[email protected] | 01506 632929 | Monday to Friday 9am-4pm
[email protected]

01506 632929

Monday to Friday 9am-4pm

Frequently asked questions

Read some of our most frequently asked questions. Don’t see an answer you’re looking for? Contact a member of our team today.

We believe that you should be able to make informed decisions about your future by accessing free education before advice.

Making informed decisions is what we want you to be doing.

We have spent a combined 200 years of studying and practising Financial Planning. We know the value of education before advice and we want to share that with you.

Before we can begin looking at your options, we need to gather some information about your current circumstances.

We will carry out an assessment of your risk appetite, and at the same time, challenge your understanding of all risks. A critical evaluation will be made. We will look at your current retirement options and compare them with your future plans.

At the end of the ‘Abridged Advice’ process, our financial adviser will make a decision – based on what we have learned so far. Our advice will either be:

To remain within your current pension scheme, OR
Advice on the suitability to transfer is ‘Unclear’ – You can decide to exit the process or continue ahead with Full Regulated Advice.

We will cover a range of topics, including:

  • Transfer Value comparison.
  • Appropriate pension transfer analysis and critical evaluation of options between defined benefit pension and flexible options;
  • Full cashflow modelling, sustainability modelling and stress testing your retirement plans;
  • Discussion and evaluation of pension taxation, lifetime allowance and money purchase annual allowance;
  • Discussion on Death benefit options, IHT and legacy;
  • Discussion and comparative research of investment options, investment portfolios and workplace pension options;
  • Comparison of protections from PPF, FSCS, FCA and FOS.

 

Our advice will either be:

  • The pension transfer is unsuitable: We will provide you with a Final Advice Report. Our full legal and regulatory advice is confirmed within the Final Advice Report.
  • The pension transfer is suitable: We will confirm our Investment recommendations and provide you with a Final Advice Report. Our full legal and regulatory advice is confirmed within the Final Advice Report.
Pre Advice
  • Designed to educate you about the benefits & risks associated to financial advice.
  • It includes a series of short videos followed by quiz to test your understanding.
Free of charge
Abridged Advice
  • Fully regulated
  • Safe and secure
  • Easy access
  • Low cost
£1,950 fixed fee *
Full Advice
  • A deeper evaluation into your circumstances and options
  • Complex assessments
  • Pension and tax planning
  • Investment advice
  • Implementation of our recommendation
  • Annual health check included for the first three years
£9,500 min to 1.5% max *
For more information about Services and Charges, please get in touch with a member of our team. Our advice will either be that your pension transfer is unsuitable for your best personal interests OR the pension transfer is suitable and meets your best personal interests. The fees charged are exactly the same, regardless of the full advice outcome.
Have a look at our advice process flowchart – it sets out each step in the process.

Open PDF flowchart

Expert Pensions Advice LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under reference number 746548. Registered in Northern Ireland as a Limited Liability Partnership. Registration Number NC1204. Registered Address: Studio 3, Strand Studios, 150 Holywood Road, Belfast, BT4 1NY. Trading address: The Old Police Station, 58 East Main Street, Blackburn, Bathgate, West Lothian, EH47 7QS.

The guidance contained within this website is subject to the UK regulatory regime, and is therefore targeted at consumers based in the UK.

Find us on the FCA register

Expert Pensions use the Enterprise tier of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) as their core IT system for communication and collaboration.

Workspace brings the following security benefits for the company:

  • all data is stored in Google’s (very, very secure, see here) servers and is fully encrypted at rest and in transit
  • data has never been stolen or compromised from Google’s servers since the launch of Workspace in 2007
  • all users have two-factor authentication enforced to massively reduce the possibility of their account being compromised
  • files are stored in Google Drive with a variety of sharing permissions, working to the principle of least privilege
  • Google file formats are completely invulnerable to ransomware attacks
  • excellent spam filtering and user-based phishing/spoofing warnings to protect against email-based attacks
  • confidential emails (more secure form of email that allows for expiration to be set and asks for additional verification before opening) are used to send sensitive data to clients
  • Google Vault retains a copy of all email, chat and file data for auditing purposes
  • a 3rd party backup service also retains a copy of Workspace data for restoration in case of deletion/data loss
  • all user activity is logged and can be audited at any time

 

To access corporate systems and data within Google Workspace and other tools, Expert Pensions use a hardware combination of Chromebooks and Android smartphones.

As the primary device, Chrome hardware brings many huge security wins:

  • impossible to get viruses as the operating system is read-only and can’t be tampered with by applications (no anti-virus tools exist for Chrome hardware for this reason)
  • two factor authentication enforced on every sign-in to almost eliminate the possibility of malicious access
  • updates are applied automatically in the background ensuring the device always up-to-date with the latest security patches
  • two versions of the operating system are stored at all times, allowing for restoration if one becomes corrupted
  • almost no data stored locally on the device that is vulnerable to attack
  • every application that runs is sandboxed, meaning that any malicious activity cannot spread onto other applications

 

All Chrome and Android devices used to access corporate data are managed within the device management service in the Google Workspace console and can be remotely wiped/blocked if lost or stolen.

As Expert Pensions Google Cloud Partner, we’re not only on hand to help resolve any security issues or incidents – we also work pro-actively with EPA LLP to ensure that they are making the most of the latest features and capabilities as they are introduced by Google.

Get in touch?

We work exclusively online. All our meetings are conducted on online, recorded and saved for your protection and ours.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with a member of our team.