SewellBrydenGunn are pleased to confirm that they have adopted the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and Personal Finance Society (PFS) Pension Transfer Gold Standard. The Gold Standard is a voluntary code of practice for safeguarded and defined benefit pension transfer advice, based around a set of principles underpinning good practice and high professional standards when giving pension transfer advice.
Taking regulated financial advice is compulsory for anyone seeking to transfer ‘safeguarded’ benefits of more than £30,000. This rule is there for your protection and applies to Defined Benefit / Final Salary Pension Schemes, Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs) and pensions with Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GARs).
Pension Transfer Advice is a complex area and it is essential that you have enough understandable information about the advantages and disadvantages to avoid making any expensive mistakes and ensure the real value of safeguarded benefits is transparent and not underestimated.
According to the Personal Finance Society: 'the gold standard principles are designed to empower you to:
- Make an informed decision on whether a transfer of your pension benefits is appropriate for you
- Help in understanding what good advice in this area should look like
- Find an advice firm which has already adopted the Gold Standard'
The Pension Transfer Gold Standard is intended to help clients recognise good practice as well as ethical and professional standards when seeking financial advice on pension transfers. www.thepfs.org/ptgsconsumer
For more information and advice about pension transfers
please call us on 01344 636337
