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Transferring Defined Benefit pension

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    Transferring Defined Benefit pension

    I have a DB pension from my last permie job. I asked for a transfer quote and it was a lot higher than expected. Transfer value was about £139,000, benefit at retirement would be about £3800 pa. I was thinking about moving this to my SIPP, which currently only has a few hundred in it. My reasons for this is that I want to be in control of it myself and the company I used to work have been losing money for years now and I'm not confident they'll survive much longer.

    As this is DB pension over £30k in value, I have to take out financial advice to transfer out (and it seems many SIPP provided won't accept the transfer unless the advice is to transfer - link). I was hoping to avoid financial advisor fees, but if I have to I'd rather do it as cheaply as possible.

    I don't want advice on where to put it - I want to be in control of it myself - so my question is if anyone has done this themselves and what it cost for an IFA to provide the advice to enable the transfer.

    #2
    If your pension is what is also called a final salary pension or a career average pension then you are very stupid to move it.

    However if it is a defined contribution scheme then go ahead and find out about how to move it.
    "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
      If your pension is what is also called a final salary pension or a career average pension then you are very stupid to move it.
      I haven't decided if I have or not - just looking at the options.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
        If your pension is what is also called a final salary pension or a career average pension then you are very stupid to move it.

        However if it is a defined contribution scheme then go ahead and find out about how to move it.
        It's not always silly to move it. For example, this pension gives the OP 3.6K per annum from age 65.

        £139K would give him a reasonable number of years at 3.6K per annum from age 54 even without adding to it or growing it. Transferring a defined pension is not always a great idea, but it's also not always a bad one. Depends on individual circumstances.
        When freedom comes along, don't PISH in the water supply.....

        Comment


          #5
          I did it. Mine was secure but I am (was) old enough that it wasn't likely to increase much in time, and the payout was really, really nice. My reasoning was similar, I wanted to control it.

          Get recommendations and get a good FA. Don't be cheap on the fees. There's things you might overlook, this one is important enough to spend a few quid.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by TestMangler View Post
            It's not always silly to move it. For example, this pension gives the OP 3.6K per annum from age 65.

            £139K would give him a reasonable number of years at 3.6K per annum from age 54 even without adding to it or growing it. Transferring a defined pension is not always a great idea, but it's also not always a bad one. Depends on individual circumstances.
            There are other benefits that normally come with DB pension which he would lose by moving.
            "You’re just a bad memory who doesn’t know when to go away" JR

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by WordIsBond View Post
              I did it. Mine was secure but I am (was) old enough that it wasn't likely to increase much in time, and the payout was really, really nice. My reasoning was similar, I wanted to control it.

              Get recommendations and get a good FA. Don't be cheap on the fees. There's things you might overlook, this one is important enough to spend a few quid.
              Do you remember how much you paid?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
                There are other benefits that normally come with DB pension which he would lose by moving.
                SueEllen, appreciate the advice, but the point of this thread was to get a rough idea of how much it might cost me in IFA fees to do this, not to debate the merits of if it is a good idea or not.

                We're often quick to tell people to ask their accountant because it's a complicated matter that is dependant on many factors etc. The same applies here - I'm looking into it and will have to speak to an IFA to do it if I decide there may be some value in doing it.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by SueEllen View Post
                  There are other benefits that normally come with DB pension which he would lose by moving.
                  Given the figures he quoted they would have to be really good other benefits. Stick £139,000 in a SIPP, spread over around 20-30 companies and I would expect to generate around £5,000 pa. in dividends which compares nicely to the £3,800 from the pension. The value of the shares should increase by at least inflation. Reinvest the dividends each year and the the fund should grow nicely depending on the number of years to retirement, plus all the funds can be inherited.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    There are other benefits that normally come with DB pension which he would lose by moving.
                    This would include spouse's pension, and any inflation-proofing (e.g. I've an old DB that has 5% minimum pa increases guaranteed) etc.

                    IME it's hard to actually transfer a DB pension into a non-DB scheme because someone somewhere has to sign off that you're possibly/probably getting less than if you'd left it where it was, miss-selling risk for the future.

                    Comment

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