Once you receive your CETV (cash equivalent transfer value, you have 3 months in which to decide whether you will transfer or not before that offer expires. It’s important that you factor in the time it will take to receive the advice you need. Ideally before or as soon you receive your CETV. Across the industry it’s not uncommon to hear of defined benefit pension transfers taking up to 6 months, sometimes longer.  Our streamlined process is far quicker than that and we can usually turn around your report and transfer recommendation in around 3-4 weeks as long as we have all of the information we need.  It’s an in-depth process, but since you’ll always deal directly with our Qualified Pension Transfer Specialist, there won’t be any unexpected delays from our end.  However, you should be aware that we may need to request additional information from your pension trustees in order to provide you with the advice you need and this may cause delays which are beyond our control.  Delays in the pension transfer advice process could cause you to miss your CETV transfer deadline and will result in you having to request a new transfer value. Transfer values are subject to change so this could work for or against you. There are a number of other factors that can affect how long a pension transfer might take including: How quickly you can obtain your CETV Whether you provide all of the required information to your financial advisor at the start How quickly your pension scheme provides all of the required information to your financial advisor How fast your financial advisor is able to work How long it takes you to set up a new pension How fast your new pension provider works to set up your pension once transferred. In terms of our client’s experience, we work quickly to ensure that all the information is requested early on so we don’t have unnecessary delays later. Simon Garber, 2020 Financial’s Pension Transfer Specialist says: “In terms of getting the advice you need, I would say 3- 5 weeks is a realistic timescale, if you have your CETV available and are able to respond to our information requests quickly. But we have spoken to clients who have engaged financial advisors whose timescales are 3-6 months. Following our initial checks on the information provided and our subsequent fact finding conversations, clients receive a Comprehensive Final Salary Pension Transfer Report.  If you’re able to provide all of the information we need, you could expect to be in a position to decide whether a transfer is in your best interests within 3 weeks.   At that point if you decide to go ahead we will then take you to the next stage of setting up your pension and doing the paperwork for the transfer.” Our pension transfer specialist says: “We find many people procrastinate when they receive their transfer value. They’ll come to us with only 2-3 weeks until their transfer values expires (CETVs are only valid for 3 months from date of issue).  It’s simply not possible to request and receive all the information we need from the pensions trustees and the client within these timescales.  There’s a misconception that Final Salary Transfer Advice is effectively a ‘box-ticking’ exercise which simply requires a pension transfer specialist to sign a declaration based on the client’s desire to transfer. This is not the case.  I am required to provide detailed financial advice demonstrating a deep understanding of the client’s finances, goals, personal situation as well as analysing the pension benefits they are considering giving up.  I must be confident that the transfer would allow them to meet their objectives. I’m also required to  Correct any misconceptions they may have,  Suggest alternative ways to meet their objectives and also Highlight any weaknesses in their retirement plans.  It’s a complete life strategy.”