Historically, management of your pension fund was left to professional asset managers who would make decisions around the appropriate investment products needed, in order to optimise investment returns.
Your involvement was usually limited to expressing your risk preferences and then once a year you would receive a statement telling you about the performance of your pension plan. The statement would also include a projection of the estimated income you would receive on retirement
Managing your own pension fund was considered too complex because of the decisions needed over which asset classes to invest in. Sometimes, the option to do so was simply not available because your fund was part of a workplace pension scheme.
Today, innovation in financial technology has led to the emergence of a wave of pension apps. These apps allow you to track down and consolidate old pension schemes, view the latest balance of your retirement fund and be more proactive in managing your pension arrangements.
Pension apps
We have identified a selection of pension apps currently available for download with links to independent review sites so you can see what users are saying:
PensionBee
PensionBee is a UK online pension provider. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) which means your investments are covered under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to a maximum of £85,000 (subject to meeting specified eligibility criteria).
One of the key features of the PensionBee app is that it allows users to track down and combine all their old pension pots into one plan and see their latest pension fund balance on a dashboard.
Upon signing-up, each user is assigned an account manager known as a BeeKeeper who will guide users through the account set up process and explain the online tools available.
These online tools make it easier to manage contributions and withdrawals and include pension calculators to work out what you need to contribute to achieve your target pension income.
There is no charge to transfer existing pensions on to the platform, however, if the account balance is fully withdrawn within the first 12 months of signing-up, a fee of £480 will apply. Ongoing annual management fees range from 0.5% to 0.95% depending on the plan chosen and this is deducted from your pension fund balance.
The PensionBee app has seven different pension plans that are managed by the some of the largest pension fund managers in the world, including Legal & General, BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors.
PensionBee is available to download through the App Store and Google Play and the latest Trust Pilot reviews for the PensionBee app can be seen here.
Moneybox
Moneybox is an award-winning app including Best for Beginners in the 2019 Consumer Investment awards. In addition, Altfi also named it the best Digital Wealth Manger of 2019.
Moneybox is a registered trademark of Digital Moneybox Limited and is regulated by the FCA and covered under the FSCS.
The Moneybox app is similar to PensionBee in that it allows users to combine all their old workplace pension pots into one plan.
Moneybox has zero monthly subscription fees and levies annual management fees of 0.45% for balances up to £100,00 and 0.15% for balances over £100,000. Moneybox also offers cash and share ISA investments, which are readily available from the established financial institutions.
The Moneybox app is available to download through the App Store and Google Play and the latest Trust Pilot reviews for the app can be seen here.
Smart Pension
The Smart Pension App was created by Smart Pension Limited a company regulated by the FCA and covered under the FSCS.
The app allows users to manage their pension portfolios from their smartphone and utilises enhanced security features such as Face ID, fingerprint and passwords.
The platform is also introducing a Smart Employer app to the market which will enable employers to manage employee pensions from one place. The employer app will give companies the ability to review previous payments, send out letters to employees and download statements.
The app costs nothing for employers and for employees there is an annual management fee of up to 0.75% of assets under administration.
Smart Pension invests solely in investment products offered by Legal and General.
The Smart Pension app is available to download through the App Store and Google Play and the latest Google reviews for the app can be seen here.
Penfold
The Penfold app was created by Penfold Savings Limited a company regulated by the FCA and covered under the FSCS.
The app aimed at self-employed individuals and is designed to be as flexible as the working lives of its users. For example, payments can be paused at times of lower work activity. Like many pension apps, it allows users to track down old pension plans and consolidate them on one platform.
Penfold charges a single asset management fee of 0.75% of the pension funds under management.
Penfold is partnered with BlackRock, who are the largest asset manager in the world
The Penfold app is currently in development for iOS smartphones and the Android version is in Beta mode. The latest Trust Pilot reviews for the app can be seen here.
Other financial apps
There are so many financial apps to help with money management, personal finance and investment which are available to download for free or for a small one-off or monthly fee. To learn more about these apps, please follow the links.
