What we offer
Want to plan your retirement with your defined benefit pension, also known as a final salary pension? Then you’ve come to the right place. Our specialist advisers will help you plan your retirement income with Aviva pensions, annuities, income drawdown and more. Please bear in mind that our advisers can only recommend Aviva products and services.
You’ll also have access to our Gold Standard advice on whether or not you should transfer your defined benefit pension from one provider to another. This is important, because you’re required by law to take advice if the value of your pension is worth more than £30,000.
No obligation
You won’t pay a penny for your first meeting, and you don’t need to go any further if advice isn’t right for you
Abridged advice service £800+ VAT**
Options for you on the level of detail required
Open to all
You don’t need an Aviva Pension to contact us and there’s no minimum pension value required
Call us and we can look at all your pensions but can only recommend Aviva products and services.
Gold Standard defined benefit advice
Our advisers are accredited with the Gold Standard by the Personal Finance Society, which holds us to the highest standard of professionalism and public trust.
Your advice journey
Contact us
You call us or book a call back to find out if financial advice could help you. If advice is for you, we'll set up a meeting and establish if your defined benefit pension is right for you and your retirement goals with our two-step approach.
Abridged advice
The adviser will undertake an initial analysis to give you an indication as to whether you should keep your defined benefit scheme or whether the decision is unclear. At this point, you may choose to continue further with advice or end the process.
Further work required
If you decide to progress to step two, this stage requires additional work by the adviser to further investigate your pension(s), circumstances and options, and will provide you with a full advice recommendation. You can also choose our annual review service to stay on top of your plans.
How much does our financial advice cost?
You won’t pay a penny until you ask your adviser to go ahead and build your personalised retirement plan. And you don’t need a minimum amount in your pension before you can call us for help.
Our abridged advice service, which is step one of the process, costs £800 + VAT**.
Our total advice charge is made up of two elements. There’s our report fee, and in addition to this, our advice fee. The advice fee is calculated against the full investment value of any savings and investments we provide advice to you on.
**VAT may be applicable. Should you proceed to the full advice process (step two), the cost for our abridged advice service (step one) is offset against this. Your adviser will explain the advice charges to you.
Our charging structure is as follows:
| Element | Charge |
|---|---|
| Report fee | £1,525 |
| Asset value advised on | Advice fee |
|---|---|
| First £100,000 | 2.00% |
| Next £200,000 | 1.75% |
| Next £200,000 | 1.25% |
| Next £500,000 | 0.25% |
| Amount above £1,000,000 | 0.00% |
Here’s how much you’d pay on a £100,000 pension:
You can also choose our annual review service to stay on track of your retirement plans and make changes where necessary. This costs 0.45% of your pension pot, capped at £2,200 per year.
Here’s how much you’d pay on a pension pot worth £100,000 for the year:
To keep things simple, we’ll take the advice charge from your existing pension rather than your bank account where possible.
Our advisers aren’t incentivised on how many customers they sign up to our service. Their only goal is to make sure you take the best retirement product and services to suit your future goals. If your adviser doesn’t think our advice will be of any value to you, they’ll let you know – you’ll be under no obligation to take things any further.
What our defined benefit advice customers say
Paul Grosvener
I was looking for advice on my retirement and pension options…the first being a defined contribution and the second a defined benefit pension. I was very happy with Ben as my financial adviser. He was very professional and focussed as well as helping to make the whole experience informative in the broader sense of addressing my aspirations for retirement. I ended the review feeling much better informed and confident that I better understood what my position could be and the options I have going forward.
Michael John Fitzpatrick
Throughout the entire process I felt very comfortable having chosen Aviva for the purpose of overseeing my pension aspirations. I was totally at ease with Mitesh’s professional and courteous approach. He was extremely thorough and explained everything clearly. My pension is now in place and I am eternally grateful to Mitesh’s hard work in bringing the process to a conclusion. Everything was literally plain sailing.
Things to know
Have your pension details ready
- To help get things moving, we’d be grateful if you have your pension details to hand before you call us.
Defined Benefit scheme valuation
- If you have over £30,000 to transfer from your pension, then you’re required by law to take financial advice. To calculate how much you can transfer, we use what’s called a Defined Benefit scheme valuation – also known as a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV).
- It’s possible you’ve already been given a CETV by your current pension provider. If so, then you need to let us know as soon as you contact us.
- Don’t have a CETV from your current provider? Then don’t ask them for one – it can slow the whole process down and end up costing you more in the long run. Let us do the hard work for you to keep things easier and more cost-efficient.
Speak to us for free
Call us now or book a call back for later. We’ll take a look at your situation and let you know if our financial advice could help you.
Call us on:
*Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm
For our joint protection, telephone calls may be recorded and/or monitored and will be saved for a minimum of 5 years. Calls to 0800 numbers from UK landlines and mobiles are free.
Want to reach us outside of office hours?
Tell us when you'd like us to contact you and we'll get in touch
Useful information
Take a look at some other sources of help and guidance.
Retirement articles
Read up on our impartial help articles.
What is investing and how can a financial adviser help?
Certain images may spring to mind when someone mentions an ‘investor’. It’s easy to visualise a well-heeled individual in a sharp suit clutching a copy of their financial newspaper.
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An introduction to Abridged advice
An introduction to abridged advice, for defined benefit pension transfers
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What you need to know about defined benefit transfers
If you have a defined benefit pension, you may be able to transfer it into a more common type of pension.
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How defined benefit transfers work
If you're considering a defined benefit transfer - we've put together a timeline showing how long it typically takes to complete.
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Aviva Administration Limited. Registered in England No. 03424940. Aviva, Wellington Row, York, YO90 1WR. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm Reference Number 185746.