Everything you need to know about combining or consolidating your pension pots.
Combining your pension pots
If you’ve got more than one defined contribution or personal pension pot, you could boost your savings by combining them into one. Consolidating your pots could help you move money away from funds with high charges, leaving more of your money available for retirement.
Pension specialists can work with you to assess your pensions, and make recommendations on if combining your pots is best for you. Some of the things that they will look at are:
- The fees you are being charged on your pensions
- Any benefits associated with your pension pots which could outweigh a benefit of moving it
Find out more about how to get pension advice.
Most companies will allow you to consolidate your pensions into one pot, but there are associated advantages and disadvantages to this approach.
Advantages of combining your pension pots
- You may be able to save on fees and reduce the charges you pay
- Reduce paperwork by only dealing with one pension provider
- Get potentially better investment performance and better rates which can boost your retirement income
- Know exactly how much money you have saved in total into your pension pot
- Easily monitor performance of your pension fund, if it’s linked to investments
Disadvantages of combining your pension pots
- You could be charged for transferring from one provider to another
- Some companies offer ‘Guaranteed Annuity Rates’ which could be lost if you consolidate your pensions
- If your pension includes a minimum pension guarantee, you would lose these benefits
- Any invested funds are linked to stock market performance meaning your fund value could go down as well as up.
What about my defined benefit pension?
Find out more about transferring your defined benefit pension to a defined contribution scheme or chat to one of our pension specialists for advice.
Have we got you thinking?
Take a look at our other handy guides on pensions and retirement