BROWNING
FINANCIAL PLANNING
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
Inheritance Tax Planning

Trying to pass on as much as your wealth as possible to your children is getting harder and harder, due to the freezing of the IHT (Inheritance Tax) thesholds since 2009.  Continue

Investment Bonds

An investment bond is a packaged investment offered by a life company as opposed to an investment company. They work differently to investment company package products (known as General Investment Accounts or GIAs). Continue

Continuing Regular Savings

The number one factor in building a retirement or investment pot is investing regularly over the long-term and keeping it going until the day when you need to draw down on your investments or pension pot. Continue

Discretionary Trusts v Protective Property Trusts

Putting a trust in your Will to make sure your loved ones inherit something is a very good thing. We commonly see PPTs (Protective Property Trusts) in Wills but sometimes think a DT (Discretionary Trust) might be a better solution in many cases. Continue

The Great Sale

Currently there is a sale of the great companies of the World on and you should seize the opportunity to buy discounted shares. Continue

Inflation - a cancer on your Wealth

It is commonly believed that when you retire, your number one priority should be the preservation of your capital. Continue