Finding old Pensions

[dinny_g]

Anyone got any experience of using one of the services that can find old pensions.?

The HMRC seem to have a process on gov.uk (but not looked into that) and PensionBee seems to be one that's advertised heavily.

Asking for the other half who has 3 or 4 knocking about...

[scotta]

Think ive got 5 sat doing not much. Dunno whats best though - leave them all independently or try consolidate.

[Jobbo]

Got to look at the fees for each scheme - it was definitely better for me to consolidate.

Do Pensionbee charge a fee? I imagine HMRC do not.

[dinny_g]

I think I'll get her to start with the HMRC one and see how she gets on.

[DeskJockey]

I'm looking to consolidate mine too. Seems silly to pay multiple sets of fees.

[duncs500]

Only issue with it is if one has performance issues, by having separate pots you dilute the risk. You have to weigh that off against the fee exposure.

I've got three pots, and the performance of one was truly shocking last year... glad I didn't have all my eggs in that basket!

[mik]

My understanding is that “it’s complex”. Fees and penalties to transfer yada yada.

Sounds like the kinda thing @Holley could advise on. (I am not suggesting that this is his particular field of specialism, but I expect he’ll know someone who can advise - I know of https://www.origenfs.co.uk/ who can advise pros & cons depending how “essential” each element is, and therefore whether you might take more risky, but potentially higher growth path etc etc, but there are of course other companies out there).

But I think @dinny_g was just looking for a service that can locate any that you have (if you haven’t passed on new address etc).

[duncs500]

If you're anything like me @dinny_g you probably just need to root through the house 'filing system', dig out anything that seems vaguely pension-y, and sign up to their online platform.

I did it last year.

[Carlos]

What Dinny is looking for doesn't exist.

The HMRC site can check for certain schemes and those where you have contracted out of serps or s2p but for the most part you need an employer or pension provider name to start with and do a bit of investigating. Its not a simple process and Pensionbee and the likes are offering to do some of the leg work in the hope you consolidate with them.

The government are trying to implement something called Pensions Dashboard where everyone pensions, occupational, private and state are linked via NI number on one "dashboard". Its something like 8 years late and may never happen!

[Holley]

My understanding is that “it’s complex”. Fees and penalties to transfer yada yada.

Sounds like the kinda thing @Holley could advise on. (I am not suggesting that this is his particular field of specialism, but I expect he’ll know someone who can advise - I know of https://www.origenfs.co.uk/ who can advise pros & cons depending how “essential” each element is, and therefore whether you might take more risky, but potentially higher growth path etc etc, but there are of course other companies out there).

But I think @dinny_g was just looking for a service that can locate any that you have (if you haven’t passed on new address etc).

I pass clients to Tom Barnes at Barnes Wealth Management. Lovely guy, very knowledgable and doesn't charge for his consultation. I believe he can find all existing pensions for you (asks clients to complete a letter of authority so he can do a search and find out exactly what you've got and how it's performing).