Obtain a UK Pension (Final Salary) Transfer Value

[Andrew from Vista Financial]

I would encourage anyone with a private UK Defined Benefit Pension Scheme (sometimes referred to as a final salary pension) to obtain a transfer value.

Values have been increasing steadily over the years and it is believed that they have now perhaps peaked.

We are seeing values on average standing around 25x the current annual pension benefits.

This means that if you have a UK pension and the current benefit gives you a yearly pension of £10,000 the transfer value could be £250,000.

So if you are a deferred member of a Defined Benefit (final salary) UK Pension Scheme and live in Australia we strongly believe that you should be proactive in this area and we (Vista Financial Services) can request the relevant transfer values and information for you.

We can then if required provide advice around whether these benefits are best placed where they are OR whether they are going to work better for you in retirement elsewhere we can then if appropriate carry out a transfer for you.

Our solutions include being able to transfer to an Australian Super Fund (QROPS) where applicable which is a solution only open to people above age 55 currently (due to HMRC legislation).

We are also able to provide advice on transferring into an International SIPP (perhaps as an interim measure if under age 55 until it can be transferred to an Australia Super Fund) where the money can be appropriately invested as advised by us into UK and Australian currency dominated investments (I will expand more on this solution in another post).

Please note that government pensions such a NHS and Police Pension cannot be transferred neither can the UK State Pension.