Advising on Defined Benefit Pension is a complex and specialist area of financial advice. Legislation is constantly changing and many firms who previously advised in this area have pulled out of the market. We believe that analysing Defined Benefit Pensions continues to be a key part of financial planning, as a Defined Benefit Pension can form the largest portion of an individual's retirement fund.
Whether to transfer a Defined Benefit Pension Scheme or not, is often one of the biggest financial decisions someone can make.
We have a stepped process which is designed to help break down the work we do into smaller stages. This gives several exit points within the advice process so that if you identify you want to retain your scheme before full analysis is complete you can exit the advice process, and only pay for the work completed until this point.
Defined Benefit Analysis is complex and highly regulated work. We charge on a fixed price basis for the advice, which includes reviewing one Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. Supplementary fixed fees are added for each additional scheme reviewed, at each step of the process. We do not charge a percentage of the value of your pension scheme(s); whether your pensions are worth £100,000 or £2,000,000, the same process and work needs to be conducted, and therefore we believe a fixed fee is appropriate.
Our Defined Benefit Advice Steps
Putting you in an informed position
The first step of our process is provided at no cost and provides a series of short engaging and educational videos to help you understand Defined Benefit Pension Schemes and the potential options available to you.
Charge: No cost
Outcome: You choose to retain your scheme and end the process, or you can choose to proceed to the next step.
Helping you understand the value of your pension
We will ask you to complete a Letter of Authority to allow us to collate information on your scheme. Once received, we will send you a 'Personalised Charges Document'. We ask you to provide your details, goals and thoughts using our 'Client Portal' and questionnaires, helping us identify how you feel about investment risks and pensions. After completing various analyses, your Specialist Adviser will talk you through our findings, helping you understand the options available, and the potential value of your pensions at different points in the future.
Charge: £2,100 plus £650 for each additional scheme analysed.
Outcome: You can choose to retain your scheme ending the process, or proceed to the next step.
What does retirement look like for you?
Having looked at your options, we now focus on understanding your personal situation comprehensively, including a more detailed analysis of your scheme(s). Based on your goals and the assumption that your scheme is retained, we produce a projection of what retirement may look like. We look at your needs, considering potential tax charges; what happens to dependants/partners if you pass away early; and what happens if you need long term care. We will talk you through our findings, providing you with a detailed 'Retirement Report’ which sets out our opinion on whether you should retain your scheme, or whether it is still 'unclear’ and further investigation is required.
Charge: £4,200 plus £400 for each additional scheme.
Outcome: Retain your scheme and end the process or proceed to the next step.
What could be the outcome if you transfer all or part of your scheme?
Detailed analysis is conducted on any other pensions you have. We complete what is known as an APTA (appropriate pension transfer analysis) and TVC (transfer value comparison). These help us analyse whether it is beneficial for you to retain or transfer part/all of your scheme. We analyse different investment strategies should partial or full transfer occur, and consider suitable receiving schemes including any workplace pensions. We identify potential future costs so you have a realistic understanding of the overall cost implications of a transfer. We will present our findings to you and provide a detailed written report confirming our recommendations.
Charge: £6,500 plus £750 for each additional scheme.
Outcome: At this stage we will recommend that you retain or partly/fully transfer. You do not need to follow our advice. However if we recommend you retain, we will not be able to transfer your scheme. We will only implement a transfer if we have recommended this is the best course of action for you.
Implementation of recommendations
This fifth step of our process is provided at no cost regardless of the number of schemes you have.
If we have recommended a transfer and you want to proceed, our skilled administration team will implement our recommendations and ensure your scheme is transferred to the recommended receiving scheme, and invested in accordance with our recommended investment strategy.
Click below to start our process at no cost
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