Sipp investment advice

Goldman2020

[FONT=&quot]I am a newbie with limited investment knowledge (I’m working on it!) and would like to open a Sipp possibly next year. At the moment I have my foot on the first step of the ladder so to speak and I am doing some research before I decide how to go about investing in a Sipp.[/FONT]
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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]I have to decide at some point whether to open a Sipp and make my own fund choices or to use a robo type service such as Money Farm or Nutmeg.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I know i can research and pick various invesments for the Sipp but whether I would be making the right choices is another matter that is why I am also considering the robo providers.
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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Has anyone with limited investment knowledge eventually taken the plunge after doing some research, opened a Sipp and chosen their own investment portfolio for their Sipp? How has it worked out for you so far?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Did you use an IFA initially or just make the investment choices for the Sipp yourself?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Can you recommend any good books covering how to build an investment portfolio?
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[FONT=&quot]Did you ever consider using a robo service?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Thank you in advance for any constructive comments and helpful advice that you can provide.[/FONT]

OldMusicGuy

I had a SIPP for many years that just sat in the default fund that work had selected. Once I started getting within 5 years of retirement, I took more interest and got an FA to set up a portfolio for me. I then started to educate myself more about investing by coming to this site, going to Monevator and reading up. After experimenting a bit, I have ended up with a portfolio I manage myself and am very happy with.

I wish I had started earlier and educated myself before I started getting people to advise me. I suggest you educate yourself before making any decisions. Once you have educated yourself, you will be in a position to decide if you want to use an IFA or do it yourself. Don't "start off" by paying an IFA unless you know you want to use an IFA long term, and you can only make that decision once you know a bit more about investing.

These are the commonly recommended books on here:
"Investing Demystified" by Lars Kroijer
"DIY Simple Investing: A Guide to Simple but Effective Low Cost Investing" by John Edwards
"DIY Pensions: A Simple Guide to Pensions, SIPPs & Retirement Planning" by John Edwards

Also spend time on the Monevator site (https://www.monevator.com).

Can't give you advice on robo advisers but I suspect if you educate yourself a bit you wouldn't use them.

tacpot12

"A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton G Malkiel is also recommended reading.

bostonerimus

These 5 videos will give you a good introduction.

Albermarle

Even if you start a SIPP with thousands of fund choices they usually have some ready made portfolios available for the many investors who do want to manage a lot of individual funds . I have not researched these but I guess .you pay a bit extra in charges

digannio

When I set up my SIPP a few years ago I must admit I just kept it simple. What I was looking for was a well-diversified (including equities, bonds and property), low-cost, risk-focused portfolio and I thought that the experts would do a better job than me so it went into the L&G Multi Index 5 Fund. Probably could have done a lot worse... especially if I tried to piece it together myself. Never considered an IFA, robo service or anything else. This just seemed to cover what I was looking for so I just found a low-cost platform that suited me and my circumstances and that was it.

OldMusicGuy

Albermarle wrote: »

Even if you start a SIPP with thousands of fund choices they usually have some ready made portfolios available for the many investors who do want to manage a lot of individual funds . I have not researched these but I guess .you pay a bit extra in charges

HL have these and they are a waste of money, you could easily DIY a similar portfolio. If you are starting out, just go with a global, well-diversified multi-asset fund. Please don't pay extra for something that's very easy to do yourself.

If you decide you can't make investment decisions yourself (and nothing wrong with that btw), get an IFA. But do so from a position of knowledge rather than ignorance. I made that mistake by paying for advice when I didn't really know what I wanted. So the adviser built a portfolio based on my answers to his questions. I now realise that wasn't really what I wanted. Not the fault of the adviser, but my ignorance about how investing works, and what I really needed to achieve. I didn't know the difference between active and passive funds, and had never heard of things like Vanguard Lifestrategy.

green_man

What’s your aim/time horizon with the SIPP?
Are you looking to add monthly/ yearly?
Do you have any other Pension provision?
How old are you?
Does your workplace offer a pension scheme?

Potboiler

I opened a low cost SIPP with iWeb and shoved it equally into Vanguard LS and similar HSBC Balanced mult-asset trackers, for the pleasure of watching them compete.
The longer you invest the more you realise it is impossible for the average Joe to time the market, and all the puffs given to the latest in vogue managed funds or stocks by the financial press are just that.
Good luck!

Prism

I had a multi asset fund within a personal pension which I decided to transfer into a SIPP to allow me to take more control. I spent months reading up (online) on investment styles, portfolios and funds. I decided that I liked a quality companies buy and hold style, examples of which are Fundsmith, Lindsell Train and Stewart Investors. I broke the portfolio into global, small/mid cap and emerging markets. I am happy with the results over the last three years but its more about the future that I am confident about.

BLB53

Can you recommend any good books covering how to build an investment portfolio?

Certainly would recommend a read of 'DIY Pensions' by Edwards before you start.

I have managed my SIPP with AJ Bell for over a decade. It can be as simple or complex as you want to make it but just be sure you have some sort of plan and a good sense of what you are doing and especially a good understanding of asset allocation,