Iām in the UK and I have a pension from the last 20 years which I believe is frozen now as I left the company a year ago. I wonder if anyone has any advice on what to do with it? Can I transfer it somewhere?
I know NOTHING about this so any help or ideas would be welcomed.
Iām new. Apologies if Iāve posted this in wrong place?
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If you go to the app chat and ask to transfer to FT they should help you with what you need to do 
It should be simple if the pension is at least 1 year since opening and you have details of who it is with etc. The more data the easier but the FT team will be able to proceed with minimal details.
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Your current pension will be held with a provider, if youāve not got any paperwork for it you can use this search tool Find pension contact details - GOV.UK
Once you have the details you give them to FT, it is the responsibility of your NEW provider to reach out and request the funds. The whole process takes a few weeks as often requires your old pension provider to sell the funds you have currently.
Once it has gone through youāll have the balance with FT to invest for your future as you see fit. If youāre nee to all this stuff I would recommended doing some research as what to invest in; itāll depend on your age, goals and risk appetite.
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I had a couple of small ones with companies/job agencies i had worked with for short periods of time which i never even thought about until i saw the Pensionbee advert. Very easy to move them to the one place and continue to contribute too if you wish and remember the HMRC adds 25%.
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I think you should contact your company pension and see if you can transfer it to your new company pension ( especially if they have the same pension company). Otherwise, just leave it as preserved with your old company.
Also, request for your statement to see what you will get if it was preserved and what you will get if transferred.
I have changed jobs 3 times: I transferred my pension to the 2nd company because they are the same.
When I changed to my current job, I left my old pension preserved and I have a new one with my current employer.
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I think you should not link your work pension with any additional pension that you do on your own.
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My strategy is every time I leave an employer, I transfer that pension to my Freetrade SIPP (Iāve only had bog standard pensions no defined benefit or anything)
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My strategy is to transfer all the pensions to Freetrade. An old pension from previous employment is simple and Freetrade can do most of the legwork if you just give them the policy number etc.
I am even transferring my current workplace pension over to Freetrade every time there is a new contribution or when I feel like buying some dips itās more complicated to do that, but I asked questions on both ends so I am confident that I will continue to receive employer contributions into my workplace account that I am transferring funds out of as long as I donāt let the balance drop under Ā£20 on the workplace pension providerās end, On Freetradeās end they confirmed it doesnāt add costs to them or annoy them to do regular transfers.
So far so good with Freetrade SIPP. Just wish the monthly fee came from within the SIPP account and not my current account.
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I guess this will be a good option if you already pay to use freetade but putting into consideration that there is a monthly fee for using SIPP on free trade, that may be worth bearing in mind.
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Thankyou all for your help and advice in this matter and for taking the time to reply.
I can see we have a wealth of experience to make use of!!!
Kind regards
Jaxx
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Also, you should find out whether itās a defined contribution or a defined benefit pension. If itās the latter, you will most likely be better off not moving it. Defined benefit pensions are a rarity these days but you mentioned you started your pension 20 years ago.
Hi, my name is Patrick, I have been an investor in Freetrade since R2.
I have posted a few times but not of any significance, but I hope what I have written at times has been relevant and useful to some at least.
I work for an Independent Financial Adviser called Truly Independent. I have never come onto this forum to tout for business, and I never will. However, Jaxx, if you wish to have a no obligation and obviously free of charge conversation, then please feel free to reply to this and I will provide you with some contact information.
Whilst all the comments on here are all perfectly fine and certainly well-meaning, it feels as though everyone is trying to solve for something slightly different with Jaxx enquiry, and therefore it comes across as a bit incoherent when read altogether. I mean nothing untoward by that statement, more that I think a pension pot that has been built up over the past 20 years is a pretty serious undertaking, and a reasoned conversation rather than ānoiseā might be a better approach.
If you like my thought process but donāt like me, then I would recommend you use Unbiased (www.unbiased.co.uk) as the basis to find someone to discuss this with.
Some salient points to consider were raised, such as DB (Defined Benefit) vs DC (Defined Contribution), so it is well worth taking your time and consulting with someone in my opinion.
I hope this has been helpful. Have a great weekend everyone.
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Thankyou Patrick, please do and when I dig out all the paperwork, as I have an earlier frozen pension that added years to this 20 year one, I will contact you if the offer stands?
Kind regards
Jacki
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Ps.Apologies if itās a bit late at night for my response
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Hi Jacki
I think I sent a private message to you, but as you can see, not 100% sure of the functionality on Freetrade community. Let me know if you donāt see it and I can send on here or try again.
Thanks, Patrick
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Hi Patrick
Yes! Thankyou so much.
Iāll be in touch soon
Kind regards
Jacki
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Awesome. Thanks.
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Hi @Jaxx I asked my pension provider these questions MEGATHREAD: Freetrade SIPP - #24 by rod while trying to work out if transferring an existing pension would be a good idea or not.
But as your pension was accrued over ~20 years, it sounds very sensible to start with a conversation with an IFA like @fishfinger. You donāt want to transfer it and then discover youāve lost any special benefits like guaranteed future annuity rates. Good luck!
As some others have said, get some IFS first.
Understand exactly what the benefits are. If itās 20years old then it will likely be something like a final salary/defined benefit.
Existing provider will be able to give you a transfer value, which is effectively the cash value of what they place on the benefits in current state.
Those of us that are relying in part on the state pension should remember that the State pension age may rise further. This should remind us that if we want to retire at the present pension age or earlier we may have to refine our Pension investment strategies. You never too young to begin investing into your pension(s).
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