How to transfer a pension??

[Gooose]

Hi guys

I’ve had a little Google around on transferring a pension but I can’t really find a definitive guide

Say I have a pension with Aviva from an old employer that’s over 30k and I want to put it into a pension fund that I choose what companies to invest in, say into hardgreves lansdown or something

What is is the process for doing that?

Do I open a sipp with lansdown first ready to transfer to?

Do I speak to Aviva first? Can I just fill out a transfer form?

How do I get the agreement to transfer it because it’s over 30k? Will Aviva give it to me? Will lansdown? Is it an independent person?

Does that person lay out the fees for doing this? Will there be fees?

I’ve never really looking into my pensions and give lumped in the max amount my employer will contribute to so I’m really ignorant of the whole process tbh!

[Gary29]

I'm by no means an expert, but I did similar with AJ Bell, and the procedure was pretty straightforward.

I opened a SIPP with AJ Bell, filled in the forms telling them which pension(s) pots I wished to transfer in, and they did all the donkey work. There are no charges for doing this upfront, guessing it's built into the fees when the SIPP is up and running.

This is the AJ Bell FAQ page for doing just this, guessing other providers will be similar:

https://www.ajbell.co.uk/faq/can-i-transfer-existi...

[AdamIM]

HI,

You open an account with a NEW provider and initiate the transfer from their platform.

Regards

Adam

[fat80b]

Recently did this moving a pension from NEST to Vanguard.

As said, you initiate the pension move in the new platform and fill in some details from the old one.
In my case it took maybe 10 weeks for the transfer to complete but went through completely automatically after I kicked it off.

[Gooose]

Thanks all! Seems pretty straight forward, quite a long turn around to get the money transferred by the looks!

[supersport]

The time is entirely dependent on who it is coming from.

I had one go in a week or so and one go in months, they sent an actual physical cheque (2020) FFS.

I have a recollection of Nest being quite fast.

[Alex Z]

Gooose said:

Thanks all! Seems pretty straight forward, quite a long turn around to get the money transferred by the looks!

It is, but it’s still (in theory anyway) earning you money while it’s in the old account.

[Simpo Two]

I thought that funds over £30K needed an IFA to sign off (to make sure you're not doing anything silly). But maybe it's changed.

[Gooose]

Simpo Two said:

I thought that funds over £30K needed an IFA to sign off (to make sure you're not doing anything silly). But maybe it's changed.

I thought this as well??

[trickywoo]

Gooose said:

Simpo Two said:

I thought that funds over £30K needed an IFA to sign off (to make sure you're not doing anything silly). But maybe it's changed.

I thought this as well??

If you are transferring a defined benefit pension over £30k you need a sign off.

Defined contribution has fewer restrictions. I think unless it has a guaranteed annuity attached to it you can do what you like without sign off.