We’re on a mission to build pension confidence and put savers in the UK and the US in control of their retirement savings. Through our award-winning app, we make accessing your pension straightforward. It’s easy-to-use and allows you to withdraw with ease from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028).
In the UK, PensionBee combines your old workplace pensions and transfers them into one new online pension plan, managed by some of the world’s largest money managers. If you don’t know exactly where your old pensions are, you can contact your former employer or use the government’s free Pension Tracing Service. Or, if you’re self-employed, you can set up flexible pension contributions as a sole trader or director of a limited company. Contribute as much or as little as you like, as often as you like.
The “BeeHive” is a customer’s online account. Inside the BeeHive you can contribute to your pension. Our app makes accessing your pension straightforward. It’s simple-to-use and allows you to withdraw with ease from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028). You’ll be able to view your live pension balance and see your projected retirement income.
In the US, we help our customers to combine their retirement savings into a new online account, which they can manage from the palm of their hand. Our technology platform makes it easy for customers to consolidate their 401(k)s and IRAs into one diversified online plan, so they can take the first step towards financial freedom.
We create calculators and retirement forecasting tools to help our customers plan ahead, enabling them to build a clearer picture about what they should be contributing. Then, when they reach the age of 59 ½, we make it simple for our savers to make on-demand and appropriate withdrawals.
A SIPP, or Self-Invested Personal Pension, is a type of pension that allows you to choose your own specific investments, including individual stocks and shares. You can manage your investments yourself or with the help of a financial adviser.
PensionBee offers a personal pension that allows you to select your own investment plan from our range of diverse and curated plans.
We’ve partnered with some of the world’s biggest money managers, predominantly BlackRock and State Street, to provide our investment choices. This style of investing may be suitable for people who prefer a hands-off approach to pension saving.
While we’ll do everything we can to help you transfer your pensions, we can’t trace your old pensions for you. You’ll need to provide us with your policy number when transferring from certain providers. If you don’t have it handy, we recommend giving your current provider a call or reviewing past communications from them.
You’ll be asked to input this information as part of our sign up process. If you have any further information that might be useful to us, you can add it in your online account (known as your “BeeHive”) at any time. The more information you can give us, the easier it’ll be to speak to your old provider, and transfer your money.
If you don’t know this information, you’ll need to use the government’s free Pension Tracing Service. Without the right information about your old pensions, we can’t start a transfer from your old provider to PensionBee. You can check whether you’re likely to have a pension by answering a few simple questions on our ‘Do I have a pension?‘ page.
If you’ve had several different jobs then you probably have different pension pots scattered around. Most pension providers send a lot of paperwork that can be difficult to understand and contains hidden fees that can reduce the value of your pension. This makes it pretty difficult to keep track of your retirement savings and plan for the future.
PensionBee exists to make managing your pension easier. If you combine your pensions with PensionBee, and we discover that an old pension provider charges an exit fee of more than £10, or that your pension comes with special benefits or guarantees, we’ll ask your permission before we complete the transfer.
With PensionBee, you can access your pension easily through our award-winning app, meaning your pension is at your fingertips. You can see your current pot size, your projected retirement income, and set up regular or one-off contributions. Your dedicated account manager (known as your “BeeKeeper”) will be on hand to help you with anything you need.
Our user-friendly Pension Calculator can tell you whether you’re on track to meet your retirement goal. Remember, consolidating your pensions isn’t for everyone. Watch our video ‘Should I consolidate my pensions?‘ on YouTube to discover the pros and cons of consolidation.
Some older pension types may contain valuable special benefits or exit fees. It’s important that our customers are informed of significant exit fees that may have to be paid or special benefits that may be lost before transferring a pension. PensionBee doesn’t provide financial advice and you’ll need to find an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) yourself. If you’re advised against transferring to PensionBee in this scenario, we won’t accept your transfer.
First, some background on special benefits and exit fees:
Special benefits (or “safeguarded benefits”) can refer to a variety of different features, such as:
The most valuable of these include a guaranteed element of future pension income. You’re required to obtain advice prior to transferring pensions with safeguarded benefits that have a total value over £30,000.
Exit fees can reduce the value of your pension. If we find a provider that has an exit fee of more than £10 we’ll always seek our customers’ permission to proceed with the transfer before taking action. It’s important to note that, unfortunately, we can’t guarantee we’ll find an exit fee or special benefits as we rely on clear information from third parties. If the exit fee is below £10 we’ll proceed with the transfer.