Scottish Widows v Vanguard v A.J Bell

[sus81]

I have a pension plan with Scottish Widows https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=VAUSA05WCD&investmentType=SA and funds are in Portfolio one and Portfolio two. It's doing well as far as returns are concerned but i would like a little more control over viewing my account online and the admin side is terrible. I can't even see how much fees im paying or view how much i have contributed, it's so frustrating. I just downloaded their new app and it's appalling. I hear great things about Vanguard and also have started reading ups about A J Bell. Im worried if i move over to another provider i wont be able to access the same funds as i was happy with the return. Could someone recommend funds on Vanguard or A. J Bell that would be equivalent to Scottish widows fund one and fund two. Im not sure which to move over to. Has anyone got advice on this

 

[harley]

@sus81 How much are you actually paying in fees at the moment? Did you ask Scottish Widows?

Bear in mind that since your current fund choices aren't on Vanguard and probably aren't on AJ Bell, transferring would involve selling everything and moving cash. During the time out of the market, it would be a bit annoying if the (equivalent) fund price rose by 10% while you're in cash (in other words: you effectively lose 10%), all in the hope of saving 0.1% per year fees or something...

 

[safethusfar]

@harley Lol. Have you ever tried contacting Scottish Widows? I have no idea what the underlying investments or fund fees are and they have never been able to clearly explain. Unfortunately my company uses them, so every couple of years I transfer the funds to my HL SIPP where I have visibility and control.

 

[sus81]

@harley

s aren't on Vanguard and probably aren't on AJ Bell, transferring would involve selling everythin

Im not sure how much i'm paying in fees, as i said the app or website doesn't give any information, I think around .3%

 

[harley]

@sus81 Definitely ask Scottish Widows about that.

Vanguard's total fees (excluding fund internal transaction costs) for their FTSE Global All Cap fund for example would be 0.23% + 0.15% = 0.38%.

Do you have the exact name of your current funds? Or a link to factsheet etc.? I had a quick look on Trustnet and there are "Pension Portfolio One Pension Series 1" to Series 4, all with different performance (and some others).

 

[sus81]

@harley Found it https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=VAUSA05WCD&investmentType=SA

 

[sus81]

@harley Pension Fund
Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio One Pension (Series 2)

Fund Size £1,720.8m

 

[sus81]

@harley Would it be worth setting up a separate Pension with Vanguard and have the 2 pensions?

 

[sus81]

@harley .75 per anum

 

[jesusistheefaith]

@sus81 https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

 

[sashieng]

@sus81 When you say tou have a plan with Scottish Widows, is this a workplace scheme? And, are you an active member (still contributing)?

 

[sus81]

@sashieng It was a work scheme pension but i have since left the job and now freelance. I still contribute to the pension. I just read that my pension plan charges 1% per annum

 

[sashieng]

@sus81 You cannot take the charges advertised on their general website, you need to confirm the actual charge with the scheme, as oftentimes employers can negotiate lower charges.

 

[jesusistheefaith]

@sashieng To back up your point, my Scottish Widows Workplace Pension annual management charge was previously 0.3% and then reduced further to 0.19%.

 

[sus81]

@jesusistheefaith Are you still with Scottish Widows?

 

[jesusistheefaith]

@sus81 Yes, although I did start a partial transfer to Vanguard last week out of curiosity. The process was simple enough. The Scottish Widows pot size dropped the following day, just waiting on it arriving at Vanguard... hopefully not much longer :-/

 

[jesusistheefaith]

@sus81 If a transfer timescale is of any use to you, the funds from Scottish Widows have just appeared in my Vanguard account, around 10 days after opening the SIPP and initiating the transfer.

 

[sus81]

@jesusistheefaith Ok great. I managed to speak with a Scottish Widows adviser today and she informed me my fees are .75 annual maintenance. Also my pension has't been performing the best recently so maybe i should wait till the market recovers as i would lose out

 

[westboro]

@jesusistheefaith Hi there, I'm thinking of transferring from Scottish widows. But my new provider doesn't have the same funds, so I suppose the transfer will be in cash (not in specie) Do I have to request SW to sell the relevant quantity or will the new provider take care of that. Did you have a that scenario and how did it work in your case?

 

[jesusistheefaith]

@westboro For me it was a partial transfer so as part of the Vanguard SIPP registration process I gave details of pension provider, my account number and the cash value that I wanted transferred. I didn't have to contact SW for any of it.
If you're transferring full pension you shouldn't have to specify a quantity.
As I said, it took 10 days for cash to be transferred. Then I think it was another 2-3 days for purchase of the new funds to complete.