moving UK personal pensions abroad

[Nellietheeuropean]

Hello, has anyone successfully moved their UK (private) pension to a provider abroad? We are looking into whether we should move our pensions to Germany, especially following the news today that Britons in EU could lose access to their UK bank accounts under no deal brexit.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/23/britons-in-eu-could-lose-access-to-uk-bank-accounts-under-no-deal-brexit?CMP=share_btn_link

if you did move it, did you go through a financial adviser, or directly with a pension provider based in your country? HMRC has a list of approved pensions services and I think we would need to do this before March 2019 to avoid paying 40% tax but I am struggling to sift through reliable information and sharky online companies offering their services for a cut.

Thank you in advance

Just to check @Nellietheeuropean are you currently drawing on your pension?
If so, is it via an annuity or a draw down?

If you are drawing your pension into a UK account you can just transfer the money to a non UK bank account every month. However, you may have to pay currency exchange charges and a transfer charge.

BUT the best advice is to find a good UK based independent financial advisor, pay the charge for their advice and take that charge on the chin. Like a good account a good IFA is worth their weight in gold.
Google is not your friend here sorry, you need sound advice from someone who knows the market and can tailor their advice to your situation.

Thank you for answering - no we are not drawing our pension yet, still 20 odd years to go. Just wondering what is the best thing to do- moved to germany a year ago and so we are starting in this system from scratch. Just wondering whether to leave uk pensions where they are, and hope we can still use them /access them in 20 years time, or move them to germany. Yes I agree we need a financial adviser. Just not sure where to start looking for one who will know / has a good crystal ball as to how Brexit will pan out.

Again, I advocate talking to an advisor but think twice about moving a pension overseas because of the costs involved in moving it and the potential costs via taxation and other charges in Germany.

It's not just Brexit, if you're looking 20 years ahead then really who knows anything about what might happen? We may be back in Europe by then, there may be no EU at all by then. Nobody can predict that.

Seek out a reputable financial advice firm dealing with UK and overseas clients.
Search on unbiased.co.uk you may have to dig around to find someone who deals with the UK/German market and look for someone with chartered status.

My husband's boss did this. They did it through a UK based consultant who did all the paperwork, flew the consultant to their country of residence with said paperwork, they met consultant at the airport, signed the papers, consultant then flew back to the UK and did whatever he had to do to make it happen. It cost a bit, from memory around £8K, maybe more, but apparently it was well worth it. Not uncommon; according to consultant he spends a lot of his time flying to do this.

I am on the border, living in Switzerland. I do know of a number of people who have moved to Switzerland from Germany just before they retired as there is a considerable tax on the pension in Germany. I don`t know any more than that but something you should become aware of.

Thank you - lots to look into.