Pensions

Wake up there, if you're like me the very mention of the P word and the room begins to swim around and you fall into a deep slumber. I'm getting on a bit now and I really can't ignore this any more.

My pension arrangements are a bit of a mess due to past circumstances. I opened my first personal pension when I was about 24. Two years later and I went to University and the pension was frozen, a state it remains in to this day. I get the yearly statements and my eyes glaze over at the sheer rip off a pension scheme is. The only people who really benefit are the so called Fund "Managers" (remember, I hate anybody with Manager in their job title) and the Government who claw huge amounts of tax back when you finally retire.

When I started at my current employer I opened a new pension with, a different provider, to take benefit of generous company contributions. I contributed 0% to the pension. Then, we were taken over and were forced to open another pension in the company approved Group Pension Scheme. So, I froze the second pension as well. The company continue to contribute to the new one but I still refuse to drop any personal money into the bottomless pit.

I want to get the two frozen pensions back into play but I'm reticent of transferring them into the active scheme. I want control, day to day, week to week. Enough of this "Management" charge nonsense based not on their performance but on the value of your fund.

So, I'm currently researching the possibility of opening an online Sipp (Self Invested Pension Plan). Low charges and all the decisions are up to me. Invest in funds from a list of literally hundreds, individual shares, cash, Gilts, Investment Funds, property etc. The time was this was only for people with large pots but the advent of online Sipps has opened up this market to mere mortals (that's everybody apart from Civil Servants).

Next step is to research which online Sipp is best for me, contact the providers of the two frozen schemes and begin the process of transferring the money to the new account. Then let the fun begin, buy, buy, buy... bye bye. As usual, I'll post any progress on the blog.

Category:

• Personal
• Money
• Pension