Dominic Browning, Managing Director
Posted by Dom Browning
05/10/23
News, Resources, Insight and Opinion from Browning Financial Planning

Reviewing your company pension funds

Dominic Browning, Managing Director
Posted by Dom Browning
05/10/23

Auto-enrolment (where employers and employees have to pay into a company pension) has been in place for quite some time now and seems to be a success.

This means that your company pension funds can become quite substantial in value and can sometimes even exceed the value of your home.

Increasingly our clients ask us to review the funds they are invested in in their company pensions. Quite often they are in poor value-for-money default funds and this can cost them thousands of pounds in lost returns over the long-term. Alternatively, they might be invested in “dog” funds (simply funds which have consistently poor performance) or are investing in the wrong assets.

Financial Advisers have typically made a note of a client’s company pension details including the funds invested in, but never advised on these assets. Since the value of the company pension will have a significant effect on whether a client runs out of money in retirement or not, we think reviewing these funds is just as important as reviewing the funds we look after in our model portfolios.

So, we are introducing a new service where, for a one-off fee, we will give you feedback on your current company pension scheme funds. We ask you to provide a list of all the funds available and will give you advice on what we consider to be the best funds available.

Our fee is 0.5% of the fund value, with a minimum fee of £250. This is a one-off fee for a one-off service. There will be no on-going review of the suitability of the funds selected and if at a later date, you want us to review your funds again, you will need to contact us again to request a review, which will be chargeable.

More News, Insight & Opinion
HMRC repaid record £198m on flexible pension withdrawals

A record £198m was repaid on flexible pension withdrawals for the tax year 2023/24, latest HMRC data shows. Continue

Life Boat Drills

If you have ever been on a cruise, you will be aware that the crew will carry out lifeboat drills either in harbour or shortly after leaving.  Continue

Why our fees are competitive

I was recently shown the pricelist of St James's Place, a FTSE100 financial advice firm. I nearly fell off my chair. Continue

Company Pension planning options

We regularly look at the company pension funds of prospective and existing clients. Continue

Reduction in tax allowances

General Investment Accounts (GIAs) are subject to Capital Gains and Dividend tax but have had some fairly generous annual allowances until recently, when the Tory government started taxing aspiration. Continue

Am I on track to retire comfortably?

Clients often ask me if, for their age, they are on track to retire comfortably. Continue