Hargreaves Lansdown and SIPPS for Prot Rights

doberryfirkin

dunstonh wrote: »

I havent got a SIPP and I pay less charges than those of you that do. Yet I have access to same unit trusts you have and that is what I use. SIPPS are being used too much when personal pensions or even stakeholder would be better.

Dunstonh
I have been reading avidly as much as I can about pensions and trying to understand the various aspects. I have 10 - 15 years to retirement and am aware that my current provisions aren't enough. My plan is to try and build up a 'pot' in that timescale of approx £100k to supplement my current provision - which is a mixture of a money purchase plan and a small final salary scheme. I do understand investment options and want to exercise some control and am happy to use shares, unit trusts, ISA etc. Recently some of my colleagues have been enthusiastic about SIPPS but I am wary of the costs. I respect your statement above as it resonates with my own gut feel. At the same time I don't know if it would be better to just dump more cash into AVCs etc. Can you direct me to any info which pits the various pros and cons between SIPPS, PP and going it alone with a variety of ISAs over the next 10 years?

dunstonh

Can you direct me to any info which pits the various pros and cons between SIPPS, PP and going it alone with a variety of ISAs over the next 10 years?

There is no website that I am aware of. It is something that would be costed up by an adviser (good one anyway) depending on your risk, experience and what you are after.

A very low risk investor would be better with a stakeholder, a cautious to medium risk investor would be better with a good personal pension as they can mix and match the cheap low risk funds at stakeholder pricing and some of the medium and higher risk funds from the personal pension side. above medium risk you could be better with a fund supermarket pension or SIPP. However, it depends on whether you want to build a portfolio or not.

Too many people have gone into SIPPs and picked balanced managed funds and are paying 50%-100% more in charges than they would have done had they picked a balanced managed fund on a stakeholder.

It is estimated that post A day, 90% of SIPPs invest into funds. If you pick a wide fund range and access sectors and funds not typically available on stakeholder and some personal pensions then the SIPP is worth it because you are using the features that you are paying for.

AVCs are largely obsolete nowadays. Only if the employer enhances the contributions or the AVC can be used to enhance your tax free cash are they really worth considering. ISAs can be a very valid option where you already have pension planning and can get no more funding from the employer and where you current provision will provide an income that will exceed your personal allowances in retirement.

doberryfirkin

dunstonh wrote: »

......a cautious to medium risk investor would be better with a good personal pension as they can mix and match the cheap low risk funds at stakeholder pricing and some of the medium and higher risk funds from the personal pension side.

Dunstonh
Again thanks for this helpful response. I fully accept that this website isn't for recommendations merely to give useful advise / direction. That said and taking your comment above can you direct me to a good start point to delve into PP and what choices I might have if I want to have some control over the portfolio. I also want to consider the benefits of just developing a good mix of ISAs versus going down the PP route.
D

EdInvestor

If you want a pension and ISA side by side,which is a good strategy for some people paying HRT or with old legacy pensions, you could cut down the work and effort involved by investing them both in the same funds/shares/whatever and using a discount broker which will rebate the charges such as www.h-l.co.uk

Plenty of investment info on the site.

If wanting shares (as opposed to funds) , the better choices are www.sippdeal.co.uk and https://www.selftrade.co.uk for the ISA.

You need to use a SIPP to follow this approach.

doberryfirkin

EdInvestor wrote: »

If you want a pension and ISA side by side,which is a good strategy for some people paying HRT or with old legacy pensions, you could cut down the work and effort involved by investing them both in the same funds/shares/whatever and using a discount broker which will rebate the charges such as www.h-l.co.uk

Thanks. Would this still offer me the tax advantages of a pension investment? D

EdInvestor

doberryfirkin wrote: »

Thanks. Would this still offer me the tax advantages of a pension investment? D

Yes, such as they are.