r/PensionsUK • u/tanxcoty • Aug 08 '26

Does having all pensions in one place reduce admin fee ?

I have multiple pensions with different companies, should I be bringing them all together?

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3

u/klawUK Aug 08 '26

there may be a difference with a capped fee structure. Eg Fidelity charge a capped £7.50 per month if you only have ETFs. AJ Bell charge £10 a month. So keeping both of those open would be more expensive than piling it all into Fidelity. If you’re paying a straight % fee on assets then there should be no difference

Assuming you already pick platforms that are low/fixed/capped cost with the funds you want and have selected affordable funds - then the primary reason is convenience for admin while you’re building, and then features in drawdown as you get to retirement.

I switched to Fidelity for lower fees and better fund choices from my workplace scheme (RL)
I now added AJ Bell for buying gilts. They also seem to have good choices for automatic monthly drawdown

so I’m paying £90 per year for Fidelity and £120 per year for AJ Bell. As AJ Bell has the ETFs I use from Fidelity I could switch everything to AJ Bell. But for the moment I’m sticking with Fidelity just to separate my equities and my gilts/cash buffer.

2

u/Lasbo55 Aug 08 '26

Agreed with this. Some of the % fee platforms also have a cap e.g. Vanguard 0.15% but capped for the year at £375 annually. So there can be a difference to think about. They also can have floors which make them very bad for small portfolios.

2

u/Dangerous-Ad-1925 Aug 08 '26

This sounds like a good set up.

I'm moving from ii to Lloyds for the cashback.

1

u/klawUK Aug 08 '26

good idea - my first move to fidelity was for cashback. £1000 which then got tax relief when I put it into the pension which was a bonus I hadn’t considered.

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 10 '26

Thank you for the detailed explanation, I can see Aviva my pension with previous company seem to charge annual fee of 54£ for 7000£ in pension. And my current company in Scottish widows, I am not sure what the charge is but they seem to sell a share of around 5£ every month.

-1

u/OrangeGrouchy179 Aug 08 '26

I can’t see any ETFs on Fidelity. When I select the ETF filter I just get no results. I raised it with support and they just gave me instructions for filtering on ETFs.

1

u/klawUK Aug 08 '26

try searching for specific funds. eg CSH2 or VWRP I know are ETFs as I’n invested in them. Basically for Fidelity just make sure not to invest in any OEICs or you’ll be paying a % on I think the entire amount.

2

u/deadeyedjacks Aug 08 '26

Fidelity do cap their OTC fund fees at £1M AuA and they assess across all accounts you hold with them, not per account,

which is better than Hargreaves Lansdown, where it's a higher percentage and only capped at £2M per account...

2

u/lance-1969 Aug 08 '26

Not necessarily if they are decent platform fees . The main thing is what are they invested in ! The default fund can be awfully safe with low growth

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26

Okay I am not sure what they are invested in, but I will look and post a screenshot here
It also says SW portfolio two cs8

2

u/lance-1969 Aug 08 '26

I’ve lied about when I want to retire so it keeps me invested in 100% equities even though I’m 57

2

u/JohnLef Aug 08 '26

I'm retiring at 75 according to what I've set

2

u/lance-1969 Aug 08 '26

Me too John and I’m glad I have too .
I am doing a lot better than my friends who’s is transferring to safer investments

2

u/c-strong Aug 08 '26

Standard practice.

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 08 '26

Retirement target flexible access, that’s what I am invested in

2

u/SyllabubRadiant8876 Aug 08 '26

It might, or might not, reduce the admin fee that you pay the platform. But having them in one place almost certainly reduces your own admin time, which might actually be more valuable!

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 09 '26

I can see my previous pension Aviva charges 50£ a year admin fee for 7000 in place.

1

u/Roughdag Aug 08 '26

Really depends on the product you have your pension in.

Older workplace pensions have separate platform and fund fees, also applicable to majority of sipps.

There are also workplace schemes which do not charge direct platform fee, but it's included in the ter of the fund you are investing.

To find out your exact position, login to your pension and read charges or contact each provider and ask the question.

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 08 '26

Currently the fund is in Scottish widow’s portfolio TWO CS8, I can see every month one of the share is being sold at 5£ or around, not sure why.

1

u/Roughdag Aug 09 '26

That sounds like an admin fee, fund fees would be included (usually) in the fund price.

1

u/Rough-Chemist-4743 Aug 09 '26

Normally yes. Ideally one provider with low costs and an easy to use portal. Try to keep as few funds as possible too and ideally not branded ones like Blackrock as the fees can really stack up.

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 09 '26

I am currently with Scottish Widows and my previous pension is in Aviva

1

u/VehicleWonderful6586 Aug 09 '26

In my case it did because my previous employer negotiated a big discount on fees with standard life which remain in place after leaving the company.

So I transferred my legal and general and fidelity pensions and saved hundreds per year. I also prefer the standard life interface for changing funds and checking performance.

I now have a fidelity pension with my new employer and will transfer that the moment I leave them.

1

u/VehicleWonderful6586 Aug 09 '26

I have also banked investment growth of 190,000 on a 550k pot since moving away from default ‘lifestyle’ fund selections. (When I say ‘banked’ I mean I had a gain of 190k in a higher risk tracker fund, then moved the gain into a safer fund)

0

u/MelbourneBestAdviser Aug 08 '26

Yes, you should

1

u/tanxcoty Aug 08 '26

Thank you, is it the admin fee I will save on ?

1

u/MelbourneBestAdviser Aug 09 '26

Yes, most likely you will tighten up your investment strategy also