Moving abroad and need to consolidate work pensions

Stonewolf

I'm going to be moving to the UK soon as I've been offered a shiney new job there and I'm trying to get my affairs in order over here before I go. I've tended to leave dealing with pensions in the hands of my employers but now I will need to move them into some form of personal plan as I'm not sure what the story with moving them crossborder would be.

I have two pension entitlements, both contributory schemes run by employers being my last and current ones respectively. The two have not been amalgamated because probationary employees at my current job were not allowed join the pension and the scheme only allows vestment every 6 months.

What I want is to purchase a single retirement product into which I can invest my former employers pension and then on leaving my current employer the pension from here also. I do not plan on making regular contributions as I expect to be in work schemes abroad also.

A coworker had told me that a PRSA is great for transfering pensions into on moving jobs but would a retirement bond be better for my situation? Also, which companies would people tend to recommend?

Any information you could give me would be a big help with my research.

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Stonewolf wrote: »

I'm going to be moving to the UK soon as I've been offered a shiney new job there and I'm trying to get my affairs in order over here before I go. I've tended to leave dealing with pensions in the hands of my employers but now I will need to move them into some form of personal plan as I'm not sure what the story with moving them crossborder would be.

I have two pension entitlements, both contributory schemes run by employers being my last and current ones respectively. The two have not been amalgamated because probationary employees at my current job were not allowed join the pension and the scheme only allows vestment every 6 months.

What I want is to purchase a single retirement product into which I can invest my former employers pension and then on leaving my current employer the pension from here also. I do not plan on making regular contributions as I expect to be in work schemes abroad also.

A coworker had told me that a PRSA is great for transfering pensions into on moving jobs but would a retirement bond be better for my situation? Also, which companies would people tend to recommend?

Any information you could give me would be a big help with my research.

PRSA is good for transferring several pensions, and everything is managed for you. You can also choose with your PRSA exactly how you want your money invested depending on your appetite for risk and how far away from retirement you are (they transfer into less risky options for the last 15 years or so). You can choose to have it managed for you completely or do the investment yourself. I have a PRSA with one of the big Irish providers and I checked with a few of them when deciding - try speak to a few of them about how the funds run, the ones I spoke to were really good at explaining it all. If there is a lot of money at stake maybe ask an independent financial provider? I know the draw back with OrSA is that the cost is apparently higher?

Humour Me

Just to note you cannot combine the 2 pension funds into one retirement bond product. You would need to either take out 2 bonds or transfer one into the other and then transfer the combined total into a bond.

Dont just look at funds and management fees when making your decision, you need to take the retirement benefits into account as well. For example you can access the retirement bond when you turn 50 but the earliest you can access a PRSA is 60.

Depending on how long you are in the UK you could also transfer the pensions over to a pension with you new employer under QROPS.

I would recommend talking to an independent financial advisor to see what suits your own circumstances best.

Stonewolf

From my research it does seem that I can transfer my Irish pension pots into a UK scheme on the same basis as if it were from a UK scheme.

What I'm considering is setting up a PRSA, dumping both pots into it and once I'm vested in the workplace scheme in my new job transfer that over. I might lose a little from fees I guess but it seems like the cleanest way to sort it out.

Thanks.