On Standard Life I would just keep it.
You can move to the funds you want. OK it's a bit tedious, but for a UK pension that's a very good fee (yes it must be employer linked).
You don't need rocket science on this. Split it 50/50 equities & global bonds (this will be sterling hedged) and you are done. You can adjust rest if your US portfolio to allow for that.
QROPS (offshore transfers) are a minefield. Advisers based internationally are not FCA regulated & there are nightmare stories. I would be very careful going down that route and definitely Google for experience of others. They tried to scare a friend of mine out of a UK defined benefit scheme.
You will also qualify for a bit of UK Basic State Pension and (I believe) no longer offset against US Social Security. We've had a number of threads on this on the non-US investing board.
Your main issue is tax. How withdrawals from a UK pension are treated by IRS. So you need to find a tax advisor who can handle UK tax or rather how USA treats those withdrawals.
For example how does IRS treat 25% tax free (in UK) lump sum you can pull out of the pension? (From either age 55 or changing to age 57 I believe).
Given you are non-resident in UK what withholding tax are you charged? (None I believe)
Australian Superannuation I can't say anything about but again we have had discussions re sane on non-US investing sub board.
You can move to the funds you want. OK it's a bit tedious, but for a UK pension that's a very good fee (yes it must be employer linked).
You don't need rocket science on this. Split it 50/50 equities & global bonds (this will be sterling hedged) and you are done. You can adjust rest if your US portfolio to allow for that.
QROPS (offshore transfers) are a minefield. Advisers based internationally are not FCA regulated & there are nightmare stories. I would be very careful going down that route and definitely Google for experience of others. They tried to scare a friend of mine out of a UK defined benefit scheme.
You will also qualify for a bit of UK Basic State Pension and (I believe) no longer offset against US Social Security. We've had a number of threads on this on the non-US investing board.
Your main issue is tax. How withdrawals from a UK pension are treated by IRS. So you need to find a tax advisor who can handle UK tax or rather how USA treats those withdrawals.
For example how does IRS treat 25% tax free (in UK) lump sum you can pull out of the pension? (From either age 55 or changing to age 57 I believe).
Given you are non-resident in UK what withholding tax are you charged? (None I believe)
Australian Superannuation I can't say anything about but again we have had discussions re sane on non-US investing sub board.
Statistics: Posted by Valuethinker — Sun Dec 28, 2025 7:06 am — Replies 1 — Views 45