transferring pension to pension bond

[aidangeraghtyhotmailcom]

Hi ,
I had a company pension for a couple of years. I then moved company and my new employer wouldn't pay into it so I started up a PRSA and I'm paying into that.
As my previous employers were the trustees of the company pension I enquired with my broker about getting out of this situation so that they are not the trustees.
He suggested I transfer my pension to a retirement bond.
I then asked him what would the costs /charges be to do this etc.
HE said he'll call out and meet me and give me all the details.
SO I met up with him. However he didn't have any retirement bond details. He just said the charges would more or less be the same as what I'm charged for my pension.
He spent the rest of the meeting filling out a personal details form where he asked me a lot of personal details such as income,wifes income etc . Basically he seemed to be trying to suss if could he sell me any other products such as life assurance etc.
Anyway he said he'll get back to me with retirement bond details. That was two months ago. When I ring him up , I just get through to his answering machine and he doesn't reply to my calls. I also wrote to him and he didn't reply to that either.
It seems he can't be bothered transferring this pension to a retirement bond. Its as if there is no commission in it for him.
Is there anything I can do to get him to do what I want to do?

This brokering firm have actually made a lot of money out of me. Over 5 yrs I paid 54k into the pension. ITs now worth 38k. The brokering firm said they had charges of about 12k in that 5 yr period.

 

[Guest]

> Is there anything I can do to get him to do what I want to do?

How is he "your broker" and what sort of intermediary is he? An Authorised Advisor (the only truly independent type), a multi-agency intermediary or a tied agent (ugh!)? If he's not responding to calls then why not ditch him an get somebody who will give you independent advice and options and act on your instructions? Of course if he's being remunerated either directly or through commissions on your fund(s) then one would have to ask what he's doing to justify this... There is nothing to stop you shopping around independently for a suitable pension bond (or other pension vehicle) and then getting somebody to do the transfer on an execution only basis if you feel that you don't need too much handholding... There are some previous topics in this forum dealing with the general issues of pension transfers/consolidations as well as buy out bonds in particular. If you page back through the contents of this forum you should be able to find them.

 

[d53]

Switching to a bond

When monies are moved from a pension fund to a bond as you describe, technically it is the trustees of the fund who are buying the bond. What this means is that its their advisors who will get the commission, if any is paid. Your broker is probably being slow because you don't look like you are going to make him any further money.

I suggest you either go to a fee based advisor for this or go direct to the insurance company. And dump your broker: after all the money you made for him over the years, this simple transaction is the least you could expect, and he's thick not to use it to nurture the relationship.

d

 

[MyAdviser]

Buy Out Bonds

Hi, if it is not too late you can reduce the commission on a buy out bond. The normal commission is 2% so on 38k that amounts to 760 euro. Via MyAdviser.ie you can get it on an execution only rate of 1%.

Going direct to the providers of such bonds as with most providers does not reduce your costs. They will just keep the normal broker commission - so that is not a good idea as you get nothing for it.

You should check out the cost of leaving your fund with the existing scheme as it may be cheaper to leave it there. That said with the bond you have more control and on your investment amount and assuming you have more than 10 years to retirement you can end up with an entry bonus of 1%-2% i.e. you fund automatically grows by 1%-2% from day one.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Michael Kiernan
Authorised Advisor & Discount Broker
www.myadviser.ie

 

[curious]

buy out bond

Hi you say the following:

"The normal commission is 2% so on 38k that amounts to 760 euro. Via MyAdviser.ie you can get it on an execution only rate of 1%."

Is this a comission charged per annum or a once off charge?
What kind of buy out bond do you getin myadvisor.ie ? Who is it with?
What does it invest in? What kind of risk is it?
I couldn't find details like this on myadvisor.ie


You also say
"....assuming you have more than 10 years to retirement you can end up with an entry bonus of 1%-2% i.e. you fund automatically grows by 1%-2% from day one."

I'm not sure what you mean here here Does this mean the fund only grows 1%-2% per annum?


Thanks in advance,