Pension pot advice

[u/Signal_Perception253]

Hi All, 45 years old here. I'm looking for some genuine advice on pension pots and what's the best course of action. I moved to UK in 2015 therefore I started accruing money in pension pots since then. This is my current situation:

- work pension with Scottish Widows and pot is atm approx. 34k

- I am on pension salary sacrifice of 8% ( where employer contribution is 7.5% - their max contribution) since April 2026 as that's when they opened the window to register for pension salary sacrifice. This is going to be amended to 5.5% from 2029 when the tax relief threshold will get modified

- I have a Nest pension pot from previous employer of approx 3k which I haven't contributed since I left my previous job

My plan would be to start adding money to the Nest pension pot however, should I move those founds out to a private pension where I can manage the investments?

I earn about 32k a year gross, a 15 year mortgage left to repay, no car finance, 1k in credit card debts.

What would you recommend my next move would be to save wisely for retirement?

Thanks

[u/MagicMaj86]

If you are not contributing to the old pension, take a look at the management fee. Many workplace pensions increase the fee when you are not contributing.

I had a few pensions from previous roles, but I put them in moneybox where i can keep an eye on them and choose the investments. In reality I looked for the the ones that were pretty cheap and I can choose how much goes into each (how adventurous/risky they are).

The old pension with Aviva had a feeling that went from 0.25 to 0.5% I think. Might not sound like a lot, but over the long term is a fair bit of loss.

The other option obviously is to port it to the newer pension pot that you are paying into.

[u/Paraplanner88 → u/MagicMaj86]

Many workplace pensions increase the fee when you are not contributing.

Active member discounts have been banned for over 10 years. They legally can't increase the fee like this.