It might be time for us to eat our words!
Remember John Ruskin? “One of the great visionaries of the 19th Century”, Ruskin and economist Milton Friedman are largely credited as being the first to formally observe that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. In other words, everything has some kind of cost associated with it – and if an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is. At the time, we applied this principle to UK to New Zealand pension transfers, using some realistic, yet hypothetical, numbers to illustrate this point.
We may now have found an exception to this universally accepted rule.
How can people transfer their UK pension to New Zealand for free?
Every transfer case is different, because every person is different – in terms of age, situation, future plans, etc. In some instances, especially, for example, if their pension pots total under £30,000, someone may decide to leave their money where it is, as the initial fees could cancel out the potential benefits.
However, there could now be a way forward for these clients – if they feel confident about their preferred course of action and do not wish to seek financial advice.
GBPensions can connect them with a respected New Zealand QROPS (qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme) provider who will follow that person’s instructions and facilitate the transfer without any initial fees whatsoever (although standard ongoing servicing fees would apply and banking costs might be incurred).
So, pension transfers from the UK to New Zealand are free of charge now?!
That is definitely *not* what we’re saying!
Absolutely, this option is good news for some people. But, as we’ve said before (and actually can’t emphasise enough), every person who contacts GBPensions about a potential pension transfer has their own set of wants, needs, and circumstances.
GBPensions director Tony Chamberlain sums it up. “This could definitely be a viable alternative for some people, particularly those with more modest UK defined contribution (DC) pension pots. What remains important is that someone understands all the relevant facts so they can make a genuinely informed decision about how to proceed. The GBPensions team is always here to help in this regard.”
