Final Salary Pensions

Does anyone have experience of cashing in a Final Salary pension and transferring the pot to a SIPP?

The reason I ask is I've just received a transfer valuation of a Final Salary pension which I had for 13 years and has been closed for the past 10 years.

I’m no expert but my father-in-law (who is) said you couldn’t afford to match it and to leave it where it is. I’m sure someone who knows far better than me will be along.

Hi Bezzer, I work along side 30 odd IFA's many of them deal with this exact thing. Send me a PM and I can introduce you if you want.

Closed my largest pension and took the cash 15 years ago. Purchased a property which is rented out. Over 15 years rents have gone up and the value of the property has increased by 280%. Would a pension increase that way? Bottom line I'm in control not some pension company playing with my money.

Depends what you mean by "closed for the last ten years" and what's happening to it.

is it closed because you no longer work there and are no longer paying into it or is it closed because the company wound up or closed the pension fund? And what is/has been happening to it? Is it frozen or is it still growing subject to the performance of the pension fund or frozen subject to a fixed % increase per annum?

Just my immediate thoughts.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'll be 53 in a week, so I'm not in a position yet to draw any kind of pension but at 55 I'm looking at semi-retirement.

I'm fortunate that I have a good company pension along with a Stakeholder pension. Both have averaged close on 20% growth pa for the past 10 years so have no issues with keeping the money invested in a pension.

The Final Salary pension can be drawn at 65 without penalty and equates to just over £10k pa. The offer from the company to cash it in is 43.5 what they'll pay me pa. So you can see why the cashing in option is tempting especially as I have 2 other decent pensions as well.

@Serg1 My wife and I already have a flat which we rent out and I'm not interested in purchasing anymore property.

@Adder, I'll drop you a PM when I get home.

The company (GEC) was taken over and dissolved, the pension was then closed to new members. It's in a fairly unique position for a Final salary scheme as it has very little deficit. It's funds are still performing well and my final pension is guaranteed to grow by 2.5% pa.

Ahh pensions. Between 18-49 they are boring irrelevances.
Hit 50 and suddenly they are the most interesting subject and you wish you had just payed an extra £50 a month into them starting back when you were 18

I had the option of a transfer value - which incidentally wasn't offered to me until my Financial Adviser suggested I request it - but instinctively took a lump sum and a modest annuity in case one of my 'kids' were suddenly looking at house moves/purchases.

As luck would have it my daughter's circumstances suddenly changed and I've found myself in the position of being able to help her purchase a small flat at a time when she she really needed the support.

Just saying, your choice of reinvesting might be tempered by circumstances....

@Edinburgh the main reason for considering it is so I can take a moderate monthly pension via drawdown and reduce the hours I work.

However, having the option to take a tax free lump sum is also appealing as I'd like to help my children get a foot on the property ladder.

I'll look out for the PM Bezzer. There will be someone here who will be ok for a chat, then help or point you in the right direction. As for helping the kids get a mortgage, I can certainly help with that if you want ....

Bank of Mum and Dad have been very helpful to my clients this past year...

I had a review a year ago, best advice I had (which you can ignore) is to leave it in a cast iron guaranteed pension scheme until you are ready. There is very little point in moving it until you are ready unless you have a strong feeling that interest rates are going to rise.

You sound like you are in a good position as you have an existing pension and you can accept the risk. The IFA will conduct a review which when I looked was around £2000 and then there is a fee on top to transfer.

The fact they have given you a factor of 43.5 sounds a no-brainer but you need to clarify if the 10kpa is index linked or fixed and if there is something for your wife if you croak first.

My IFA gave a broad hint that pension schemes were offering a higher multiple the closer you were to retiring.

Also worth having a think about your risk appetite for that £435,000 when you move it to a SIPP (or whatever).

SB, the £10k pa is indexed linked but capped at 2.5%

The Trust which manages the pension has given me details of IFAs who specialise in cashing in final salary pensions so they'll be my first port of call when I want to pursue it further.

As I said, I'm looking at semi-retirement in a couple of years time plus helping my 3 children get onto the property ladder.

I'm not going to rush things as it's a fairly big decision.

Thanks to everyone for your contributions.

I have just done what you’re thinking of doing. In my case it was a no brainier to take the drawdown option, if I croke it my wife and kids will get the full pot tax free instead of 60% of the annuity for as long as my wife is alive.(our mortality ages are not great on both sides of the family) You can still take 25% tax free from the pot the same as an annuity. I don’t know what your figures are compared to mine but when the numbers were crunched if I just take the same amount from the pot as an annuity would’ve given me my pot will have actually grown by the time I’m 84 and that was with less growth than is forecast or there has been historically. I’ve put mine with Prufund for 4 years until I’m 55 which is very low risk. It didn’t cost me anything for the consultation.