Unfortunately, there seems to be no such thing as a job for life anymore.

This results in people building up various different pension pots throughout their working careers. Some of these may be personal pensions, group personal pensions, final salary pensions and many other variations.

Some of the older pensions might not have been reviewed for a long time and could be stuck in poor-performing funds or on higher-than-market-average charges.

One of my most common requests is to ‘tidy up’ a client’s varied pension arrangements. This is often requested by the client in order to understand their total savings with less administration. It is also an extremely useful exercise in maximizing the growth potential of their funds.

The process involves me gaining access to the existing schemes’ pension information and then having an in-depth chat about what the client wants to achieve. Where are they in life now, when do they want to retire, how much income do they need and what’s important to them?

One of the most important steps is to reassess the client’s attitude to investment risk and ensure their portfolio reflects this. Many people choose investment funds based on their risk when they set schemes up but rarely reassess this until retirement, which could have cost thousands in lost growth or over-expensive fund management.

Changes to pension legislation in recent years have also made many investment strategies ineffective. Previously the vast majority of people purchased an annuity at retirement. Pension scheme investment strategy was therefore set up to reflect this in so-called ‘lifestyle schemes’. These reduced the exposure to the stock market leading up to the requested retirement age. Although this is still a sensible approach for those definitely wanting an annuity, for anyone looking to move into income drawdown, it severely hampers the growth potential of the fund.

If the intention in retirement is to keep the fund invested, there seems little advantage to holding funds in very low-risk assets in the ten years leading up to retirement (depending on personal risk attitude of course).

A pension consolidation exercise is a good way to keep retirement expectations on track. I use marking leading software to assess both your current schemes and the available schemes in the market. I’ll look at trying to keep the ongoing cost to a minimum regarding fund management charges whilst also recommending a well-diversified portfolio of quality investments.

Do you have multiple pensions and feel overwhelmed trying to keep track of them all?

Pension consolidation is a valuable exercise that can help simplify the process of managing your various pension pots. In doing this, you’ll be able to understand your total savings in one place and maximise the growth potential of your funds. Plus, with potential savings on charges and access to a wider range of funds, consolidating your pensions will help ensure that you get the most out of your investments.

Let me take care of it for you! I have extensive experience in pension consolidation, so my advice is tailored specifically to meet your needs. I’ll make sure I explain how I do this in plain English so you fully understand the advantages of bringing all your pensions under one roof.  Don’t miss out on the advantages of consolidating your pensions to enable you to grow your wealth.

Get started now – contact me today for a free consultation about consolidating your pensions!