PensionBee review

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Private pension holders are buzzing about this pension provider. It makes investing in your future simple and easy, even if you tend to swap jobs often and have accounts with lots of different pension providers. Find out what PensionBee’s customers think, plus some pros and cons of PensionBee and information about how much you’d expect to spend in costs with a PensionBee pension.

Pensions made simple with Pensionbee

• Get total visibility of your pension
• Combine, contribute and withdraw online
• Protected by the FSCS
• Your capital is at risk. You could get back less than you invest.

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Capital at risk

What is PensionBee?

PensionBee is a pension service which is designed to consolidate all your pension plans in one place. You can combine them all together with PensionBee and continue paying into one plan with either one-off or regular contributions. As usual, you get tax relief from the money you pay in, based on the amount of income tax you usually pay. You can choose between different pension plans and change it whenever you want.

When it’s time to retire, you can use drawdown with PensionBee. This lets you withdraw the money from your pension. PensionBee tells you how much tax you’ll need to pay on your withdrawals, if applicable.

When you join, you’re asked to give as many details as you can about all the pension plans you currently hold, and the team at PensionBee will see if they can find it for you.

If you don’t remember who your current providers are (easily done), you can give PensionBee information about your previous employers. Then its experts will check its database to find your pension providers.

The website and app give you an overview of your plan with a balance and your projected retirement income, depending on when you plan to retire. You can also easily increase contributions should you wish to sweeten your retirement pot a little.

How does PensionBee work?

PensionBee tracks down all your old pension plans and transfers them into one easy-to-use pot. If you’re self-employed, you can open an account without transferring in any other pensions.

There are 9 different funds on offer that you can choose between.

How do I apply for a PensionBee account?

It’s pretty easy to combine all of your pensions with PensionBee, especially as PensionBee does it all for you. Here’s how:

1. Sign up for PensionBee.
2. Let PensionBee know about your old pensions.
3. Confirm that you’re happy for your money to be transferred.
4. Manage your new pension with PensionBee's website and app.

You will need to decide which plan you want to follow. PensionBee does not provide financial advice so cannot recommend you a plan. However, if you can’t decide straight away which plan is for you, you can opt for PensionBee’s Tailored plan, which it says is a “popular option, as it moves your money into safer assets as you get older”. You can switch plans at any time, so no need to stress.

You can choose between seven investment plans, which are managed by some of the world’s biggest investment firms such as BlackRock, State Street and Legal & General. The plans are all sorted based on how risky they are and you can check out their numbered “risk/reward” profile which is on a scale of 1 to 7 (or 1 to 10 for the Future World plan). The smaller the number, the lower the risk to your investments. However, the higher the risk, the higher the return potential.

PensionBee’s plans are

If any of your old pension plans have guaranteed benefits or require an exit fee of £10 or more to transfer onto PensionBee, your own pension expert, fittingly named a ‘BeeKeeper’ will let you know.

You can set up personal or employer payments into your plan via direct debit, standing order or one-off payments.

Once your PensionBee plan is set up, you can access it at any time on the website or the app to see how it’s performing. If you have further questions and need to speak to one of the BeeKeepers, the company offers a dedicated customer service phone line or live chat.

PensionBee self-employed pension

The self employed pension is pretty much the same, but you don’t need to transfer in an existing pension. You can open a brand new account and pay into it.

You can still choose between the nine plans available and the fees are the same.

PensionBee fees

All pension funds (except the state pension) charge an annual fee, although sometimes these are hidden in your annual statement.

PensionBee has a simple, annual management fee which can vary depending on the plan you choose. Unlike some other pension providers, it will not charge you an exit fee should you decide to move your investment elsewhere.

If your pension pot size is larger than £100,000, PensionBee will cut your fee in half on the portion of your savings over this amount.

• Tracker and Preserve. 0.50% annual fee on balances of £100,000 or less, and 0.25% on any amount over £100,000.
• Tailored. 0.70% annual fee on balances of £100,000 or less, and 0.35% on any amount over £100,000.
• 4Plus, Future World and Shariah.0.95% annual fee on balances of £100,000 or less, and 0.48% on any amount over £100,000.
• Match.0.60% annual fee on balances of £100,000 or less, and 0.30% on any amount over £100,000.

Your annual fee is charged in daily instalments, so you don’t have to pay the whole thing upfront. There’s a handy calculator on the PensionBee site to show you how much each plan will cost you, depending on the amount you have in your pension pot.

How do I apply for a PensionBee account?

Visit the website and fill out a few personal details, including your national insurance number and date of birth, which the ‘Beekeepers’ need to start finding your existing pensions.

You will need to decide which plan you want to follow. PensionBee does not provide financial advice so cannot recommend you a plan. However, if you can’t decide straight away which plan is for you, you can opt for PensionBee’s Tailored plan, which it says is a “popular option, as it moves your money into safer assets as you get older”. You can switch plans at any time, so no need to stress.

What’s on the PensionBee app?

Set up your monthly contributions

You can use direct debits to pay monthly contributions into your pension fund, and manage them from the app.

Withdraw money

Check directly from the app how much of your pension you can withdraw tax-free.

Keep track of your earnings

The PensionBee app shows your balance and how much money you're making from your investments.

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What is a drawdown fee?

Drawdown is a more flexible way to take out your pension when you reach retirement. It means leaving the bulk of your money invested, and just drawing cash out as the need arises. Unlike annuity, this method does not give you a guaranteed monthly income, but can work if you have other means of supporting yourself.

From the age of 55, you’ll be able to take out up to 25% of your pension tax-free (as a lump-sum or in portions spread over time). The remainder will stay invested and you can take it out as and when, but be aware you will have to pay income tax on everything you withdraw over the 25% tax-free allowance.

Bear in mind that, if you choose to keep your money invested, your pension pot will continue to grow or reduce based on the activity of the market.

If you are aged 55 or over and sign up to a PensionBee plan, make sure you won’t need to withdraw all of your money within a year, as this will incur a fee of £480, regardless of your pension pot’s value.

Is PensionBee safe?

PensionBee is a secure company that has over 100,000 customers. It is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which means your pension is covered up to £85,000 if PensionBee cannot meet its financial obligations.

PensionBee is also bound by the rules and regulations by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the conduct of the investment business.

Pros and cons of PensionBee

Our verdict

If you have several pension pots dotted around and would like to simplify your life by having them all in one place, PensionBee is a great option for you. With straightforward and fair fees and an easy-to-use app, it can take the headache out of managing your pension.

Where PensionBee falls short is for those with public service pensions, foreign pensions, or those over 55 who are planning to retire within a year (due to the drawdown fee).

You can visit the PensionBee website to check exactly how much its service will cost you using the annual management fee calculator, so there are no surprises. Still not sure? Compare other share trading platforms with our comparison table.

PensionBee reviews

PensionBee calls itself the “UK’s most loved pension provider”, and its reviews certainly back it up!

On consumer review platform Trustpilot, PensionBee has 4.7 out of 5 stars and a rating of Excellent, based on more than 2,700 reviews, not bad at all.

Positive feedback mentioned how easy the process of combining pensions was and how helpful the support staff are.

Negative feedback centred around the DIY aspect of managing your pension pot (updated 14 September 2020).

Frequently asked questions

• I've lost track of some old pensions. How can I find them to add them to PensionBee?

  The government offers a free searchable database of pension providers, if you’ve forgotten who your previous employer used. Once you have the provider, you can contact it directly to find your pension plan or get PensionBee to look for you.

• How long does it take PensionBee to find and transfer all my pensions?

  It takes PensionBee on average between six and eight weeks to locate and transfer your old pensions. The more details you can give it (for example, policy number, name of pension provider, type of investment plan, dates of plan payments) the better.

• I have a pension with guaranteed benefits over £30,000 - is it wise to transfer it to PensionBee?

  You should seek independent financial advice from a transfer specialist before you transfer it. PensionBee cannot give you advice.

• What if I'm currently in a plan my employer is paying into?

  Transferring this type of pension can be difficult because you want to keep receiving your employer contributions. As a result, a lot of PensionBee customers tend to leave their current employer pensions alone, with a plan to transfer them to PensionBee at a later date when they change jobs.