Do I have to have an adviser to move my pension?

I have about £380,000 in a drawdown pension pot. As I have other pensions of a final salary type, I do not need to draw anything from the drawdown pension at the moment or in the foreseeable future. I am 70 years old and have been retired for a couple of years now. Since retiring the pot has been invested via Transact.

My adviser is looking to retire and as an interim measure has become part of True Potential. I read on the internet that True Potential will be paying a large fee to get me on their books as it were. It would seem to me that my adviser is going to receive a large fee for doing nothing which I object to. Is it true that I have to have a Financial Adviser to enable me to put the pot into an alternative to True Potential? What if I want to just change my advisor?

Hello John, thanks for your question. You’re sadly not alone in this position as many financial advisers are approaching retirement and “cashing out” by selling their business to consolidators such as True Potential. You do not have to accept this and can elect to appoint a new IFA at any point which could prevent your current adviser for getting a pay-out for having you as a client when he joins True Potential.

It’s a very straightforward process that we go through with clients all the time simply by signing a new engagement letter and appointing us as their new adviser. You also don’t have to have a financial advisor at all and if you’re comfortable managing your own affairs, could switch to a self-directed service. It all comes down to what an adviser is doing for you, and what you value. Why not speak to a few IFAs and see what they say and if you get on with them and if could see yourself working well with them. Very happy to have a chat if you’d like to speak to us, just drop me a line.

Kind regards.