Which 2 funds and which platforms

gandw69

Hi I am looking to invest in 2 SIPPS one for me and one for the wife,  Intention is use for drawdown in about 5 years but quite comfortable with reasonable level of risk as have fall back of good DB Scheme so can delay or reduce level of drawdown if needed.
1s fund initial investment from pension transfer of 35k then investment of 2k pa for 5years 
2nd fund initial investment of 10k then 20k pa for 5 years 
I was thinking of vanguard LS 80% for fund 1 and HSBC Global Strategy for fund 2.  
Appreciate views on does this give me a reasonable level  of diversification and what platform is best for each fund ? 
Thanks 
.

Another_Saver

Few questions:
Current ages?
Mortgage situation?
Have you checked both your NI records to see how close you are to getting a full 35 year record to claim the full state pension?

Initial thoughts:
I assume since you are going for VLS 80, the HSBC fund you are looking at is the "Dynamic" one.
These are both good, cheap multi-asset funds, entirely sensible for someone who wants a simple fund for retirement. IMHO i think picking vls 80/HSBC Dynamic is a reasonable choice if you're 5 years from retirement.

 If you compare the performance on trustnet charting you will see they both behave very similarly. These seem to be the most popular multi-asset funds in the forum, the main debate between the two comes down to:
VLS upweights the UK to about 25% of the fund, whereas HSBC just tracks the global market. Some in the forum criticise vanguard for this "active" decision. Also, HSBC seem to upweight real estate, and the dynamic fund is generally around 85% equity, so a tad higher risk (in conventional wisdom) than vls 80. However as you can see comparing their performance history, they still behave very similarly in spite of these differences. Obviously the future may be different.

Platforms:
For the amounts you're talking about I think Vanguard would be the cheaper platform for both for now but only has vanguard funds on it. AJ Bell or Interactive Investor are popular cheap choices, which you could use for the larger sipp to hold the HSBC fund in.

redpete

ii has fixed charges which aren't great value for small amounts like these.
Why so keen to use two different platforms?

gandw69

Thanks for replies in answer to your question I am 50 and have about 110k mortgage no against value of about 500k property so on very low rate also have cash for about 6 months expenses. No other debts 
I am not fixed on 2 platforms but would any of the vanguard funds be comparable to HSBC GLOBAL strategy ?

Another_Saver

gandw69 said:

Thanks for replies in answer to your question I am 50 and have about 110k mortgage no against value of about 500k property so on very low rate also have cash for about 6 months expenses. No other debts 
I am not fixed on 2 platforms but would any of the vanguard funds be comparable to HSBC GLOBAL strategy ?

Your situation seems fine.

HSBC global strategy, and vanguard lifestrategy, are both ranges of 5 multi-asset asset funds (also called funds of funds, readymade portfolios etc.).

VLS 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 are roughly comparable with HSBC global strategy Cautious, Conservative, Balanced, Dynamic, Adventurous respectively.

This is a good article comparing them: https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

Vanguard may work out cheaper for you overall because Vanguard has a very cheap SIPP platform for the amounts you're talking about, but vanguardinvestor.co.uk only offer vanguard funds. If you wanted a HSBC fund you would have to use a platform like AJ Bell etc.
The different charging structures of different sipp providers aren't always easy to compare, so do your research, and pick one that you find easy to use (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/cheap-sipps/).

gandw69

Thanks another_saver very clear and helpful 

Linton

Using SIPPs over 2 platforms would be a totally unnecessary hassle - suppose you wanted to sell a fund that happened to live on one platform to buy more of a fund held on another.  You cant easily transfer money between SIPPs.

Alexland

Linton said:

Using SIPPs over 2 platforms would be a totally unnecessary hassle - suppose you wanted to sell a fund that happened to live on one platform to buy more of a fund held on another.  You cant easily transfer money between SIPPs.

But these SIPPs are for different people? The OP and their Wife?

But I agree the same platform could be used for both if it was suitable.

For these amounts I would be tempted to use Vanguard investing in either a VLS fund or a 2 fund portfolio of a global equities and a bond fund which would be slightly cheaper, more flexible and not have the UK bias (which may, or may not be desirable). 80% equities is a bit too high for 5 years but if there is DB income so are happy to delay withdrawal I guess that's OK.