Stakeholder

loulou41

Please can somebody recommends a Stakeholder, there are so many out there and I do not know where to start! Hubby wants to contribute some of his state pension he is getting this year for son to open a stakeholder. This is money he could spare and wants to do it regularly to be counted as gift from income for income tax purposes. I understand, there is an annual fee of 1% pa. Thanks

dunstonh

I would say none of them are particulary outstanding and most mainstream personal pensions offer better value than stakeholders now. Although it really depends on timescales and contributions and where and how you want to invest.

There is no one provider that is better than another. Each has its pros and cons depending on a range of factors. Perhaps you should stop looking at it as a pension but look at it as an investment (which is what it is). Where do you want the money invested? What sort of risk porfolio do you want?

david78

If you want to open a pension, for your son, you don't need to use a stakeholder fund. You can use any personal pension. At the moment, stakeholders are quite expensive and its difficult to ensure your money goes into good investment funds with good managers.

What I would do is put the money in a savings account and wait to see what new products appear after April 5th. I bet there will be a range of much better accounts available as the year goes on. You can move the money into a pension plan later in the year.