The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

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reohn2
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The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by reohn2 »

Last edited by reohn2 on 15 Feb 2018, 5:15pm, edited 2 times in total.
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kwackers
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Re: The vultures circlearound when the pickings are rich

Post by kwackers »

Pensions are one of my biggest bugbears.

On the one hand you get 'free' money whether it be employer contributions or tax advantages but on the other you can't deal directly with the pension companies and the "advisers" have their greedy mits on your money for as long as possible.

I worked out a 10 minute consultation in a company I once worked for netted the "independent" adviser around £5k over the years. (£3k of that was from my naivety, I 'assumed' that when he said he could easily merge my multiple pensions he wouldn't nail my hat on to the degree he did for moving my money around. Something I didn't discover until years later).

Once again I have acquired a few pensions but trying to merge them is next to impossible without handing over thousands to advisers for a few minutes worth of paperwork.

It wouldn't be so bad if there were decent returns for the money they invested but there isn't so the amount they sting you for hurts.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: The vultures circlearound when the pickings are rich

Post by Cyril Haearn »

This is really the sort of thing that should be nationalised
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Stevek76
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Re: The vultures circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by Stevek76 »

Anything that is defined contributions, which is most of them now, would work better if it was simply turned into a proper market.

I.e. moving your pot (or part of it) should be as simple and easy as switching current accounts. All they are after all is a savings account that you cannot withdraw from until a certain age and that your employer happens to pay into as well.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: The vultures circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Objection!
I love vultures, they are remarkable useful creatures, they eat rotten meat that might otherwise poison an innocent child, they can eat the most "disgusting" things without being sick

Maybe the thread title could be changed so we know what it is about :wink:
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reohn2
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by reohn2 »

Your wish is my command :wink:
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al_yrpal
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by al_yrpal »

Agree, its a scandal. People need to get a quote with all the charges and % clearly defined. Decent advice…. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savin ... vouchedfor

Al
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Psamathe
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Re: The vultures circlearound when the pickings are rich

Post by Psamathe »

kwackers wrote:Pensions are one of my biggest bugbears.

On the one hand you get 'free' money whether it be employer contributions or tax advantages but on the other you can't deal directly with the pension companies and the "advisers" have their greedy mits on your money for as long as possible.
......

Several of my pensions including my last (and by far the biggest) company pension were organised by the company through some "Financial Consultants" company. Since leaving the employments I declared to the pension companies (NOT the Financial Consultants involved in them) that "I have no financial consultants, no financial advisers" and they now happily deal directly with me. Companies Friends Life (now Aviva?), Prudential, Aegon.

But, they will only deal with me in terms of taking and acting on my instructions. I can ask them factual questions (e.g. "what is your commission on fund <x>?", "how long does it take to transfer investment between funds?", etc.) but as soon as the questions become a bit less tangible or become prefixed by "If I were to ..." then they suggest I talk to a Financial Adviser or they can pass me to their advisory group (who call you back a couple of weeks later and will start to answer questions but then say to answer more they need £1500!). But for the questions I need answered they have always been able to give me answers; over the phone mostly immediately, but e-mail is a disaster.

Surprisingly I have also found the Government Pensions Advisory Service excellent (a real shock as I expected a typical gov. service). E-mailed them a non-urgent question and quickly got an understandable, accurate answer with links to online regs. confirmations (question about security of annuities).


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pete75
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by pete75 »

Personally I've stuck with an index linked final salary pension. I know they are unpopular these days, considered old fashioned and many people are turning away from them and our scheme has actually been described as a dinosaur pension by a new HR person. Despite all the criticism though I'll stick with it and think it'll turn out better than so called money purchase schemes.
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Spinners
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by Spinners »

pete75 wrote:Personally I've stuck with an index linked final salary pension. I know they are unpopular these day...


Eh? Providing you've got decent length of service, most of us (who aren't already in one) would give our right arm to be in a final salary pension. They are not unpopular... they are desired!
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rjb
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by rjb »

pete75 wrote:Personally I've stuck with an index linked final salary pension. I know they are unpopular these days, considered old fashioned and many people are turning away from them and our scheme has actually been described as a dinosaur pension by a new HR person. Despite all the criticism though I'll stick with it and think it'll turn out better than so called money purchase schemes.


Your lucky if you can stil get it. These were gold plated pensions the likes of which are fast becoming scarce as employers close them due to costs. Look at the pensions deficit of companies like BT, £14 billion is the latest figure :shock: Many have closed these schemes to new members and would like to get shot of them completely if they could. Taxation by various governments of all parties on pension schemes made these a liability for employers. If you have a final salary scheme stick with it. :wink: Money purchase schemes put all the risk on the person buying the pension. Advice offered by financial so called experts is not always as good as it should be, skewed by commision, so get advice from as many as possible if needed. I agree the whole pension business needs better training for advisors and a regulator with teeth to weed out the unscrupulouse.
Last edited by rjb on 15 Feb 2018, 10:33pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Police officers and the like get good pensions I think
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pete75
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by pete75 »

Spinners wrote:
pete75 wrote:Personally I've stuck with an index linked final salary pension. I know they are unpopular these day...


Eh? Providing you've got decent length of service, most of us (who aren't already in one) would give our right arm to be in a final salary pension. They are not unpopular... they are desired!


They seem to very unpopular - just look at the number of schemes being axed.
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pliptrot
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by pliptrot »

It is only with a little humour that I suggest the inclusion of the terms "vultures" and "parasites" with the title "financial advisers" is redundant. If we were to buy bikes as we buy financial products and services there would be at least five extra companies between supplier and the buyer, each of these taking their unjustified and excessive cut. Financial advisers invariably give bad advice (at best, imagine going to a Toyota dealer and asking for impartial advice on buying a car). Those huge talents in the city without which the UK would fail? Very few of them can out-perform tracker funds, and they have exorbitant charges anyhow. Most people who are not on defined benefits schemes (most now, by far) will end up with annuities - which are a scandal. Easy money makes for indolent, greedy fools. No wonder property has become the investment vehicle it has.
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Re: The blood suckers circle around when the pickings are rich

Post by Vorpal »

pete75 wrote:Personally I've stuck with an index linked final salary pension. I know they are unpopular these days, considered old fashioned and many people are turning away from them and our scheme has actually been described as a dinosaur pension by a new HR person. Despite all the criticism though I'll stick with it and think it'll turn out better than so called money purchase schemes.

*people* are not turning away from them. Companies are not providing them, anymore. They are 'expensive'. That's why they have all gone with defined contribution. That way when the market crashes, they can wash their hands. It's not their fault, and they don't have to make up the shortfall anymore.

For years, companies got by with riding on bull markets, and not making any contributions at all when the market was doing well. They got used to this way of doing pensions, so when the market crashed (or even just slowed), it was suddenly horribly expensive. :twisted:
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