Transferring your pension, is it right for you?
Transferring your pension can be complicated, and whether it is a suitable option for you will depend on your own individual circumstances. We recommend that you seek professional financial advice before proceeding.
Why transfer a pension?
There are a number of different reasons why you may wish to consider transferring out of your current pension scheme. You might want to transfer your pension as a result of a change of employment, poor investment performance, high charges, security issues or a need to improve flexibility.
Enhanced transfer value
Your employer might try to encourage you to transfer out of your occupational pension by offering you an 'enhanced' transfer value or a cash lump sum. However, this may not compensate for the benefits you could be giving up by transffering out of your current occupational pension, and you should consider your options carefully.
You may want to transfer more than one pension into a single pension fund to improve manageability, benefit from lower costs, or improve fund performance.
Transferring your pension will not necessarily guarantee greater benefits in retirement. Before transferring your pension you must consider whether the benefits that you may lose from your old scheme are outweighed by the possible benefits of transffering into your new scheme. In addition, some pensions may apply a penalty on transferring out. These can be significant depending on the size of your fund, so it is important to check if this applies to you.
You may wish to speak to a member of an independent pension transfer advice team for impartial advice on transferring your pension, and the opportunity to discuss possible alternatives to your current pension scheme/s.
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