Advice on pension please

eire13

Hi,
I posted a few months ago asking for personal pension advice and was advised to either open a stakeholder pension or one like A j bell you invest. I am a carer for my husband so have no other paid work at the moment and I am getting a bit worried about just living off a state pension. I am 46 now so I know I probably should have though of a pension long before now. The other problem is I am not always able to invest large amounts so it would probably only be about 20 or 30 pounds a month.
I'm not sure if I have done the right thing now as I did open an AJ bell you invest sipp but now am getting a bit confused about how to use it properly as in which fund to purchase etc. I am wondering if I should have gone with the easier stakeholder pension. Someone did recommend the Cavendish pension but I was a bit put off by the upfront fee to open it. Would this type of pension be easier to manage and would it have the same returns. If so I might open this one instead. I am hoping someone can help and explain the difference to me please. Thank you for reading and I would be grateful for any advice.

dunstonh

I'm not sure if I have done the right thing now as I did open an AJ bell you invest sipp but now am getting a bit confused about how to use it properly as in which fund to purchase etc

SIPPs are the experienced investor option and will be more complicated.

I am wondering if I should have gone with the easier stakeholder pension. Someone did recommend the Cavendish pension but I was a bit put off by the upfront fee to open it.

A stakeholder on nil commission basis and a small arrangement fee is likely to be cheaper than the AV Bell SIPP. Everything has fees.

Would this type of pension be easier to manage and would it have the same returns.

A stakeholder pension would be easier as it would only have around 30 funds to pick from. A SIPP has around 30,000 investments available.

Returns will be based on the funds you choose. A SIPP can have funds that could perform a lot better and funds that could lose you every penny. A stakeholder has only mainstream investment areas and is designed to stop you from losing 100% of your money.

Dox

The other attraction of a stakeholder is that it has a 'default' fund, so if you don't want to take any investment decisions, you don't need to.

SIPPs need rather more active involvement, which is why - although they are flavour of the month - they aren't suitable for those who really don't want to do more than pay in their funds and leave well alone.

eire13

Hi Dunstonh,

Thank you for replying. Oh I see yes it does sound like I went for the wrong choice as I'm definitely not experienced and find it a bit confusing really. Thanks for explaining the difference between the SIPP and stakeholder pensions. I would prefer an option with lower fees overall.

Yes the stakeholder sounds a lot better when it only has that many funds to choose from. Ok yes I can't afford to be losing any money really so I need to go for the stakeholder then. Would there be any ones you might recommend or where would be the best place for me to choose a good one. Thank you for your help.

Hi Dox,

Thank you for your reply too. Ok a default fund sounds good as I really don't know much about the different funds. Yes I don't think I'm ready for one with active involvement. Paying in the funds and leaving it sounds like what I need. Would there be any stakeholder pension I could look at myself to see if it's suitable please.