I don’t think I’ve had all that many jobs over my working life, but I’ve currently got five different pension pots with various providers, and I think it’s probably time to simplify things.
Doing the admin of combining them all into one is, for me, the relatively straightforward bit. The part I seem to struggle with is working out which pension to stick it all in to - I know there’s a bit of a spread of fees to take into account, and there isn’t necessarily a correlation between fees and the fund’s past performance (which itself isn’t a predictor of how it’ll do in the future).
Is there any benefit to me getting some proper financial advice for where to consolidate my pensions to? Or is it all just a big gamble and I’m just as well going with vibes/the one that’s easiest to deal with for now?
It depends on how big the pots are.
I DIY mine. I leave a job and move that pot into my SIPP having a fund that has done me really well.
If i were you may be I would probably ask the guys on Reddit in UK personal finance sub. If you stick in a few placeholder or actual figures, you may get some solid advice.
I’d hold on for a bit as T212 are just launching their SIPP which looks pretty good. That said, I’m with AJ Bell and have been for over 25 years.
If you have any defined benefit pensions (final salary ones) you have to get professional financial advice. That starts from about £150 for an hour but check your union as they usually have arrangements with a financial place that provides a free hour’s advice.
