Many, many factors in this decision.
For me, it's a complete no-brainer to leave the funds in (with the caveat that you need to take into account your assessment of the company's creditworthiness).
Take a lump sum and invest it yourself = you need to be responsible for that investment for the rest of your life and you run the risk of fully depleting the pool
Leave it in the pension = income for life, no longevity risk
You haven't said whether your pension income would be indexed to inflation, but briefly, there are 3 major risks in retirement that are not present when you are accumulating funds:
1. inflation - erodes purchasing power over time
2. Sequence of Returns - poor returns in the first few years may be unrecoverable
3. longevity - you don't know how long you are going to live, and you may live longer than your funds
A DB pension eliminates two of these risks and, if it is inflation-indexed, eliminates the first risk as well. Yes, you have no control over the money. IMO this viewpoint is self-serving from your FA's point of view. You need to ask yourself whether you really, really want control over that money, given the significance of the risks that accompany "control."
For me, it's a complete no-brainer to leave the funds in (with the caveat that you need to take into account your assessment of the company's creditworthiness).
Take a lump sum and invest it yourself = you need to be responsible for that investment for the rest of your life and you run the risk of fully depleting the pool
Leave it in the pension = income for life, no longevity risk
You haven't said whether your pension income would be indexed to inflation, but briefly, there are 3 major risks in retirement that are not present when you are accumulating funds:
1. inflation - erodes purchasing power over time
2. Sequence of Returns - poor returns in the first few years may be unrecoverable
3. longevity - you don't know how long you are going to live, and you may live longer than your funds
A DB pension eliminates two of these risks and, if it is inflation-indexed, eliminates the first risk as well. Yes, you have no control over the money. IMO this viewpoint is self-serving from your FA's point of view. You need to ask yourself whether you really, really want control over that money, given the significance of the risks that accompany "control."