Wendy E

Pamela, you are right about the seniors pension being frozen at current payout with no increments.

Re Company pension I have just seen Scotia Bank as they were a listed approved institution and they think they can do it, so fingers crossed. Will let you know.

excdncop

I am still receiving quite a few requests for my friend's information regarding UK pension transfers. For those of you who are interested, he will be doing free seminars on the topic in Edmonton and in Calgary during the last week of June. He is also doing seminars in Ontario. Anyone who is interested can PM me and I will forward you the details along with his contact information.

Cheers,

Excdncop (formerly Canadapension)

nigelonline

Would you advise anyone interested to shop around or do you think they should trust entirely in your "friend". Are you and he completely unbiased ?

I know forums can be used as easy introductions to people anxious to get money matters sorted, and , with all the other distractions of emigrating a lot of people can fall easily into the trap of not researching the implications of wether or not they are getting the best deal. A pension adviser making an extra $1000 dollars on commisions can make a huge difference to the value of a Pension fund in 20 years time.

Iain Mc

Is there any disadvantage to just leaving company pensions in the UK and getting the payments made to Canada on retirement? (presuming they'll do it, which I think my lot will).

Also interested re: the NHS as the missus has an NHS pension and trying to get sensible information out of them is like drawing blood from a stone.

Cheers, Iain

nigelonline

My understanding is that if you transfer your pension to Canada it will be handled by a licensed adviser who will obviously need paying. Your Pension fund will have to be invested and will produce an income at retirement. The investment may grow at a better or worse rate than if you leave the fund in the U.K but if you transfer the Fund it will start at a disadvantage if the adviser takes commision from the fund. Nobody works for nothing!

If your U.K pension is a Final Salary scheme you can either usually leave the Fund in the U.K and have the income paid to you, and you know exactly how much you will receive (subject to the exchange rate) Or you may be able to transfer it to a suitable Canadian Fund where its performance is subject to it being well invested and of course the probability that a Fund Manager and adviser will take their cut first.

Your Company Staff Pension Fund will probably be able to give you your options although they wont recommend a specific course of action.

I will be leaving my pension in the U.K and having the monthly income paid to me in Canada. It will be taxable in the Country to which I will pay Tax i.e Canada.

excdncop

Obviously I have a bias when it comes to my friend. However, I would not recommend him if I didn't think he was the best person for the job. I personally know several people he has assisted with transfers, and they all say he did a great job. I don't recommend people lightly since it is ultimately a reflection on my character and integrity.

I know he does not charge a fee for the transfer service and he does not charge an upfront commission. If you invest 100, 000 with him, the entire amount is invested. He can explain the numbers much better than I if you want more details.

Iain Mc

Thanks Nigel, that confirms what I was thinking and I'll be doing the same as you.

Wendy E

I raised the question of how to move a company pension in this forum a few weeks ago.
Someone kindly replied with a link to the uk tax office showing a list of approved banks and products for each country including Canada.
Scotia Bank was one listed with a few different products available.
I went to see a financial adviser in Scotia Bank and explained what I wanted to do.
I took him the letter from my previous uk employers which gave the transfer value of the pension and a couple of basic, short forms that the bank and I had to complete. Although the advisor was not familiar with the process, we had the whole thing sorted within a few days. The money was sent out a few days ago.
It is going into a RSP with the proviso that if I try and touch the money within 5 years Scotia Bank has to notify the UK tax authorities and there will be tax implications for me.
The process was quite simple and did not require a seminar or an advisor and it cost me nothing. The guy at Scotia Bank (main branch St. Catharines Ontario) had not done one before but he now knows what is involved.
The worst part was dealing with the human resources dept. at my previous Company as they did not know what they were doing but I just persisted and
finally started hounding up the chain of command to get it sorted out. In short this is what I did:-
1)Write to your Company and get a transfer value and request their paperwork to make and overseas transfer.
2)Meanwhile go into UK tax office website and find their list of qualifying financial institutions and products for Canada.
3)Approach a listed Bank and explain what you want to do.
4)When the paperwork and transfer value arrive take it to the bank and you/they fill it in and send it back to the Company.
5)Keep hounding your Company until you get the money through.

brianlew88

Hi Wendy,

Yes Scotiabank is approved as a QROPS. I have been transferring pensions from the UK for the past 3 years and have a lot more experience than one. Having worked for Scotiabank for 7 years in the past, I can tell you first hand how they operate. As far as the seminar goes, it is not mandatory that you attend in order to get the details. It is merely offered because of the magnitude of people we are dealing with Nation-wide.

Thanks Wendy and good luck with your pension,
Brian

Paul Wildy

This is an area I am still struggling with. Have treid a couple of institutions that are supposedly QROPS approved but the transfer always seems to get bogged-down in buearocracy and they end up walking away from it. I think the key thing is that I don't want to transfer into a "locked-in" fund and although there are pension products listed on the QROPS list that are supposedly not locked-in I cant seem to get anyone to transfer into a non-locked in fund.

Can I ask - to all those people who have successfully managed to transfer - have you all transfered into "locked-in" funds or has anyone managed to transfer into a regular RSP?

Gray C

Search for Alex Fairhurst on this site (APFairhurst if I remember rightly). He was a UK based financial adviser that has now qualified to do the same under Canadian legislation. He should be able to advise you.