Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to the most common questions, if you have any more questions do not hesitate to ask us by filling in the form and getting in touch.
What is an Annuity?
An annuity converts the money in your pension pot into a guaranteed retirement income for life. Depending on your lifestyle and medical history, you may qualify for an enhanced annuity which provides you with an increased income.
Accessing my pot – Drawdown
This is an arrangement where you can choose to access your pension funds and take an income with the flexibility that suits you. The current age at which an individual can take the pension commencement lump sum is age 55.
You can take 25% of your uncrystallized pension with which means you will not be taxed on this portion no matter your current tax threshold.
How much do we charge for defined contribution advice?
Unlike most pension review companies, we are absolute on being clear and concise. Charges occur not from the review of the case itself but whether we believe you should consider an alternative pension provider and then if you decide to act on our recommendations and ask us to arrange a transaction(s) accordingly, should your pot be £10,000.
If you do not act on our recommendations, we make no charge. If you act on our recommendations our adviser charge will become payable on completion of any transactions, we carry out on your behalf. Our maximum charge will be calculated at 3%.
However, it is important to note you are under no obligation and these fees are simply the maximum fees the review business is permitted to take, and, in many cases, it is often less than the maximum fee.
Ongoing Service Fees – These vary from firm to firm but at the review business, we like to keep it at 0.6% for switches and 0.75% for those looking to draw funds.
In the case of a defined benefit plan the following terms do not apply, and you should contact us for further details.*
What is a letter of authority?
This is a signed agreement that allows us to receive factual information on your pension arrangements so that we may carry out a review.
What are the tax advantages of making contributions?
You will receive tax relief of any personal contributions made into your pension this means a basic rate taxpayer will receive 20% on top of your payment.
What happens to my pension if I die?
We always ensure that you nominate a beneficiary on your pension so that if anything should happen your pension will go to the nominee.
What do we do with your information?
Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the rules around data have changed. At the review business, we are committed to the rules and will not process your data without prior consent.
Why should I keep up to date with my pension?
Like all other industries, the pension industry is constantly moving forward just because your pensions were cost-effective and performing well 10 years ago, that does not necessarily mean they are now. By getting a free pension review and allowing experts to look at your current personal pension arrangements and they will be able to see if there any better alternatives out there. Whether by reducing the fees of your personal pensions or finding a better performing investment at the end of the day it’s about trying to help you achieve the largest pension pot possible when you come to retire.
How can I improve my current pension positions?
Many older-style pensions are currently invested in underperforming With-Profits funds or typical insurance company funds, this underperformance could restrict the overall growth of your pension policy. Over recent years changes in pension rules, increased competition and technological improvements have significantly reduced the cost of pensions and with many older style pensions still using old pricing models, you could save a large amount of money.
Can I Transfer more than one pension?
Yes, we’ll look at your existing pension arrangements and see if it is beneficial to consolidate them into one easy to manage pension policy. Bringing together small pensions into one larger pot can help reduce the overall charges you are paying on your pension policies.
What do I need to do to start a review?
Just click here and fill out the form then we will then be in contact to arrange a date and time and arrange the signing of a Letter of Authority. Once this is received by us, we will contact your pension providers and start to gather important information about your pensions.
How long does a pension review take?
This depends on your current pension providers; older pension providers tend to be slow when producing information. Typically, the regulated firm would like the whole process completed in 12 weeks.
How are the documents processed?
We can use a specialist document collection agency called collectacase who will go out to your home address at a time that suits you so that if you wish to go ahead with that option, no matter the route we will make sure that the documents are sent and processed safely and securely.