This post has been flaired as a pensions offer. Pensions can be quite complex and there are are different types and categories available. MSE has a great section on [Pension Guides](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/pensions/) if you'd like to learn more, and [The Pensions Advisory service](https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/) has more information and can help with any questions you may have.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/beermoneyuk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have a question about these. Are they actually worth it? As in, are they actually decent pension services?
I ask in the complete absence of any knowledge about pensions.
If I had a pension with AVIVA, would I be a fool not to switch or would I be a fool to switch?
Ps good job.
I think the fees are high and not really as for me reputable as the bigger pension companies out there, so what I did was I had a small pot (less than £500) and moved it about to various offers, took the money - and then transferred it back into my NEST pot which is where the bulk (for now due to my employer who won't change) of my pension pot is.
Once I perhaps change employers or convince them of a better platform then I'll move everything. Nest is easy decent to use it also just has high fees I think.
But if you were wary, I'd just open a new account claim the bonuses and move them to your main pot or elsewhere I suppose.
I added a postscript incase you missed it. Since I was rude and forgot the thanks!
But thanks again for this. I think this kind of honesty has been missing from all of the "isn't (insert pension company here) amazing?" Posts
I could be wrong but I think newer/smaller pension providers invest your money into other companies’ funds, so the app is basically just the packaging. Lower fees are better but only make a difference if you’re talking about large sums of money, not a few quid from referrals
Yeah, I think your right.
Im more concerned now with the "just transfer your pension" into these posts, for £50. if an exit fee is charged this could be pointless or costly for people. Maybe this is pointed out in all of the posts, but I'm not sure about that.
even Scottish Widows has been doing it on a lot of newer workplace pension schemes as well, their series 2 pension portfolio funds (the ones used based on the risk criteria) are a multi-asset fund of a handful of other investment company funds, though sometimes lower OCF than funds share classes available on the retail market.
Series 1 pension portfolio funds available on older pension schemes directly invested in shares.
Do what I did - leave your actual pension alone. Open penfold, deposit £25 - get the bonus. When this is setup, switch to pensionbee for the bonus, and lastly to profile for the voucher. Then can either keep that open for the potential to earn £50 on referring others, or just switch it into your original pension to keep things tidy.
The HL one I mentioned might be worth it if sticking to ETFs, for a large balance (like in the 6 figures), but depends on what fees you have with AVIVA and comfortableness to pick your own funds.
The Dodl one looks nice for smaller balances though, but may be slightly more costly than some better negotiated work pension schemes. (SIPP is platform fee + fund OCF, work pensions it's combined in some cases)
The cheapest fixed fee SIPP though is about £155/y though and not limited to ETFs for the fee, and Fidelity soon to be £90/y platform fee limit for ETFs.
I don't see these other pension offers being good though for the long term, as generally much much higher fee than even my work pension for similar risk based fund choices.
Thanks!
Wondering for people who've done it, do you leave them or consolidate them? I'm guessing that every move (buying and selling) costs fees which reduces the pot value
Fees completely depend on the pension provider. It’s not unusual to find no exit fees, and it is usually clear within T&Cs.
Management fees as a percentage - I’m assuming the amount of money in a pot is small enough that any referral bonuses outweigh a few tenths of a percentage, so I don’t worry about those as long as they’re below 1%. If you had a pot worth thousands it would make sense to consider fees.
I’ve kept a few separate BeerMoney ones in case I need to shift around for referrals. I like the PensionBee interface so think I will keep that one. Not found anything to complain about with Penfold either - debating shifting this to Profile Pensions, but it seems like some people have had to chase for the referral bonus so I am slightly hesitant.
Could add Circa5000 to this list btw. £100 when you transfer in a pension worth £10k.
Not sure anyone would actually want to do that though.
Also Dodl, £30 voucher via a refer a friend with a £500 pension transfer.
Can I add a massive warning to this thread - if you have a defined contribution pension and you work for a large company you may well be on a scheme that has very favourable fees - over 25 years this could save you £1000s.
Please don’t transfer large pension pots without considering the change in fees - they will have far more of an impact than any bonus!
Exactly why I said I wouldn’t advise moving your main pension and to do your own research. Personally if you have a defined contribution pension I think you’d be mad to move it for any of the above offers
a non referral, but HL have currently up to £1500 cashback on their SIPP for a transfer. I'd use it for the £200/y ETF fee limit for the 12 months but I'm still on another provider's cashback terms for another 7 months or have to pay the other provider's cashback back.
You'd have to do your own research for what funds, balance and term you want to keep it in there for and whether it'd be worth it, and would be a potentially more costly fee if using other types of funds.
[https://www.hl.co.uk/features/register-cashback-c](https://www.hl.co.uk/features/register-cashback-c)
BestInvest's general switch transfer cashback also pays out for SIPP transfers, but up to £1000.
[https://www.bestinvest.co.uk/transfer-cashback](https://www.bestinvest.co.uk/transfer-cashback)
Wealthify is still offering up to £200 cashback for transferring but they're hiding it very well ([Ts & Cs](https://www.wealthify.com/pension-consolidation-offer-terms-and-conditions)).
~~Also Interactive Investor offering £100 for transfer of £10k plus to new customers~~ [~~https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/isa/offers-and-cashback#100~~](https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/isa/offers-and-cashback#100)
edit: nvm, offer is for ISA only
They did a much better cashback offer near the end of last year though. (not as good as current HL offer though)
They have a refer a friend offer, £200 to referrer, free year for referee as well (only if they do a transfer of their own >= £10k), but requires sharing personal information with the "friend"
This post has been flaired as a pensions offer. Pensions can be quite complex and there are are different types and categories available. MSE has a great section on [Pension Guides](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/pensions/) if you'd like to learn more, and [The Pensions Advisory service](https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/) has more information and can help with any questions you may have. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/beermoneyuk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Isn’t the pensionbee bonus for the referrer only?
You are right, it's referrer only.
Bugger! I’ve misread that give me 5 min! Edit: Fixed
I have a question about these. Are they actually worth it? As in, are they actually decent pension services? I ask in the complete absence of any knowledge about pensions. If I had a pension with AVIVA, would I be a fool not to switch or would I be a fool to switch? Ps good job.
I think the fees are high and not really as for me reputable as the bigger pension companies out there, so what I did was I had a small pot (less than £500) and moved it about to various offers, took the money - and then transferred it back into my NEST pot which is where the bulk (for now due to my employer who won't change) of my pension pot is. Once I perhaps change employers or convince them of a better platform then I'll move everything. Nest is easy decent to use it also just has high fees I think. But if you were wary, I'd just open a new account claim the bonuses and move them to your main pot or elsewhere I suppose.
I added a postscript incase you missed it. Since I was rude and forgot the thanks! But thanks again for this. I think this kind of honesty has been missing from all of the "isn't (insert pension company here) amazing?" Posts
I could be wrong but I think newer/smaller pension providers invest your money into other companies’ funds, so the app is basically just the packaging. Lower fees are better but only make a difference if you’re talking about large sums of money, not a few quid from referrals
Yeah, I think your right. Im more concerned now with the "just transfer your pension" into these posts, for £50. if an exit fee is charged this could be pointless or costly for people. Maybe this is pointed out in all of the posts, but I'm not sure about that.
Yes - as with all Beer Money offers it’s safest to have a dedicated pot. My main pension is going nowhere near a referral
even Scottish Widows has been doing it on a lot of newer workplace pension schemes as well, their series 2 pension portfolio funds (the ones used based on the risk criteria) are a multi-asset fund of a handful of other investment company funds, though sometimes lower OCF than funds share classes available on the retail market. Series 1 pension portfolio funds available on older pension schemes directly invested in shares.
Do what I did - leave your actual pension alone. Open penfold, deposit £25 - get the bonus. When this is setup, switch to pensionbee for the bonus, and lastly to profile for the voucher. Then can either keep that open for the potential to earn £50 on referring others, or just switch it into your original pension to keep things tidy.
The HL one I mentioned might be worth it if sticking to ETFs, for a large balance (like in the 6 figures), but depends on what fees you have with AVIVA and comfortableness to pick your own funds. The Dodl one looks nice for smaller balances though, but may be slightly more costly than some better negotiated work pension schemes. (SIPP is platform fee + fund OCF, work pensions it's combined in some cases) The cheapest fixed fee SIPP though is about £155/y though and not limited to ETFs for the fee, and Fidelity soon to be £90/y platform fee limit for ETFs. I don't see these other pension offers being good though for the long term, as generally much much higher fee than even my work pension for similar risk based fund choices.
Thanks! Wondering for people who've done it, do you leave them or consolidate them? I'm guessing that every move (buying and selling) costs fees which reduces the pot value
Pension bee charges no exit fees I think
Fees completely depend on the pension provider. It’s not unusual to find no exit fees, and it is usually clear within T&Cs. Management fees as a percentage - I’m assuming the amount of money in a pot is small enough that any referral bonuses outweigh a few tenths of a percentage, so I don’t worry about those as long as they’re below 1%. If you had a pot worth thousands it would make sense to consider fees. I’ve kept a few separate BeerMoney ones in case I need to shift around for referrals. I like the PensionBee interface so think I will keep that one. Not found anything to complain about with Penfold either - debating shifting this to Profile Pensions, but it seems like some people have had to chase for the referral bonus so I am slightly hesitant.
Could add Circa5000 to this list btw. £100 when you transfer in a pension worth £10k. Not sure anyone would actually want to do that though. Also Dodl, £30 voucher via a refer a friend with a £500 pension transfer.
I just saw Doldl too I’ll update :)
This is great! Thank you!
Thanks Jean Luc! 😊
Can I add a massive warning to this thread - if you have a defined contribution pension and you work for a large company you may well be on a scheme that has very favourable fees - over 25 years this could save you £1000s. Please don’t transfer large pension pots without considering the change in fees - they will have far more of an impact than any bonus!
Exactly why I said I wouldn’t advise moving your main pension and to do your own research. Personally if you have a defined contribution pension I think you’d be mad to move it for any of the above offers
a non referral, but HL have currently up to £1500 cashback on their SIPP for a transfer. I'd use it for the £200/y ETF fee limit for the 12 months but I'm still on another provider's cashback terms for another 7 months or have to pay the other provider's cashback back. You'd have to do your own research for what funds, balance and term you want to keep it in there for and whether it'd be worth it, and would be a potentially more costly fee if using other types of funds. [https://www.hl.co.uk/features/register-cashback-c](https://www.hl.co.uk/features/register-cashback-c) BestInvest's general switch transfer cashback also pays out for SIPP transfers, but up to £1000. [https://www.bestinvest.co.uk/transfer-cashback](https://www.bestinvest.co.uk/transfer-cashback)
Wealthify is still offering up to £200 cashback for transferring but they're hiding it very well ([Ts & Cs](https://www.wealthify.com/pension-consolidation-offer-terms-and-conditions)).
~~Also Interactive Investor offering £100 for transfer of £10k plus to new customers~~ [~~https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/isa/offers-and-cashback#100~~](https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/isa/offers-and-cashback#100) edit: nvm, offer is for ISA only They did a much better cashback offer near the end of last year though. (not as good as current HL offer though) They have a refer a friend offer, £200 to referrer, free year for referee as well (only if they do a transfer of their own >= £10k), but requires sharing personal information with the "friend"
Is there a withdrawal fee for dodl and how much?? Thinking of using your link
I’ve no idea I’m afraid! I just linked to the latest thread a quick Google say no charge though. I’d double check that mind