Who Can Do a Pension Review?
Retirement planning has become a major financial responsibility that many of us are trying to tackle as early as possible. It’s becoming clear that State Pensions will no longer be able to provide us with anything but the bare necessities, and many people find this to be unacceptable after working for a large majority of their lives. As a result, people are starting to take their pension into their own hands by conducting regular reviews to ensure that they are optimising the amount of money being stored in it.
But who exactly performs a pension review for you, and what does it entail?
What does a pension review involve?
Pension reviews typically involve examining your pension to see how healthy it is. This usually involves checking the growth of your pension, finding lost and neglected pensions that you have forgotten about from previous employers, and optimising the pension with different investments. It will also check that your pension fund will be able to provide you with a healthy retirement.
Here are some examples of pension reviews and why they’re useful:
A 55-year-old person could have changed jobs several times and accumulated several pensions, resulting in multiple annual fees of differing rates. A pension review could identify the exact rates and there could be a possibility of consolidating these funds in order to reduce the amount paid in fees.
Another example could be a 60-year-old that wants to access their pension pot. A review might show that the pot hasn’t grown as expected due to a high amount of fees being paid. As a result, withdrawing from the pot might not be a desirable option, but the pension review could look for alternatives.
Who performs a pension review?
Pension reviews are performed by financial advisors from companies that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA’s website has an approved list of authorised companies that are permitted to perform your pension review.
It’s important not to trust any companies that cold contact you via phone, email, SMS or with other similar methods. Pension review scams attempt to persuade you to move your pension pot into a higher risk scheme that will likely take your money and run with it. They will claim they are approved by the FCA or may state that approval is not required since they are not the ones offering the advice.
How do I request a pension review?
A pension review can be requested at any time, but it’s important to seek out a financial adviser that works for a firm that is approved by the FCA to offer financial advice. The FCA has a register on its website that is a public record of firms, individuals and other bodies that are or have been regulated by the PRA and/or FCA. This will ensure that the financial advice you receive is impartial. The FCA register can be found at https://register.fca.org.uk/.
Pension reviews are important especially if you’re uncertain about the situation of your current pension, but it’s vital that you seek out financial advice from experts that are approved to do so.
If you are looking to get a pension review done, please do contact us through our website, email contact@tkvfm.co.uk or call 01384 671947
A pension is a long-term investment. The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.