Pensions muddle

[bananaistheanswer]

Hi,

I'm looking for some general advice on where to go to get some proper advice! I have a number of different pensions, all with smallish amounts in them, and want to see if it's worthwhile pooling the money into one. It all stems from moving around jobs over the years, and me not having a clue about being able to still invest in an existing pension as opposed to starting afresh with a new one each time. At the last count, I have 7, with a change due in October this year when my employer changes set up (separating from main business to stand alone) which means I'll have 8 if I go with the new one! It's getting a bit messy now.

Anyway, I have little clue about pensions, which would be considered the best investment etc. so where do I get some good, easily understandable advice?

[yeahyeahitsallmyfault]

There are two/three reasons for moving:

1. saving on charges (old style charges, pre 06 will be v.expensive)
   
2. easier to administer and therefore keep an eye on performance (switch funds, ensure good diversification/asset allocation
   
3. new modern offering of good fund choice & online access.
   
   You will need an IFA with a G60 or AF3 qualification and I would look on Unbiased.co.uk for a suitable adviser.
   
   You will get charged (and I can tell you moving pensions is very time consuming business for compliance). Try and negotiate that it's done fee only (although you may find that costs even more) and beware of any trail they are charging (0.5% max and what service are you getting for this?). A 3% initial is not unreasonable, but try and see if you can cut this... only likely if your funds are beyond £100,000 total.
   
   Without being rude how much are you talking about in you various pots in total?

[bananaistheanswer]

It's not huge sums. I think one currently sits at £16K, another £18K, a 3rd has £9K in it, and the rest are smaller sums of about £2/3k at most (these are all transfer values). A few have lost so much value in recent years that they are worth buttons now, so no much point keeping them going. I'll have a look at the website you mention and see where I go from there. As I said, it's mainly small amounts as I was only in each a few years at most (the longest was 7 years) and as I thought I had to enter each employer's pension scheme with each new job, I've kind of collected a fair few pension funds! I've almost another 30 years of work left, going by the increased retirement age.

Thanks for the reply.

[yeahyeahitsallmyfault]

well to be honest I see lots of funds smaller 'orphan' funds than these.

You may have seen falls in value, but these are very long term investments and short-term fluctuations are not of concern (honestly!). What does matter though is that the fund recovers when the markets do (depending on what sort of asset etc etc). This is about ensuring you are not in a 'dog fund' (ie crap manager) and the only way to do this in personal pensions is to do some housekeeping. If you had this sort of money in a bank account earning no interest, I bet you'd do something! So you are def doing the right thing to look at moving them to somewhere you can keep an eye.