Published on 12, July, 2020
Somehow I once managed to hold down a job long enough to accrue a bit of a pension pot which I now need to transfer/get at. To do this you now have to have a form signed by an 'IFA' or independent advisor. So I did my usual trick which is email a few as I can't use phones or do face to face and got nowhere. Most either don't reply or email back demanding my phone number. Also their websites to me are rather evasive or lacking precise details which winds me up a lot. And they are mainly focussed on luring you into a lifelong relationship involving ongoing fees. I wonder if anyone here has managed to use an IFA? Any tips? Maybe there is an autism aware one somewhere? PS remember to be careful divulging financial info in emails!!
What happens if you say you're deaf in your email?
Wait, is it not possible to draw a pension at 55 without a phone call? If so I'm going to stop putting money into mine because I'll never be able to do that.
Did you manage to sort out your pension? I'm an outsourced paraplanner (I conduct research and write reports for IFAs and their clients). I'm also autistic. I know of a few advisers who may be able to help you. It's important to ensure you're not giving up any valuable guarantees when transferring pensions, and that you're invested appropriately so definitely worth speaking to an IFA!
I have a friend who works at a pension company. They tell me they often ask for a letter from an IFA to stop people getting scammed. A lot of con artists will try to persuade you to shift your pension into a dodgy scheme (and be honest how would you know a dodgy scheme from a legit one) to scam you out of money. So pension companies prefer to deal with competent middle men. That said there is no rule that you have to have an IFA and I'm not sure they can refuse you if you insist? They may make you sign a form to acknowledge that they've warned you you are probably being scammed.
Did you manage to get your form signed by an IFA so that you can get your pension? My grandma has a similar problem now, and we don't know what to do.
That's a shame, if you had been down south i might have been able to help facilitate with an autistic friendly IFA.
Scotland
What area of the country are you in?
Just out of curiosity I checked the call register on my phone and I've only dialled 2 numbers so far this year and one of those no-one answered so total phone conversations year to date is 1. :-(
You might just have to knuckle down and go for the phone call, but tell them of your issues with phone calls in advance and that you don't like to be pressured. If they are a good IFA they will probably understand, if they are pushy and difficult you wouldn't want to deal with them anyway so you can just hang up.
It's definitely something that needs consideration yes. But its the engagement process with the advisor that's bothering me - doing it without using a phone or a personal visit...
I would say it depends on how much you have in you pot then. You need to be careful as you will want to pay no or minimal tax on it and you won't want it to impact and of the current benefits you're eligible for.
There seem to be a bunch of online IFAs and you can verify their certification online, I'm guessing your affairs shouldn't be too complicated as from what you said in your first post your pot probably isn't in the hundreds of thousands, but the benefits issue might complicate things somewhat.
Thanks but as you guessed this is an age 55 'transfer' so I can get at the cash (stuck on ESA Support group otherwise) and for those not familiar you definitely need IFA approval - the relevant clause is this one
www.legislation.gov.uk/.../enacted
Hi
I'm almost certain that you don't need a form signed by an IFA or anyone other than yourself to transfer your pension. I transferred one my mine from one provider to another in January of this year and didn't need anyone else's signature other than my own. It might be different if you're looking to withdraw your pension (if you're using the over 50 clause, but be careful of tax implications of withdrawing it) but I still would be surprised if there was a requirement for an IFA to sign anything.
My advice in this situation would be to speak to Citizens Advice, they will be able to tell you what's actually needed and I strongly suspect that your current pensions provider is trying to take you for a ride. They aren't pushy, they will within reason correspond on email and if you tell them you're autistic and struggle with phone conversations they will take account of this if they do need to speak to you on the phone (or in person).