Retaining documentation.
Discussion
Hope this is the right place for this?
I'm a bit of a hoarder as far as retaining paperwork.
I've just thrown out my 2014 Bank Statements, still have Credit card Monthly Invoices from about 4 year ago, purchase and sales documents of past houses, including copies of the previous owners title deeds etc (which I think might interest future generations), planning applications, service supply, council tax invoices etc etc
My big question at the moment is old Pension Documents from providers who I'm no longer with having transferred them into a single SIPP. I'm 67, the documents cover the initial opening, annual statements, Transfer 32 etc docs, changes of company name (NPI to Pearl, to AMG to heaven knows where is but one example) and management company changes etc. As you can imagine, I've worked a few places and there were about 4 pensions which I transferred to one SIPP. This lot goes back to around 1989. Before that I was in Local Govt and that's a separate issue.
Having rambled on here, do I keep any of the old Pension stuff or maybe just the transfer to SIPP letters? Is it ever going to be of any use?
The attic floor joists are straining.....
Thanks
I'm a bit of a hoarder as far as retaining paperwork.
I've just thrown out my 2014 Bank Statements, still have Credit card Monthly Invoices from about 4 year ago, purchase and sales documents of past houses, including copies of the previous owners title deeds etc (which I think might interest future generations), planning applications, service supply, council tax invoices etc etc
My big question at the moment is old Pension Documents from providers who I'm no longer with having transferred them into a single SIPP. I'm 67, the documents cover the initial opening, annual statements, Transfer 32 etc docs, changes of company name (NPI to Pearl, to AMG to heaven knows where is but one example) and management company changes etc. As you can imagine, I've worked a few places and there were about 4 pensions which I transferred to one SIPP. This lot goes back to around 1989. Before that I was in Local Govt and that's a separate issue.
Having rambled on here, do I keep any of the old Pension stuff or maybe just the transfer to SIPP letters? Is it ever going to be of any use?
The attic floor joists are straining.....
Thanks
I think that your decision should be based on how comfortable and certain that you are that all that you have in the SIPP is absolutely correct and that there will not be a future need to revisit any of the pension arrangements that you did have and which you transferred to the SIPP.
Keeping all old documents is a two edged sword. On the one hand, if at a later date you have doubts and investigate if the pension still exists and where the responsibility for it lies, there is always the danger of spending ages investigating matters and then you find out that some years ago you transferred the pension or took a refund of contributions and you have forgotten that you did so, so big waste of time. On the other hand, if by keeping records you can demonstrate that the pension does exist and where the responsibility lies but you cannot remember much about it, then the retention has been a good thing.
Personally, I think that it is always best to keep everything up to date and records of past transactions maybe in a spreadsheet, and to keep any documentation for say 3-4 years. When you get documentation relating to the present situation ie in your case the SIPP, and you are confident all is OK, you can consider discard the old documentation and records.
I say all of this based on my professional experience over many years with the Pensions Ombudsman's office investigating "lost " pensions. In many cases a person has a piece of paper and claims an entitlement but much has happened since it was produced and the entitlement is elsewhere eg because of a forgotten decision years ago to make a transfer. And getting to a conclusive decision about a "lost" pension can and often does take many months just to prove the pension does not exist and the person had forgotten his prior decisions about it.
One other piece of advice, indeed a plea: please ensure that whichever organisations are responsible for all your bits of pension are always told of your latest address so that you can be contacted about the bits at the relevant times. It is amazing how few people do this and expect the party responsible for the payment to be able to contact the person; not possible!. Again, this can take many months of detailed work to get the various parties connected.
R.
Keeping all old documents is a two edged sword. On the one hand, if at a later date you have doubts and investigate if the pension still exists and where the responsibility for it lies, there is always the danger of spending ages investigating matters and then you find out that some years ago you transferred the pension or took a refund of contributions and you have forgotten that you did so, so big waste of time. On the other hand, if by keeping records you can demonstrate that the pension does exist and where the responsibility lies but you cannot remember much about it, then the retention has been a good thing.
Personally, I think that it is always best to keep everything up to date and records of past transactions maybe in a spreadsheet, and to keep any documentation for say 3-4 years. When you get documentation relating to the present situation ie in your case the SIPP, and you are confident all is OK, you can consider discard the old documentation and records.
I say all of this based on my professional experience over many years with the Pensions Ombudsman's office investigating "lost " pensions. In many cases a person has a piece of paper and claims an entitlement but much has happened since it was produced and the entitlement is elsewhere eg because of a forgotten decision years ago to make a transfer. And getting to a conclusive decision about a "lost" pension can and often does take many months just to prove the pension does not exist and the person had forgotten his prior decisions about it.
One other piece of advice, indeed a plea: please ensure that whichever organisations are responsible for all your bits of pension are always told of your latest address so that you can be contacted about the bits at the relevant times. It is amazing how few people do this and expect the party responsible for the payment to be able to contact the person; not possible!. Again, this can take many months of detailed work to get the various parties connected.
R.
You are fine. If everything was moved over to where it currently is then you know where it all is and the current provider will have to keep on file at least 6 year's worth of records on your behalf anyway.
As The Leaper says though, in the event of any dispute these may prove to be very handy for you, but the reality is that you will likely never look at one page of these again.
As The Leaper says though, in the event of any dispute these may prove to be very handy for you, but the reality is that you will likely never look at one page of these again.
Skyedriver said:
I'm a bit of a hoarder as far as retaining paperwork.
I've just thrown out my 2014 Bank Statements, still have Credit card Monthly Invoices from about 4 year ago, purchase and sales documents of past houses, including copies of the previous owners title deeds etc (which I think might interest future generations), planning applications, service supply, council tax invoices etc etc
Pfft, amateur. I had all my bank statements back to 1972 as well as payslips back to when I started work in 1980. One melted shredder & a huge number of bin bags later I'm down to paper from just the last 7 years or so.I've just thrown out my 2014 Bank Statements, still have Credit card Monthly Invoices from about 4 year ago, purchase and sales documents of past houses, including copies of the previous owners title deeds etc (which I think might interest future generations), planning applications, service supply, council tax invoices etc etc
Can you not scan it? If you get an Epson then the EpsonScan software will create multi-page pdf files directly so you'd just end up with a number of files which you can refer to if needed. Maybe pick one up second hand & by choice get one with a duplexing document feeder - although that's not vital, you can just turn the paper over manually.
Thanks Julian and The Leaper
Confident I have transferred over to the SIPP, nothing "lost" etc.
I was more wondering about some later regulation rather like that PPI thing or something where I can sue the old provider for millions LOL
There was an incident back in the 90's where the small company I was employed by decided the final salary scheme they had running wasn't going to be workable years down the line. In 1994 they closed it and arranged, through a Broker that the monies would be transferred (to a Section 32 Transfer IIRC).
It took until mid 1997 for the switch to be made. In that time as far as I remember the money invested would have increased by quite a bit. Instead the Broker had it.
We complained, he offered a bottle of wine as peace offering.....
Confident I have transferred over to the SIPP, nothing "lost" etc.
I was more wondering about some later regulation rather like that PPI thing or something where I can sue the old provider for millions LOL
There was an incident back in the 90's where the small company I was employed by decided the final salary scheme they had running wasn't going to be workable years down the line. In 1994 they closed it and arranged, through a Broker that the monies would be transferred (to a Section 32 Transfer IIRC).
It took until mid 1997 for the switch to be made. In that time as far as I remember the money invested would have increased by quite a bit. Instead the Broker had it.
We complained, he offered a bottle of wine as peace offering.....
Mr Pointy said:
Pfft, amateur. I had all my bank statements back to 1972 as well as payslips back to when I started work in 1980. One melted shredder & a huge number of bin bags later I'm down to paper from just the last 7 years or so.
Can you not scan it? If you get an Epson then the EpsonScan software will create multi-page pdf files directly so you'd just end up with a number of files which you can refer to if needed. Maybe pick one up second hand & by choice get one with a duplexing document feeder - although that's not vital, you can just turn the paper over manually.
He he, I still have most of my pay slips from 1972 as well. I started in 1970 at £6/week with Tarmac, by 1973 I was on £1311/annum with the County Council.Can you not scan it? If you get an Epson then the EpsonScan software will create multi-page pdf files directly so you'd just end up with a number of files which you can refer to if needed. Maybe pick one up second hand & by choice get one with a duplexing document feeder - although that's not vital, you can just turn the paper over manually.
If it costs nothing to keep and you have the space you may as well keep it.
My favourite letter is from an IFA dated 1987. It says that over time the endowment policy will pay off the mortgage and leave a handsome profit. Unfortunately for me it was just before the compensation scheme applied.
My favourite letter is from an IFA dated 1987. It says that over time the endowment policy will pay off the mortgage and leave a handsome profit. Unfortunately for me it was just before the compensation scheme applied.
austina35 said:
I still have a cheque from west ham united football club from the 80's for £1. it just turned up in the post one day. never knew why. I don't even like football. I guess its worthless now.
Ha! I have a cheque for the same amount from Smith and Williamson closing off a lengthy film investment scheme....keep meaning to frame it. Still have two boxes of paperwork on that I really should bin.OP: my logic is to keep the original pieces when something started, then ditch the rest....the original just for potential future interest sake (look, that scheme we took out in 1992 for £15pcm just paid for the car/wedding/new-door/whatever!)
Nowadays I scan everything of interest and have it local and on cloud storage, with a document next to the wills for next of kin to refer to if needed....
We are pretty open with our kids (now in their 20s) on what we have and where things are. They haven’t tried to kill us for it all.
Not yet, anyway
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