03 Jun 2019
Make sure you're looking after your retirement, no matter where your career takes you.
Do you have a pension, or perhaps even multiple pensions, still lingering under the care of previous employers? If you, like so many of us, aren’t sure what to do with a pension that remains at an old job, don’t worry, you have options.
In many cases, the best option is to move your pension into a Retirement Bond, also known as a PRB or a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA). A PRB allows you to make a complete break from a company pension scheme. A PRSA allows you to change employment and continue to use the same PRSA.
With times and employment habits changing, it’s not uncommon for someone to move employment several times during their professional life, and it can be a big headache to keep track of all those different pension schemes. When possible, it can often be of great benefit to consolidate all those errant investments into one fund. This is a pretty straight-forward process in most cases, particularly with a financial adviser to help you with the paperwork and to act as an intermediary in getting the funds moved into the care of the company of your choice. It can be of great advantage to make one of these choices, giving you more control over your own investments and retirement planning.
However, in some cases, the best choice may be to remain in a company pension, either transferring older savings into the new company scheme or simply leaving the investment where it is. Factors such as how close you are to retirement, company matching, specific benefit restrictions when moving, and the costs and fees associated with transferring your funds are all reasons to consider staying put or transferring to your new employer's scheme. Given the importance of your investments for your future, we strongly advise speaking to an independent financial adviser rather than an adviser from the company your pension is held in to ensure that you are being given the best advice from across the whole market, rather than just within one company.
Whatever choice you make, it’s important to know your options. Pensions can be an extremely confusing area, and we want to make sure that you’re being given the tools to make the right choices. If you’d like to speak to one of our independent advisers, please contact us and we will be in touch.
