How to get advice on £60000 in SIPP?

hodd

Hello all, I have £60000 in a HL SIPP. It’s still in cash, and whilst I’ve gained from the tax relief, I need to invest this amount in a better way. I tried a couple of IFAs, but for that amount, they didn’t seem that interested in helping to be frank. I’ve booked a call with HL this coming week to see if they can give advice, which I’ll be happy to pay for. 

Basically, I’m planning to retire in 9 years at 60. I have other pensions from previous employment and will top up this SIPP every year.

It seems tricky to get advice. Are HL likely to be any good? 

Albermarle

HL will only recommend their own products as the advisor will not be independent . Their own brand funds tend to be expensive.
Most of the regular contributors to this forum do not use advisors, ( some do ) and DIY their investments, If you are prepared to learn then this could be a better route for a £60K investment . The internet makes DIY a lot easier than it used to be, and there are a lot of low cost multi asset funds around that would probably be OK for you.

Marcon

hodd said:

Hello all, I have £60000 in a HL SIPP. It’s still in cash, and whilst I’ve gained from the tax relief, I need to invest this amount in a better way. I tried a couple of IFAs, but for that amount, they didn’t seem that interested in helping to be frank. I’ve booked a call with HL this coming week to see if they can give advice, which I’ll be happy to pay for. 

Basically, I’m planning to retire in 9 years at 60. I have other pensions from previous employment and will top up this SIPP every year.

It seems tricky to get advice. Are HL likely to be any good? 

At that amount an IFA will realise they probably can't add sufficient value to make it worth your while to pay their fees...and that they can't earn enough from you to make it worth their while to take you as a client.

Look at the range of funds offered by your SIPP provider and the level of risk they carry, then pick ones which most closely fit with the amount of risk you are prepared to take. There should also be plenty of general information about investments on your SIPP provider's website. If not, look at some other providers and read their stuff - same principles will apply.

This might be a handy website for some general reading before you go any further: https://www.money.co.uk/pensions/how-to-invest-in-a-sipp.htm

hodd

Thanks. What I need is a chat with an IFA to get started. I’m looking at investing for ten years so wouldn’t want to use solely funds when maybe other options such as bonds should be included. It sounds lazy, but if an adviser were to show examples of portfolios, that would be a start.

zagfles

Albermarle said:

HL will only recommend their own products as the advisor will not be independent . Their own brand funds tend to be expensive.
Most of the regular contributors to this forum do not use advisors, ( some do ) and DIY their investments, If you are prepared to learn then this could be a better route for a £60K investment . The internet makes DIY a lot easier than it used to be, and there are a lot of low cost multi asset funds around that would probably be OK for you.

Not true, see https://www.hl.co.uk/financial-advice

"We have a suite of carefully selected products and services that we recommend. Some of these are provided by HL but not all."

Albermarle

The problem is you can not just 'have a chat ' with an IFA or even an FA ( like with HL) . They are heavily regulated and have to go through a process of knowing everything about your financial situation before they will offer advice. In this area ' advice' has a particular  meaning, and if the advice is poor then you can have have some comeback .
Everything else ( like what we say on here ) is just general guidance /opinion/comment.
It is known there is a gap in the market for some kind of half way house for people with pots around your size , but I think at the moment it is still just something being discussed .
Have a look at this and keep reading the forum.
How to create a simple retirement plan - Monevator

zagfles

Albermarle said:

The problem is you can not just 'have a chat ' with an IFA or even an FA ( like with HL) . They are heavily regulated and have to go through a process of knowing everything about your financial situation before they will offer advice. In this area ' advice' has a particular  meaning, and if the advice is poor then you can have have some comeback .
Everything else ( like what we say on here ) is just general guidance /opinion/comment.
It is known there is a gap in the market for some kind of half way house for people with pots around your size , but I think at the moment it is still just something being discussed .
Have a look at this and keep reading the forum.
How to create a simple retirement plan - Monevator

There already is something - robo advice. Most people fit into broad categories of status, needs, objectives, attitude to risk etc shared with thousands or even hundreds of thousands others and don't necessarily need expensive individually tailored advice. Any more than they need tailored suits, shirts etc. Workplace DC pensions have been doing it for years and there's several that do it for personal eg see https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/article/robo-adviser/

hodd

Robo advice seems just the ticket. The IFAs I’ve met haven’t mentioned this funnily enough, and it’s unlikely HL will have much to say on the subject. I had a quick look online, and I believe I’d need to invest via a Robo adviser to start things off. I was hoping do have my cake and eat it by using a robo adviser to use my cash currently in the HL SIPP.

Thinking about it, for a “lazy” investor like me, I don’t think HL can help. It looks like I’ll be transferring that £60K into a robo platform. 

It’s hard to explain, but it’ll be easier to have a portfolio and adjust it rather than plan one from scratch. Yes, for a more knowledgeable investor, that’ll seem lazy and expensive, but it’s better than nothing (or having just cash). Thanks all, really useful so far 🙂

dunstonh

Hello all, I have £60000 in a HL SIPP. It’s still in cash, and whilst I’ve gained from the tax relief, I need to invest this amount in a better way. I tried a couple of IFAs, but for that amount, they didn’t seem that interested in helping to be frank.

Tax year changeover is the busiest period in the year for IFAs.    You are a small investor and many IFAs won't be interested in offering advice but many will.  Just probably not able to do so in March/April.

However, at £60k, I would probably use a multi-asset fund of the type you see mentioned here almost every day.    

xylophone

Had you considered a transfer to Vanguard? They offer retirement portfolios.
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/personal-pension-account

The Vanguard Personal Pension is a flexible and tax-efficient way to save for your retirement. It's a Self Invested Personal Pension – so you have control over how you want your money to be invested.

At Vanguard that means you can choose from our full range of over 75 low-cost funds. That includes our range of ready-made portfolios designed specifically for retirement – the Target Retirement funds.

And as with other pensions you'll get a range of tax benefits. You’ll get tax relief on your contributions and you won’t have to pay tax on your retirement savings while they're in a pension. Then when you're at least 55 you can start enjoying your savings.

Albermarle

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

The problem is you can not just 'have a chat ' with an IFA or even an FA ( like with HL) . They are heavily regulated and have to go through a process of knowing everything about your financial situation before they will offer advice. In this area ' advice' has a particular  meaning, and if the advice is poor then you can have have some comeback .
Everything else ( like what we say on here ) is just general guidance /opinion/comment.
It is known there is a gap in the market for some kind of half way house for people with pots around your size , but I think at the moment it is still just something being discussed .
Have a look at this and keep reading the forum.
How to create a simple retirement plan - Monevator

There already is something - robo advice. Most people fit into broad categories of status, needs, objectives, attitude to risk etc shared with thousands or even hundreds of thousands others and don't necessarily need expensive individually tailored advice. Any more than they need tailored suits, shirts etc. Workplace DC pensions have been doing it for years and there's several that do it for personal eg see https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/article/robo-adviser/

Yes, if it just about simple investing you are right . However I think many people would benefit from some wider advice. eg about pension  taxation matters ( you can see from some questions on here that many people are confused about this ) but without having to go for the full advice route . So something between robo advice and full personal IFA  service
In fact I think I remember now an article about some IFA groups offering speedy , low cost , over the internet only advise, so perhaps it already does exist. Like these I found on Google
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