Pension Planning

The asset nobody has looked at in a decade

For most internationally mobile clients the pension is a top-three asset by value and the one they know least about. Schemes get left behind in countries the client no longer lives in, statements go to addresses they no longer occupy, and the money sits in a default fund chosen for someone else’s retirement.

The first job is not to move anything. It is to find out what is actually there.

What we establish first

• What exists — every scheme, including ones from employers long since left
• What it costs — the charging structure, which is often layered and rarely visible on a statement
• What it holds — the actual underlying investments, not the fund name
• What it is worth — current value and, where relevant, the transfer value, which can differ sharply
• What currency it pays in — and whether that matches where you intend to live
• What happens on death — the death benefits attached, and who is currently nominated

Consolidation is not automatically the answer

Bringing scattered schemes together can reduce cost, simplify reporting and make the death benefits consistent. It can also mean giving up guarantees that are worth more than the convenience — a defined benefit promise, a guaranteed annuity rate, or protected retirement terms. Transferring out of a defined benefit scheme is rarely in a member’s interest and in several jurisdictions requires regulated advice we would refer you to obtain.

We will tell you when a scheme is better left exactly where it is.

The cross-border question

A pension is taxed where you are resident when it pays, not where you earned it, and the treaty position between those two countries decides a great deal. That is a question for your own tax adviser in both jurisdictions, and one we will tell you to ask before anything is moved. We are not licensed tax counsel.

What this leads to

A single view of what you have, what it costs, what it will pay and in which currency — and, where it makes sense, a consolidated structure that the rest of the plan can be built around. Where it does not make sense, a documented reason why not.