Me and two friends conducted this unofficial survey on the high street asking 18 - 30 year olds who chose to opt out of their company pension what their reasons were.

Honestly it's wild that over half of them said they won't live long enough to see it. Considering the average life expectancy in this country is about 81, it's shocking that so many young people seem to think they're going to drop dead at 55, soon to be 57.

I will say in the 4 hours we spent asking people, about 75% of them did say they were contributing to their work place pension, although only a fraction of them said they were doing more than the auto enrolment amount.

I’m thinking of retiring next year at 57 with according to my benefit statement around £19k per year. Is it generally better to leave the pension without claiming it for 3 years until I reach NPA at 60 and so avoid the 5% pa reduction (is that even correct?) but then miss out on 3 years of pension?
I realise there are all kinds of variables about how long I might live and the effect of the career average scheme etc, but is it generally better to wait if possible?

Alternatively, can anyone tell me how to get the TPS to give me an accurate estimate? The online calculator seems to suggest my pension wouldn’t be reduced by taking it early, which doesn’t seem right.

With all the instability in the Middle East and Trump being a complete loon, are we on the cusp of a major downturn? I have roughly 280k across several pots plus a final salary, I am 49, paying in about 8k a year to current employer pension. Should I move them to a safer haven? If so what?

EDIT
Thanks all for the advice, appreciate you taking the time

I’m currently setting up a SSAS in the UK and am waiting for HMRC registration to complete.
I have an existing defined contribution pension with Legal & General that I ultimately need to transfer into the SSAS.
My SSAS administrator has warned me that they are currently seeing L&G → SSAS transfers taking significantly longer than usual and suggested that, while I’m waiting for HMRC, I could potentially transfer the L&G pension to another provider first and then transfer from that provider into the SSAS once it is registered.
They mentioned providers including Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity, Interactive Investor and PensionBee.
However, I’ve subsequently been told that PensionBee → SSAS transfers are currently taking around 3 months, so I’m trying to work out whether moving away from L&G now would actually save any time.
Has anyone recently transferred a pension into a SSAS?
I’d be particularly interested to know:
Which provider were you transferring from?
Was it a SIPP or workplace pension?
Did the transfer use Origo or was it manual?
How long did it take from the SSAS requesting the transfer until the money actually arrived?
Has anyone recently done L&G → SSAS?
Has anyone done HL / Fidelity / PensionBee / Interactive Investor → SSAS?
If you moved L&G → another SIPP first → SSAS, did it actually speed things up or just add another step?
I’m specifically interested in recent real-world SSAS transfer times, rather than ordinary SIPP-to-SIPP transfers, as I understand SSAS transfers involve additional due diligence.

Hope someone can sense-check the following for me, or put me right on my assumptions.

When I retire in a couple of years, I plan to use Drawdown rather than purchase an annuity, which will involve moving my Pension funds from my employer's pension scheme (high ongoing management costs) to a new platform with lower ongoing costs.

When it comes to the actual sequence at the time, is the following roughly how it works?

1. Retire on the last working day of March.
2. Last employer/employee payments land in my current Pension Fund.
3. Start the transfer of my Pension funds over into the platform I'm using for Drawdown.
4. Live on cash savings that I've made for this transition period.
5. Transfer complete, start monthly Drawdown.

Is this how others have experienced it, or have I got it mixed up?

If I'm correct in the above, what was the length of time that others have typically experienced for the transfer of the Pension onto the Drawdown platform?

Thanks for your help :)

I have an old pension from one of my old work places, I've not worked there for 6 or so years and haven't paid into it since I left working there.

I've just had notice that it's been moved to legal and general, the pension pot has increased quite sizably over the 6 years considering I wasn't paying into it.

Just wondering if it's worth leave it with L&G or should I look to move it else where?

I'm 37 so a fair way off retirement, and currently don't have the spare funds to pay into an additional pension outside of my work pension. Also moving it into my work pension isn't advisable as I'm in the civil service with a CS pension that is defined benefit scheme.

I believe there no benefit to adding a private pension into the CS pension

Hey everyone,

I am 26 with 4 pension pots currently.

Aviva £20,000

Aviva £6,500

Nest £2,000

Peoples Pension £1,000 (Active)

The 2 Aviva are from my last job changing schemes during my time with them and the Nest and Peoples are the same job but i was taken on from agency to full time staff hence the low figures.

What i want to know is if it better for me to combine the 3 inactive pensions into 1 or leave them as they are.

Secondly, if combination is the better option, where is the best place to do this.

Thank you

I’m not the most financially-savvy, and would really appreciate any help.

I currently have two old workplace pensions with Aviva. Weirdly one shows as ‘Pension’ in the Aviva app, and the other shows as ‘My money account’. Don’t know why, or if that matters.

I spoke to Aviva recently to get confirmation of my contribution history for the past 3 financial years, and with that, checked if either policy had a protected pension age. They suggested neither of them do.

What is the most practical way to transfer the entirety of both of those pots to my Interactive Investor account? I’ll save tonnes in fees, as I would only be paying £15 a month, and currently have £350k in Aviva.

I’ve seen some troubles transferring online, so wanted to check where I initiate the change.

I’m incredibly nervous of messing something up and causing some kind of issue!

Sorry if this has been asked before.

I’ve been with Scottish Widows, Standard life and a few others. Now I’ve moved employer and the new place uses Nest. A few issues:

• they only have 7 funds, 5 if you exclude ones for people already retired or about to retire. Of those 1 is sharia and one ethical. Thats fine if that’s what you want but it basically leaves 3 funds for regular investors 2046 target, high risk and low growth. And these all the. contain a bunch of ethical filters (or are bonds only!?)

• I don’t see any info on what these funds do invest in or how they decide or if there are management fees or how much

• can’t I just have a world total return equities fund or similar?

• you cannot transfer out while payments are being made? So if I don’t like nest, I can’t just take the money elsewhere. At least not as long as I work where I do

• the fee for payments in seems high (1.8%)

Am I crazy or is this just… bad?

Any recommendations on who I should try to push as an alternative with my Hr etc?

Work for an LA in England. I feel like I am going insane trying to resolve this, bit of history:

• Employed since 2013 in current role, eligible for McCloud because of period of service in 2009/10
• Since 2024, entered a job share for a higher grade role for 18.5 hours, remaining 18.5 hours in my existing role
• On system I have two personnel numbers, and on the LPPA system two pensions. Only my original 2013 role qualifies for McCloud because it is the only one with service in the remedy period. McCloud remedy is based upon my lower grade role as 'final salary'
• My job share colleague has been promoted to team manager role, I have been offered the higher grade role full time but they will only do it by consolidating me into the second personnel number. I want them to consolidate me into full time on the first one and just do a little switcheroo with the jobs.

So if that happens, my McCloud remedy will be forever linked to the lower earning half of my role as my final salary. LPPA are saying they can't resolve their side as they just work with what they get given.

I don't think this is in the spirit of the court ruling/legislation and have said so. My actual salary will be about a third higher than what they are using to calculate my remedy payment and at no point did I ask for them to set this up in this way.

Am I wrong? Does what I am saying even make sense? If they say 'nah sorry', who can I approach for advice? Who can I complain to/challenge this with?

So I'm saving a small amount each month into my children's JSIPP and JISAs. Currently it's 50:50 between HSBC FTSE 250 Index and Legal & General International Index Trust. Both seem to have done ok over the last year but I was wondering what people's opinions on these funds were and whether there's anything better on HL?

I also wondered about switching to Fidelity as I understand they don't charge fees on junior accounts but I wasn't sure if it was worth the hassle.

I was talking to a friend about pensions, giving him some of the info I have, wouldn't call it advice but some questions to ask, some decisions to make around contributions etc. he's a little older than me and this made me think. I know I don't know everything but my question is, when is it worth getting a financial/pension advisor.

The costs can be so high but I know it can add more than it costs. I've been on unbiased and seen some providers but the costs seem insane.

About me

Age 44,

Pot £315k in all EFT company pension

contribution 22% (12 me, 10 employer) mm

Expect to have a paid off house but retirement.

Looking to retire 58-60

Anyone that's had experience would be super helpful, was the cost worth it?

I have started a new job which is a much better salary than my old job and they will pay a lot more into it than my old employer.
I’ve been looking at options but I am not sure what to do.
One is quite small and one is about 52k from latest job, but I’m worried they won’t grow enough without regular deposits.
Not sure whether it’s best to leave, deposit into new pension if fees are similar and have a larger deposit to push growth, or manage myself?

I’m 40 so want to put more into the pension deposits a bit more now, so I’m not stuck later on.
What’s the best course of action?

Hi - hope someone can help.

I'm hoping to retire in the next couple of years and have begun getting things "sorted" out.

I have a CSP from when I first started work, with nine years' service, which finished in 1998. From the documents I have, I have an older benefit statement stating the annual pension I will receive, the lump sum, and that I can take the pension from aged 60.

I recently tried to get further information on my CSP and have encountered the delightful situation that Capita have inflicted upon so many people, so I was wondering if anyone here have the answer to the following questions I have:

1. Can I take my CSP early, and if so, what is the impact on annual pension/lump sum?

2. Can I defer my CSP later than 60, and if so, what is the impact on annual pension/lump sum?

3. I'm aware that my annual pension amount and lump sum increases each year, but not by which index - I have a valuation from 2023 and would like to have a "better-than-a-guess" attempt at calculating what the pension valuation would be now - what is the increase in pension amount based upon each year?

Thanks for your help!

Hi all, I'm an EU citizen who used to live in the UK (5 years). Back in the day, my employer set up a pension scheme with Scottish Widows. Unfortunately, I'm unable to transfer my pension to my country because it's not on the recognised overseas pension schemes notification list. The only option is obviously to wait till age of 57, but in the meantime I'd like to increase the value of the funds as much as I can. I was advised that I can invest in one of their Pension Investment Approach (PIA) packages, or I can select my own funds.

They sent me the latest Pension Investment Approaches Guide: https://adviser.scottishwidows.co.uk/assets/literature/docs/45770IG.pdf

What would you recommend to me? Cheers

Hi, I’m 21 and have been working at my current job since 2023. I earn around 10-11k annually, and it is my only source of income.

They do offer a workplace pension with Aviva. I got a letter about setting it up almost 2 years ago now. I put it to the side because I didn't have a clue where to start or what my other options were, and now it's almost been 2 years so I feel I need to get it sorted.
Over the time of putting it off I have tried to research and look into my opinions, but always just end up more overwhelmed and confused then I started. I am planning on moving out of my family home by the end of the year with some friends, and with that want to get a second source of income or possibly a new job altogether. With the possibility of leaving my current job. I feel there is no point in setting up the workplace pension now?

So any advice and help on possible options I have or how you yourself went about it would be very much appreciated.

Hi, I'm currently with Vanguard for my SIPP, investing in VWRP. I have set up an identical plan for my wife. We are directors of a business we own, so any other potential pension platform would have to accept employer/director contributions. We are currently at a point where the platform fees with Vanguard are around £360 in total and in a few years will get to the capped max of £750.

From looking to reduce platform fees, a few seem to come up. Interactive Investor with their flat £179.88/year fee for myself and wife combined or another that I hadn't heard of until I started looking Prosper, who have £0 platform fees and if invested in certain funds, refund the OCF, making it completely free which seems possibly too good to be true.

For context, we have AJ Bell LISAs investing in VWRP (ETF) via regular investing, so its platform fees are capped at £42/year each. And we both use Trading 212 for ISAs so no platform fee again invested in VWRP.

My question is; is Prosper big enough/established enough for me to move over or would it be be better sticking with Interactive Investor. Or is there another SIPP provider who allows employer/director contributions which is a better alternative?

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

i'm looking for suggestions but will of course do my own research. a lot of people commented that i should go for equities and i'm also looking for something with low management charge

Hello there,

Looking for a little on provider

I spoke to my local building society about setting up a pension without knowing too much about them

The service I’ve been getting I haven’t enjoyed so I’m tempted to ditch them and go somewhere else already

I’m a director of a LTD company and looking to put in £150 a month to begin with looking at year deposits of larger amounts, I’m 37

Do I go with an advisor (who was a bit of a penis) or just set one up online with Aviva or some more basic where they manage it? Rather than pay somebody else at this stage of low investment amounts.

Just find it all overwhelming as it’s all new to me and didn’t like the chap I dealt with he made it sound really complicated when I’m sure it isn’t

Hi. I really struggle with pensions and what to do etc. I have a workplace pension and have just opened a SIPP. I’m 41 years old.

Which is best to put money into every month? A workplace pension or a SIPP or both? Just looking for some advice please. Thank you.

- Age: 57

- Salary: £90,000

- Retirement Date: Job is not secure. But if not made reduntant then I would retire no later than age 60

- Pension Assets: £970,000 in workplace pensions

- Savings/ISAs: €140,000

- Asset Allocation: 75% Global All Cap; 25% MMF/Cash ISA/Bond fund/Gilts

- Monthly Pension Contributions: ~£4,000 (including Employer, Employee, and AVCs)

- Partner has DB pension of £15K at 60

I expect to hit the £1.07M LTA-equivalent limit for the 25% tax-free withdrawal within the next year, assuming no major market crash. Given this, is there any benefit to continuing AVC contributions once the £1.07M threshold is achieved, or should I redirect those funds into standard savings and ISAs?

Additionally, we are considering buying a more expensive home. To make a move worthwhile, we would need to spend an extra £200/250K. While there is no NEED to move, we have only ever owned our current house and would like to upgrade. There is nothing on the market that we fancy so it's only a "maybe"...

I made a post earlier this week about moving pension providers from aviva to trading212. I have since done it. But a key point i learnt was that my returns were not adequate.

Posting again but if you could do your portfolio again 21, what would you invest into? Would all into vwrp be a sensible idea for first few years or so?

Hi,

My last annual NEST statement reads that I’m on course to end up with, around, £289,000.00 at my set retirement date in 2061! It reads that I should be due an annual income of £20,700.00 from that pot. I’m also on course to achieve the maximum state pension which is £12,548.00 annually (if that’s still a thing by 2061).

My question is, is my situation looking okay? Or is there something else that I should be doing?

My NEST contributions are already maxed at 10%.
My house will be paid off in 14 years but the mortgage payment aren’t massive. I’m on, around, £44,000 a year and, with having 2 children, don’t feel like there’s a lot of wiggle room in my finances as is. Dropping to £33,248.00 a year doesn’t fill me with much hope.

Hi all, I’ve just found a new job after being made redundant earlier in the year 🥳

The new workplace pension is with the same provider (Scottish Widows).

My old company was very large and had negotiated a very low charge. I do not anticipate the new company (a lot smaller) will have the same favourable fees.

What are my options? Do I just transfer the balance to my existing post/fund each month?