UKC

Work pension isn't that good so want to speak to a pension provider - who do I go to?
An accountant?
A solicitor?
Who do you go to when you need to speak, person to person, to about pensions.
Don't want to just fill out a form over the internet, nor talk to someone over the phone.

In reply to subtle:

You find an "Independent Financial Advisor".

In reply to subtle:

Independent Financial Advisor regulated by the FCA.

In reply to subtle:


What do you mean? Since your employer has to contribute to their workplace pension (you do too) you will almost certainly be worse off financially if you do your own thing, however bad you think the work pension is. They have no obligation to contribute to anything other than the pension they have set up / will set up under auto enrolment so you will very likely be turning down effectively free money in the form of employer pension contributions.

Also, without being a dick, since you don't even know who to speak to about this I think it highly unlikely that you have the knowledge or experience to pick a 'good' pension. Pretty much all pensions are just managed funds which spread assets around, you may have some pick on how to spread them but that's about it. Even an IFA will just make some recommendations of various products for you to choose from, they aren't going .to manage your investments.

In reply to Edradour:


He may want to do something in addition to the workplace pension? Often that is very sensible.

In reply to Coel Hellier:

True, but a private pension probably isn't the best thing to do in addition.

In reply to Edradour:


So, what would be your advice then (without being a dick about it)

Work pension is only the bare minimum, I realise that isn't going to do me so thought I could start my own pension in addition to that.

Or is there something else I should be looking into?

In reply to subtle:

Yes, consult an Independent Advisor.

I went by a personal recommendation, and was happy with the result. Expect to pay around 1% of funds under management - if you go down the investment portfolio route.

For advice only, the first meeting would be free normally, then £200 per meeting + £75 per hour prep

In reply to Edradour:


Why not? If the employer would match any additional contributions, then yes, that would likely be the best option, but it sounds like it won't.

So, the best option is likely a SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension). An IFA can advise on those (for anyone not confident in choosing for themselves).

In reply to subtle:
What year can you take your state pension ?

The sum of all your pensions, will be taxed at whatever the rate is at the time after applying your personal allowance.
You get tax relief on your pension contributions at the appropriate rate, depending on how much you earn.
You can get a state pension forecast from HMRC. It is based on your NI history.

If you haven't already used your ISA allowance and were to put taxed income into an ISA instead of a pension, anything you take out is (currently) tax free.


This may give you some useful info
https://www.pensionwise.gov.uk/

In reply to subtle:

My advice would be to contribute the amount to your workplace pension that maxes out the employer contributions as a first step.

Beyond that it depends on your circumstances somewhat, for example:

Do you have a mortgage? How long do you have left on it? Can you overpay without penalty?
If you're renting do you want to buy a house?
Do you have any credit card debt or other debt that you are paying interest on?
Do you save currently? If so, how much roughly per month?
Do you have an emergency fund, say 3-6 months expenses, that is reasonably liquid?
Do you have other assets? Other property, land etc?

Very happy to make some suggestions based on the above.

Personally I don't feel I earn/save enough to justify IFA fees (which you pay in addition to the product fees). I have done a lot of research about this sort of stuff (and used to work for an IFA) so feel pretty confident about fairly routine financial management. If you earn a lot, say £75k +, or have particularly unusual circumstances then probably worth going down the IFA route.

I think IFAs, like most routine brokerage services, are on borrowed time now that there is so much more direct consumer - business opportunity around things like finance, insurance, etc.

In reply to Edradour:

OK.

Plan to retire in approx 15-20 years.
Mortgage will be paid off in approx 5 years.
No credit card debts.
Savings go to pay off mortgage early (may be quicker than 5 years)
Have a slush fund if it all goes wrong and need access to cash
No other assets.
Existing pension is the bare minimum, Employer will not increase to match my input and Ive already maxed out his contributions

I'm just a simple soul who needs things properly explained.

In reply to subtle:

Everything you need is out there on the internet without the need for paying any advisor. My suggestion would be to read up on it yourself, then make your own decisions from there. I'd add that having several pensions is a good idea to spread risk because although there are protections in place through government legislation there's no guarantee those will still be around in the same form in 10, 20 or 30 years. So, paying into your existing scheme alongside another might be a good option.

In reply to subtle:

Sounds like you're in pretty good shape.

If you're under 40 then I would open one of the new lifetime ISAs when they launch in April 2017. You can save up to £4000 per year and the state will add 25%, up to a max of £1000 per year. This is before interest / growth. If you open before you're 40 then you can continue contributing until you're 50. You can access the money once you are 60 (if you take it out before you'll lose the 25% bonus).

If you're over 40 or can afford to save more then ISAs are probably still the best bet unless you're saving in excess of £15k per year. With cash interest so low you'll likely see more growth on a stocks and shares ISA in the long term. I would suggest splitting any savings between a series of tracker funds, depending on your risk appetite. Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdowne and several other online brokers package up ISA 'funds' according to risk - they are cost effective if you have neither the interest / time / inclination to choose funds yourself. (My experience when working for an IFA is that this is pretty much what he did and then charged 1% of the fund total in fees). If you're <50 you can probably afford to be quite bullish as you have time to weather any storms. You can set up account with fidelity / HL yourself.

At 50 plus you should be moving your portfolio away from risk and towards cash. You might want to think about SIPP for better control.

If you're able to save more than £15k per year then I would go to a wealth manager for advice on where to put it as you're in a very different position to the majority.

Likewise once your mortgage is cleared then worth a reassessment as you should have considerably more disposable income to play with.

I recommend the money saving expert site for finding the best value products. There, and the linked forums, have a wealth of (free) advice.

Hope that is useful.

In reply to subtle:

Search for radio4 moneybox podcasts relating to pensions. They discuss them pretty often and will always say seek advice from a range of sources.

In reply to all:

Thanks, plenty of food for thought - will spend the festive holidays doing some research.
Thanks.

In reply to subtle:

Check out this;

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19