Consolidate Your Pensions
Gone are the days when people used to opt for job for a lifetime. Then with a single job until retirement they also opted for a single pension plan and there was never a need for pension consolidation. Today, the job market is unsteady and the corporate demands are increasing day by day, people are changing jobs as fast as they change clothes!
Along with these job switches, comes the tension of consolidating all your different pension schemes as every employer would have offered some or the other scheme when you joined and this way have left a trail of unfilled pension pots behind you.
But why should you go in for pension consolidation in the first place? Well one basic reason is that it becomes difficult to keep a track of the various pension accounts and the way they are functioning. As the funds lie scattered, it is also difficult to accurately assess if we are saving enough for our retirement and if the returns are satisfactory.
Yet another difficulty would be that if you leave an account with one of your ex employer, the account remains dormant for quite a few years. In the meantime, there are chances that companies can get acquired over, shut down, insurers gets changed, policies changes and schemes get changed over. Therefore, it becomes difficult for you to be at the back of every scheme and keep following it. This definitely calls in for pension consolidation.
Yet another reason for pension consolidation is that different companies have their own set of rules and the paperwork can become cumbersome and confusing. So it is better to have all the schemes consolidated together as a single fund.
Again when it comes to charges every provider have their own charges. So to minimise the charges and get an economic and competitive rate for your pension scheme it is better to get the pension consolidated in to one place. This would give you a better value for your money invested and also an organised account.
Data states that on an average a person can possess up to 2-3 pension accounts running simultaneously. Different accounts may also lead to various investment opportunities being lost as one may not be following them up judiciously, undue exposure to high risks, increased cost of maintenance and even non performance of funds as one cannot sit tight and leave the investment part to be taken care of by your pension provider. No one can place a value for your money invested better than you.
At the same time, bypension consolidation you can also assess whether you have the right mix of asset funds or if you are being over cautious or taking too many risks with your portfolio of investments. This will let you then adjust the funds you invest on the basis of their risk factors and returns accordingly.
Given all the advantages of consolidating the different pension funds together, it is also wise enough to analyse each fund and their aspects in detail before taking a call as certain funds may provide special benefits that get lost when consolidated.
Joslin Rhodes has been providing financial advise for many years. They have a sensible approach to risk and managing wealth. Let the experts manage your finances, visit http://www.joslinrhodes.co.uktoday to find out more.
