Your Questions Answered
What experience do O&M have and why should I use you?
O&M have been involved in pension transfers for the past decade and supply large, well-established, firms with their own specialist pensions computer software. The Financial Services division is a regulated company, which complies with the strict rules of the industry regulator the Financial Services Authority. [Top of Page]
How do I know I won't be mis-sold a pension?
Since the pensions mis-selling fiasco in the early 1990's the pension industry has become very regulated and only advanced "specialist" financial advisers can advise the public on transferring pensions. They have to document the reasons why they suggest a transfer and also provide evidence about it; this is all before a client makes a decision! [Top of Page]
Why should I move my company pension scheme?
More often than not our advice will be to leave your pension benefits with your ex-employer. However, it is worth investigating as not all schemes will provide you with what you want from your pension before and in retirement. [Top of Page]
How much will it cost me for O&M to research my pension transfer options?
O&M offers two options when reviewing your deferred occupational pension, as follows:
Commission Payment - We will investigate if it is in your best interests to transfer and provide our recommendation. If you want the transfer to go ahead we will receive a commission payment from the insurance company for introducing the business to them. The insurer will normally pay us between 4.5% - 6% of the transfer value they receive.
This payment is usually not a direct deduction from the amount invested. The insurance company recovers the cost of our payment along with their own costs through charges over the life of the investment. We do use some products whereby our commission is deducted from your invested fund after a transfer takes place, however these products have a much lower ongoing cost, so often work out better value for money in the long term.
Under the commission payment option, if a transfer does not take place, there is NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE for the analysis and advice we have provided.
Fee Based - Everyone's circumstances and requirements are different so it's difficult to quote an exact fee. To start our investigations you must clarify what options you want us to research and we will confirm a fee from the outset. A typical case requires 20 - 30 hours of detailed work involving an analyst, adviser and support staff and will cost around £2,000 + vat. [Top of Page]
Should I appoint O&M on a Fee or Commission basis?
If we investigate your pension transfer options for a fee it will always be payable no matter what the advice. It is for this reason that most people prefer the commission basis. Although the commission route may appear daunting there is no need to be unduly concerned, the Financial Services Authority force Financial Advisers to state the levels of commission they will receive and you will therefore know exactly what is going on when the insurer pays us.
When you appoint us to investigate your pension transfer options we will send you our Terms of Business and at that stage you will be able to indicate which method, Fee or Commission you want to adopt. [Top of Page]
How long will it take?
Normally a case will take between 1 - 6 months. Although this may seem like a long time all final salary company pension schemes are legally allowed to take up to three months before they have to supply us with a guaranteed transfer value (TV). The majority of schemes do not use all three months although it is worth pointing this fact out, as the delay would not be due to O&M's service.
Once we've got a TV we can then start our transfer analysis report, most pension scheme statements do not provide enough detailed pensions information to undertake an analysis so we usually contact them to clarify various points. Once the report is produced an O&M adviser will be able to offer you Financial Advice about your transfer options. [Top of Page]
If you have any questions which you want to raise, jot them down and Contact Us.
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