Moving British Pension to a SIPP

Post Reply
wigintwat
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:12 pm

Moving British Pension to a SIPP

Post by wigintwat »

I am considering moving my British pension to a SIPP (in the UK) (Self Invested Pension Plan) which looks a bit like a 401K.



I am considering using the Agent *******who uses MC Trustees as the trustee.



Has anyone heard of these? any comments?



Also what would be considered reasonable charges for a pension?



These people want:

a 2.5% one time commission to move the pension



500 pounds a year maintenance fees



****** the agent want 0.25% a year commission.



Are these reasonable fees?



Has anyone done this with an old UK pension?

Thanks!
David Teene
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:55 pm

Moving British Pension to a SIPP

Post by David Teene »

dear wigintwat,

I just sent off the forms today to transfer my funds from my UK pension administrator to an MC Trustees SIPP. I'm a US citizen, but I worked in London for four years and built up some pension savings. I would have liked to transfer my assets to a US IRA or 401K, but that is not allowed.



I did a fair amount of research and found that the representatives from xxxxxxxwere the most knowledgeable on my situation and they were eager to business with me. So I went with them. They are somehow in bed with MC Trustees which I guess manages the SIPP. Once the money is in the SIPP, they are also pushing me to invest in a type of mutual fund with ****** I haven't decided where to how to invest my funds yet. I know that it is going to be a royal pain in the ass trying to manage my own investment choices. This is not going to be like the online system I have here in the US with Fidelity or USAA to manage my own 401K and IRS. I suspect I will have to fill out forms in triplicate and have them notarized before they will buy or sell shares months later. But this seems like the most desirable option I had.

One thing I will do is request the 25% up front drawdown and then the maximum drawdown periodic allowed under UK regulations.

You are correct on the 2.5% commission to move and the .25% annual commission. But I didn't see anything about a 500 pounds annual maintenance fee. I hope I didn't misread the fee schedule. That would be real ugly.

I'm wondering if your situation is similar to mine as you mentioned a comparison to US 401Ks.

I would appreciate any information you could add from your research. Respond to my post if you have any questions for me.

Cheers,

David
gmc
Posts: 13566
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:44 am

Moving British Pension to a SIPP

Post by gmc »

wigintwat;726946 wrote: I am considering moving my British pension to a SIPP (in the UK) (Self Invested Pension Plan) which looks a bit like a 401K.



I am considering using the Agent *******who uses MC Trustees as the trustee.



Has anyone heard of these? any comments?



Also what would be considered reasonable charges for a pension?



These people want:

a 2.5% one time commission to move the pension



500 pounds a year maintenance fees



****** the agent want 0.25% a year commission.



Are these reasonable fees?



Has anyone done this with an old UK pension?

Thanks!


Shop around get yourself a decent IFA, if necessary talk to two or three. The better ones will happily talk to your before you commit yourself to anything. either fee up front or a fee in the form of commission. If they want to charge you a fee just to talk to them walk away. There is a lot of choice out there and you need to be clear how elaborate a sipp you actually need, just because you can have all the bells and whistles doesn't mean you should. What exactly are tgheyb going to do for £500 a year. You don't say what the fund management charges are.
Post Reply

Return to “Retirement Planning”