Transferring old DC pension into SIPP

I have a small pot in an old DC pension from a job I left a decade ago & this is in a generic global tracker offered by the provider. Doing my year end accounts I note this has returned <7% after fees this last year whereas my SS ISA global fund has returned >14%.

Is there any downsides I should consider before transferring this old pot into a Vanguard SIPP invested in the same fund as my ISA?

Thanks

Ask the DC pension provider for a statement.  You are looking to ensure the “transfer value” isn’t a ridiculously small amount e.g. you lose your growth due to some t&cs.   It shouldn’t be the case, I think there’s some kind of law about that.    The “cash” value certainly can be and is smaller.

After that the process is simple, you go into your SIPP, hit the transfer option put in provider and account number and Vanguard do it all for you.

DC transfer should now be pound for pound. You might lose benefits associated with the pension, but not the value.

This is not true with DB pensions though!

Thanks both. I’ll look into the paperwork in the morning. Vanguard made it pretty easy to transfer my ISA so hopefully a DC company pension > SIPP will be straightforward too. 

The performance  will be impacted by two factors a) fees b) performance of investments.

One funds relative good past  performance is not a guarantee of future relative good performance.

You might want to consider not having all your investments in the same fund  / market.

But minimising fees is a good idea.

It is worth comparing different SIPP providers fees  which is the best buy depends on size of your fund and how often you will trade.

Some googling will take to some comparisons.

The fact you haven’t touched it in 10+ years & it’s still in the generic tracker suggests you aren’t an active portfolio manager, so having everything in 1 place will keep it simple. You can however choose from many funds within the vanguard platform.

Be careful chasing past performance. I’ve got funds that grew 20% in the last year – the previous year though might make you have a heart attack!

The fact you haven’t touched it in 10+ years & it’s still in the generic tracker suggests you aren’t an active portfolio manager, so having everything in 1 place will keep it simple. You can however choose from many funds within the vanguard platform.

I’ve not touched it as it was from a part time job I had a student and I forgot about it for around a decade. Last year, when I found it, I changed the fund from something silly like 35% bonds to 100% equities global tracker to be as close as possible to my ISA.

It’s only now I can compare their global tracker and vanguard’s and see the exceptionally poor performance. Absolutely understand that past performance no indicator of future performance etc…

My query was more around whether there were any “gotcha” clauses I should be cognisant of before. Transferring it over into my active SIPP pot. 

👍

sorry if we were Mansplaining – there’s a lot of good stuff on the other current pension thread too.

Vanguard fees are pretty low, so you may find you are winning on fees too. 

As per science officer, it sounds like your biggest risk is losing any benefits associated with your  scheme. The provider *should * tell you if you lose any by transferring, but it doesn’t do any harm to ask.

as for the investments, it sounds like you’ve not got a lot to lose if your tracker is underperforming a vanguard fund (they’re pretty reliable at tracking their benchmark closely

on a small pot I’d do it for admin efficiency alone.