Pension Investment Advice: Tempted into buying overseas property and forests with your pension?

Complaints about personal pension schemes, where you choose your own investments, rocketed by 49 per cent last year with the majority saying they were sold risky and unregulated investments.

In 75 per cent of cases, the Financial Ombudsman said customers had been given dangerous advice to invest in unregulated funds via Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs), leaving them at risk of losing their pension savings.

Some of those who complained said they had been advised to move their retirement savings into SIPPs that invest wholly or partially in unregulated investments such as overseas property or forestry schemes on the promise of tax breaks and good returns, only to later find their investments can’t be accessed or have disappeared altogether.

In almost two-thirds of cases, the ombudsman found that either the SIPP provider or financial adviser was at fault, and not the consumer.

As well as concern about the kind of investment people are being advised to buy within a SIPP, the ombudsman said that some people are being sold SIPPs that are themselves unsuitable.

Do you know where your pension is invested?

If you were advised by a regulated independent financial adviser to transfer your pension into a scheme like the ones mentioned above, please call us for a consultation.

We act on a no win, no fee basis and you pay us nothing if your case is not successful.

For more information contact us via our online enquiry form or call us today.