Many people who approach The Pensions Office to assess the merits or otherwise of a transfer of their benefits from a previous employer’s pension scheme state that they wish to take personal control of their pension fund.

This statement could indicate one or more of a few possible ‘wishes’. 

It could mean that they don’t want their former employer’s scheme to control the future of their benefits. Perhaps that’s because they don’t trust the employer to continue funding the pension scheme adequately, or perhaps they simply want to be able to monitor the value of their pension benefits on a regular basis.

Final salary pension schemes are only required to provide each member with an individual valuation once in any 12 month period. A charge (usually somewhere between £150 and £500) will usually be levied for each additional valuation. Moreover, it is almost impossible for a non-actuary to understand how the valuation has been calculated. By contrast, personal pensions may be valued – on line if required within seconds as often as required.

To other people, “taking control” could be taken to mean the ability to directly influence the investment strategy of the pension fund. Some clients want to transfer the money to a self invested personal pension and, taking personal control, deal directly in individual stocks and shares. The vast majority, however, use the services of The Pensions office to provide investment recommendations, both initially and in future years.

A small number of our clients want to “take control” of their pension fund in order to be able to fund the purchase of commercial property, perhaps for the use of their own business.

Many clients want to “take control” so that they are better able to make certain choices such as the ages at which they take benefits, the amount of tax free cash, the beneficiary of death benefits and other aspects of flexibility which can only truly be provided by transferring to a personal pension.