Find Out What Pension Transfer Advisors Do For You

Pension transfer advisors play a crucial role in ensuring that our pensions are transferred into good funds, with the smallest about of hassle.

Pensions are a hot subject, and many people are looking at their current pension provision and wondering how they can improve it. Of the choices available, some decide to investigate transferring their pension to another provider or into a separate fund, in order to promote better growth or to have more control over the investment.

Whilst transferring your pension may seem straightforward, it is, in fact, very complicated, because you need to make sure that you are getting the same growth, range of benefits and service that you were getting from your original pension scheme.

Reading the personal finance pages or surfing the internet and reading articles like this will help, but these sources provide you with general advice and information. What you need in order to transfer your pension successfully is to meet with a pension transfer advisor.

You can find a pension transfer advisor locally, although pensions specialists will travel to see you, or give you advice over the phone. The increase in awareness of what our pension arrangements will do for us at retirement has meant that the number of pension transfer advisors has grown and so finding one shouldn't be difficult. Before you contact an advisor, though, you should be aware of what they will do for you.

Pension transfer advisors are specially trained and authorised to deal with pension issues. Working for independent financial advice firms, mortgage brokers, or large insurers and investment companies, their job is to ensure that you make the most of your pension arrangements, by ensuring good fund growth without compromising the benefits levels.

The first thing a pensions advisor will do is ask about your current pension. For this reason, you should ensure that you bring all the relevant paperwork with you to the meeting, or have it available if the advisor is meeting you at home. Your advisor will be able to give you a current transfer value for your pension, and then show you which comparable or improved funds you could transfer to. Their job is to recommend a course of action, and they are fully regulated by the Financial Services Authority, which means that their advice needs to be clear and set out in writing.

The pensions market is large and complicated, so don't expect pension transfer advisors to come up with a solution the first time they see you. They will need to research the market to find the funds that are performing to the same level as your current pension, that give you all the same benefits, or perhaps enhanced benefits, and that are suitable for your circumstances. For example, some funds may be appropriate if you are in your forties, but not if you are only five years away from retirement.

Finding good pension transfer advisors and forming a good relationship is important, as there may be other things you need to discuss with them, or you may receive letters from your pension fund that you need explaining. Your pension advisor will be there to ensure that you know exactly what's happening with your fund and what your best options are for the future.