Pull out of work pension? Royal London.

[Greenleavesinthesun]

I’ve been automatically enrolled into a Royal London pension via work. I’ve recently received the paper work and the fees seem high. I checked for reviews and could only find some on a smartmoney forum and the reviews have just made my blood run cold. It seems people are sent all around the houses to delay giving them their pension and it also ‘mysteriously’ seems to loose a lot of money the year people are due to take 25% of their pension.

I know I will loose the 20% tax relief from the government and also my work place matching what I put in up to 8%…..but with all the fees and how this company seems to work going off the reviews, it feels I would be better opting out of the work pension and doing something myself (not that I know what yet).

Below is a review that seems to be being said by many different people at different times.

Been robbed

Pension pay out date was 1st September 2023 it’s now January 19th 2024 still not received a penny just been told today my pension fund has jest lost 42 thousand poundsReviewed on: 19th January 2024

What do you think? AIBU to pull out of the work place pension?

I’d speak to your workplace reward representative and raise your concerns; I’d be surprised if your workplace would be be happy to be linked to the pension scheme if there are serious concerns?

I think you need an actual pension expert.

Munsnet is not such a good place for such an important question.

This seems really unlikely to me? The pensions industry is tightly regulated. Maybe seek professional advice as a pp suggests.

Why on earth would you turn down 8% of your salary employer contributions?

For what it's worth, i have a pension with them ( which I don't take yet), it performs better than my other one, it's easy to track and I like them. Performance will go up and down with the underlying investments like any other. I would not lightly throw away the benefits of a company pension.

Go get proper advice.

Our IFA tells me that RL is one of the best, our fees are the lowest in the market and never heard a single complaint about them myself, only praise.

Sounds like the reviewer was on a higher risk level.

Have a read of your paperwork and see if you can determine what sort of pension/ risk level you've been put on to.

No, this is silly to listen to reviews in this context. Check the fees for yourself and most likely you can pick your funds. You can also usually transfer pension funds to other providers. Most pension funds canbeexpected to rise and fall

some bad reviews are no reason to effectively turn down free money. Get proper advice

Look into what a pension is and how they work before you do something ridiculous. All those reviews tell me is that the person doesn't understand what a pension is. You don't need a pensions expert, you don't need a financial advisor this is just basic stuff a quick Google will tell you.

You can choose what to invest your pension in. It won't be Royal London's fault that the pension went down more recently in value, that will be because of what has happened in the stock / bond market in what they invested in.

Royal London is a very respected and highly regulated organisation. Its fees are towards the lower end.

There will always be poor reviews of every organisation. Pensions are complicated, and it’s quite possible that the people writing poor reviews just didn’t understand the process (there might also be bad service, but Royal London isn’t routinely nicking 20% of people’s pots).

You would be a bit mad to opt out. At the very least, you need a plan of how to fund your retirement without tax relief and employer subs, and how you’ll make up for the compound growth you would otherwise be getting.

My pension is either them. My last 2 jobs have been . They seem ok.

Don't listen to those reviews. Bear in mind that pensions, as investments, are subject to the markets and the last few years were very bad years for pensions, meaning unfortunately some people got hit who were nearing retirement. That is not the fault of a specific pension company.

Speak to a specialist about the best approach as it's a very complex area but don't go running scared from Royal London just cos of some bad reviews online.

Ok you need to get proper advice but firstly need to consider that your employer pays in 8%. That's a lot of money to lose of you are planning to stay with that company for a while.
You will still receive the 20% tax relief on pension contributions whoever it's with.
Is it a defined benefit scheme or a different type. The standard consensus is that defined benefit schemes are the best, but personally for me that wasn't the case.
You can get lower fees and the platform you choose can also help manage other investments like ISAs too

At least it's not BC&E People's Pension. I can't transfer my money there to another provider until I move employer or retire.

Don't just opt out.

See if your workplace can pay into your SIPP instead.

Thank you all for the advice, I think I just over panicked as my aim is to start putting quite a lot of money into it over the next 10 years. I’ll stick with them and hope for the best.