Pension scam - take care of your pension pot

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It is an unfortunate fact of life that there are plenty of people out there who will be only too keen to remove your money from you by whatever means possible. That includes your pension lump sums or “pension pot” as they’re sometimes called.

Given the recent changes in the law that increase our degree of freedom to dispose of our pension pot as we will, one area targeted by the scammers and thieves is that involving people who have taken early pension pot cash payments.

The principles of the scams

There are far too many variations on this to discuss in a simple brief blog of this nature.  Here at Over50choices, we have heard of many and quite literally dozens if not hundreds more pension pot scams have been reported in the press from time to time.

Although there is a huge degree of variation in the tactics adopted by these crooks, they do share certain characteristics in common:

• they promise a hugely and unrealistically optimistic view of the returns you’ll see if you invest your money in their proposed scheme or schemes. Remember, one of the oldest and most valuable pieces of advice ever given in the domain of finance is that if a deal appears too good to be true then it almost certainly is;

• high pressure tactics are used in order to get you to sign-up.  These are often of a “sign up now because tomorrow it will be too late” nature. They may be accompanied by numerous phone calls and multiple texts or email messages;

• it is not clear how they have got your name and contact details;

• they will not be regulated by an official UK entity such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

In some cases, the proposed investment is real though the potential yields are being hugely exaggerated, mis-sold and the risks involved not clearly highlighted. In other instances, they are cruder frauds where the proposed investment doesn’t even exist.

Irrespective of how these are categorised, you as the investor may suffer significant damage to your overall financial position and very possibly the total loss of your capital.

Pension scams targeted at your pension pot are by no means rare and they are a very real risk to your future financial wellbeing.  Don’t fall for them!

Your options

If you are looking to obtain a sensible, safe and thoroughly regulated benefit from your pension pot, it may be worthwhile considering one of the range of options open to you with major UK companies.

We should be clear that these are not “get rich quick” schemes!  What they can do though, is to take your pension lump sum and invest it sensibly so that it yields an annual return that you can use as you think fit. 

There are a range of options available and pension pot investment is not something to be taken lightly.

The Age Partnership pension pot advisory service can look across a range of these options for you and highlight their respective pros and cons.  You can then look at the projected return figures and do so in the sure confidence that you are dealing with organisations that are subject to strict regulation.

So, don’t be tempted by the pension scams. Keep your pension pot money where it belongs, under your control and providing you and your family with benefits going forward.   

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