There's No Wrong Time To Be Thinking About Your Pension

There might not be a wrong time, but there is a right time, and that time is now. Whether you're in your twenties, thirties, forties, or fifties, if you've not started thinking about your pension, there’s no time like the present. Obviously, the earlier you start preparing the better.

If you think your retirement is a lifetime away, you’ll be surprised how quickly it comes around. Before you know it, you’ll be knocking on the door of retirement and have made no financial preparations. Do you want to spend your twilight years worrying about every penny you spend? Surely that’s not why you’ve been working all these years.

Getting the Best Pension Deal

There are plenty of different pension options, but you need to be sure you've got the right one. You might have caught one of the many media stories about pension misselling. 

If you don’t want to get caught out with a mis-sold pension, you must do your research. Here are some of the contract-based pension schemes you might want to sign up for.

SIPP – Self Invested Personal Pensions are a type of pension that can run alongside a workplace pension. These pensions are an individual contract between yourself and a pension provider. The broad investment powers of a SIPP mean you can invest in a range of assets.

SSAS – SSAS stands for the small self-administered scheme. It is a type of defined contribution pension an employer can self-manage. There do, however, have to be fewer than 12 members.

QROP – A Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme is an overseas pension scheme that meets specific HMRC requirements. A QROP has to have a beneficial owner and trustees. It can receive transfers of UK pension benefits.

These are just three examples of the type of pension scheme you might be able to sign up for. For a person without any pension scheme knowledge, navigating the pension waters can be very dangerous. But who can you ask for advice?

Where to Get Your Pension Advice

Trying to find the best pension advice can be challenging, especially if you have no previous experience. Whether you want SIPP, SSAS, QROP, or any other type of pension, having someone you can trust in your corner is vital. 

To lower the risk of mis-sold pensions or a mis-sold annuity, you should seek the advice of an FCA authorized financial adviser. Don’t be tempted to get help from a pension introducer, as these people are not the best place to go to for pension advice. 

There have been numerous cases of a pension introducer playing a part in one of the many mis-sold pension and mis-sold annuity scandals of recent years. A pension introducer often cold-calls potential clients. 

They then pass on your details to an unregulated marketing firm. They are not regulated by the FCA and therefore could be a party to a pension mis-selling scam.

If you find you’re the victim of a mis-sold pension, it is possible to get claims advice, but the route to getting your money back is fraught with obstacles. To be successful with mis-sold annuity claims or SIPP claims, you have to be able to prove you were given the wrong advice. It might relate to a final salary pension transfer, defined benefit pension or one of many other pension alternatives.

There have been many cases of mis-sold pensions and annuity claims in the recent past. So much so that a whole industry has grown up around mis-sold pensions. SIPP claims, annuity claims, problems with a defined benefit pension, or a final salary pension transfer can often be solved. 

Provided you know where to get claims advice. The best place to start is by calling the Pensions Advisory Service.