Scottish Widows Personal Pension vs Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP

dcsg2

Hi there

I know that this subject has been covered in a rather bitty manner elsewhere, over a long period of time (the earliest reference i found was 2004), but i am looking for some advice.

For the past two years i have been paying 10k into a Scottish Widows Personal Pension, using mainly non-SW funds (a selection of Fidelity, Newton, JPM and Invesco). This was all done on the advice of an IFA who kindly steered me away from a Aegon Scot Eq pension that paid great commission to another IFA.

Over the last few months i've been taking an interest in not just putting money into funds, but maybe some shares and ETFs - so i've looked at H&L, who seem to have received good coverage for their SIPP.

Elsewhere i have read that H&L are not the cheapest way of investing in funds - but a like for like comparison with my current provider would suggest this is not true.

So: even if i do not go thr ETF / shares route, is there anything i should be aware of that would stop me getting the transfer form completed now and sent off to Bristol?

Thanks in advance

DCSG2

Gatser

Sorry to muddy the waters but why are you only looking at SW & HL?

I have been doing a similar comparison as to which pension/SIPP to go for.... currently :

* SKANDIA Collective Retirement Account

* ALLIANCE TRUST Select SIPP

are favourites....and based on recent feedback here.... SKANDIA is currently leading!

dunstonh

Elsewhere i have read that H&L are not the cheapest way of investing in funds - but a like for like comparison with my current provider would suggest this is not true.

Pension funds use the total expense ratio as the annual management charge. On HL, you would have to compare the total expense ratio on the unit trusts offered, not the AMC. HL do not discount on any of the annual charges. So, if you want to retain the service of the IFA and have the same charges as HL, then ask your IFA to move you into a similar product.

purch

If you are looking at ETF's and Stocks then probably any of the Sippcentre, Sippdeal, Sippdealxtra are worth investigating, along with the TD Waterhouse SIPP which is now managed by A.J. Bell, rather than the 'muppets' who were doing it previously.

jamesd

HL might be cheapest for funds, depends on what investments you have, what total value and how often you buy and sell. HL's SIPP tends to be fairly good for those who want a lot of investment options and are making lots of trades (like monthly purchases). There's no annual commission rebate (no Loyalty Bonus) for funds in the SIPP, so be sure you don't accidentally include that cost reduction in your comparison.

Alliance Trust rebates the trail commission but it has dealing costs for fund purchases that seem to make it uncompetitive for ongoing fund buying or lots of trading, where the costs could easily be more than the saved commission. It might be a good place for periodic transfers of thousands of Pounds per fund into funds that you're sure you'll hold for many years. Though for things like FTSE trackers, even though there may be a rebate and it has some cheaper than HL's cheapest, the commission difference is so low that it's hard to come out ahead. So it's good perhaps for core long term holdings of funds that normally charge 1-2% commission.

dcsg2

Hi All

Thank you for the responses on this topic.

When i referred to the cost of investing, this was based on comparing the TERs - which i understand reflects the "true" cost per annum.

The alliance trust SIPP looks to be good compared to H&L....but only once there is £15k invested in shares, which is some way off for me!

I don't really see myself doing a lot of trades - shares will be held for the long term income, rather than on a speculative basis.

Any other thoughts greatly appreciated!

dcsg2

jamesd

For shares it's probably better to consider those Purch mentioned. They will offer a more full service - like stop-loss orders - than HL. At HL there's also the 0.5% up to £200 a year plus VAT for holding shares inside the SIPP. That also applies in their ISA but not in their fund and share account.