any politician says something "definite" about pensions you can't really on it - not least because the next lot may come along and mess with it.

I use an independent advisor - there is a register of FCA approved ones.

You have to be prepared to pay for advice in some way though - no-one expects their lawyer or accountant to be free.

In the olden days the charges were hidden in commissions. Now you have choices.

Since the recent rule changes you can choose to just start running down ("drawdown") your funds at age 55. This could be a good or bad thing depending on your attitude to risk and how long you live.

Thanks both, will follow up with the FCA listings. I'm petrified about making a bad choice and losing my money, but I'll check them out.

Start on the pensionwise website which is part of gov.uk. You can have a free appointment with them when you turn 50.