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Penfold Review 2024: The Best UK Pension Provider?

Last Updated on January 19, 2023 by Harrison Brown
8.9/10 (Expert Score)
Product is rated as #1 in category Retirement
8.9Expert Score
Bottom Line

If you want to consolidate your retirement accounts and automate your pension investment strategy, Penfold is worth considering. You can use Penfold to transfer your pension into one convenient account where you can monitor performance, make trades, and get investment advice in one place. Additionally, hefty fees are typical for managing a pension, but Penfold's clear breakdown of its low management fees sets them apart from other pension providers.

Features
8.4
Pricing
9
Customer Support
9.3
Pros
  • Find, transfer, and forecast old pensions to Penfold automatically
  • Tax relief on contributions
  • Automated enrolment and pension tracking make it easy to keep track of your savings
Cons
  • Limited investment options compared to other pension providers
  • Not suitable for those looking for more complex investments or advice on their pension savings

What is it?

What Is Penfold?

Founded by Pete Hykin, Stuart Robinson, and Chris Eastwood, Penfold is an award-winning digital pension provider designed to help people take control of their retirement savings and grow their wealth.

With their purpose-built platform for pension investing, they removed the legacy systems and processes that old-school pension providers are built on. Instead, Penfold created a pension platform built on modern technology, with an experience that meets the needs of pension holders today.

Penfold has an intuitive pension app designed to help save for retirement, with easy goal setting, educational resources, and automated investment strategies. Moreover, users can find and combine old pensions in minutes and forecast their future earnings for complete visibility into their savings.

Pros & Cons

Pros & Cons Of Penfold

Pros
  • Tax Benefits: Penfold pensions offer tax advantages for higher earners, allowing them to put more money into their pension fund than they could otherwise.
  • Flexibility: The contribution limits for Penfold pensions are flexible, making them suitable for people with different income levels and objectives.
  • Affordable: These pension plans tend to be relatively affordable compared to other investment options because they require very little setup costs.
Cons
  • Limited Investment Options: Penfold pensions allow very limited choices regarding your investments with the funds in your account.
  • Complex Regulations: Numerous regulations surround Penfold pensions, which may be difficult for some people to understand.
  • Liquidity Issues: Preemptively taking cash from a Penfold pension before retirement may be difficult, as any withdrawals will be subject to hefty taxes and penalties.

Investment Options

Penfold Investment Options

Penfold lifetime investment fees:

£0 – £100,000 – 0.75%

Over £100,000 – 0.40%

Penfold offers a variety of pension plans:

Lifetime

Automatically adjusts investments to maximize early growth, then protects your pension pot as you approach retirement later in life.

Standard

Complete control of your retirement fund. Choose four risk levels – tailoring investments to fit your preferences and outlook.

Sustainable

Make a positive impact on the world without sacrificing growth. This strategy aims to invest in companies with the highest ESG ratings.

Sharia

Allocates 100% of investments into stocks compliant with Sharia law—approved by an independent Sharia committee. Shariah stops Penfold from investing in businesses that earn income by selling alcohol, abusive drugs, pork products, gambling, weapons, etc.

Fees

Penfold Fees

Penfold maintains transparent pricing with an ‘all in' fee. This fee includes administration charges and fund manager fees. For every plan, Penfold offers different pricing.

If you've ever looked into getting a private pension, you know that fees can go as high as 2% annually. While investment plans often cost you only a few quid in a few years, compound interest causes people to pay thousands of pounds later.

Penfold has transparent pricing; therefore, they decrease fees to 0.40% once you've reached £100,000.

Lifetime

0.75% for savings up to £100k

0.4% on any amount over £100k

Standard

0.75% for savings up to £100k

0.4% on any amount over £100k

Sustainable

0.75% for savings up to £100k

0.4% on any amount over £100k

Sharia

0.88% for savings up to £100k

0.53% on any amount over £100k

Features

Penfold Features

Get rid of all the confusing paperwork and jargon. Penfold's retirement plan is focused on the present. All you have to do to make a payment or move your pension is put in your information. To ensure the most seamless experience for saving for your retirement, Penfold offers the following features:

  • Transfer your existing pension
  • Flexible contributions
  • 25% tax relief top-up every time you contribute to your Penfold pension
  • The option to choose from 4 fully diversified funds
  • Friendly and personalized support
  • A transparent ‘all-in’ annual fee

Penfold will give you a detailed breakdown of your investments. They categorize your investment according to asset class, industry, and geography, allowing you to oversee your investments with the click of a button.

In addition, there's a constantly updated chart showing the performance track record of your plan, including past performance.

Penfold understands that investing can be difficult and aims to simplify retirement savings. Additionally, they allow users to save as much or little as they prefer. At Penfold, there are no minimum contribution or payment restrictions.

Who it's for

Who is Penfold for?

Penfold was first made for people who worked independently, but now employees can also use it. People who own their businesses or run limited liability companies have a more challenging time saving for retirement.

When you work for yourself, you are responsible for making sure you meet your own needs. You will have to take care of everything yourself. Most likely, you need help understanding pensions.

Final Word

Is Penfold worth trying?

Penfold is rated as ‘Excellent on the independent review site Trustpilot from over 550 reviews scoring 4.6 out of 5.0, with remarks for friendly customer service and a simplified saving experience. Additionally, there are hardly any complaints about poor customer service, and Penfold has helped many people to a happy retirement. Their pension service is cheaper than a financial adviser, and you can pay monthly installments with no hassle with forms. In short, Penfold allows you to have peace of mind when it comes to your pension.

After reviewing Penfold, their intuitive app simplifies pension contributions. Whether you're close to retirement age or just starting, the app offers most people a straightforward path toward picking pension plans. In addition, users can invest according to their preferred risk levels, including the option to impact the world with their sustainable plans positively.

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