Interactive Investor SIPP

ali_bear

Something else you can't easily determine is how well the provider/platform works. Is the website/app/telephone service of good quality or not? Is it user-friendly or clunky in the extreme? You wont find out until after you're committed. 

This is something I feel the MSE could cover. Reviews of the financial services industry from the retail user perspective. Name and shame the bad ones and maybe they'll be motivated to improve their offerings. 

MallyGirl

Isn't that more for something like Which. There aren't that many players in the market and most people interact fairly infrequently with their provider. I have been with mine for a fair few years and have never had to call them.

Pat38493

Bumblingbee said:

@Stocard, yes absolutely the same situation here, I'm not wedded to them and happy to review, but likewise if I could keep things consistent it means I could review things in my own time rather than rush. The multi asset in particular I'd probably look to change.

How do you find II?

I have transferred a few different other pension funds into II.  I was a bit worried about the funds from my old employer Aviva fund for example not being specifically available on II, but with a bit of research you can find funds which are often performing better and with lower charges - in fact the funds I am with now have massively outperformed the fund I was in with Aviva both before and after I moved the money.

One thing to be careful of is - don't assume your employer and/or in house (non independent) financial adviser is picking the best funds for you.  There are plenty of other funds that track the same indexes as those ones that you have already that are available in II.

I am not exclusively using II - I have an current employer pension with Aegon as there is no choice there, and I am using Trading 212 for my ISAs and GIA as they have zero platform charges and offer a good interest rate on uninvested cash.

MetaPhysical

I was in the same position with Aviva.  Aviva's funds were not available on II.  I invested in something completely different when my fund was transferred into II.

squirrelpie

Open a SIPP with II for a nominal amount - £100? - and then look at whatever you want?

Shimrod

squirrelpie said:

Open a SIPP with II for a nominal amount - £100? - and then look at whatever you want?

You can open the SIPP account without any money at all and check out what funds are available. 

Shimrod

Bumblingbee said:

@Somebody thank you, I really appreciate that 

I transferred an L&G workplace pension to ii earlier this year. As @Somebody has shown, you can find the equivalent L&G funds. In most cases, the charges were the same or only slightly higher than the workplace fund equivalent. I kept with some of the L&G funds, and took the opportunity to use some different fund providers.

The increased cost in fund charges is still more than offset by platform charges. If you use a recommendation link, you should get the first 12 months free of platform charges. 

When I transferred by L&G pension, it took around six weeks, although my wife's transfer took just over four weeks. Expect to have to fill in an due diligence questionnaire for L&G as part of the transfer process.

MallyGirl

My transfer from L&G to II recently took 2 weeks

Bumblingbee

Thanks everyone, very helpful tips on how to use II and using / where to find the relevant codes- I'll take a look at this.

Yes I'm going to proceed and then take a full look. Just time poor so the more I can find out before the better 😊

I've done multiple transfers fortunately so very familiar with that.

Rich1976

I moved to ii a few months ago but not particularly keen on them. 

The big disadvantage for me is investing monthly into the Sipp by direct debit , I have only found out recently that they do not invest the tax relief and just leave it sitting uninvested as I have discovered about 4 months worth of tax relief sitting there doing nothing. I queried this with them to be told it is up to me to invest it, which I find strange considering other providers invest the tax relief in the same funds as the monthly contribution. I also have no way of knowing when the tax relief will arrive so don’t want to keep checking my account all the while.

i also find their online interface very clunky and too many menu options. It seems more geared to share investors with the Sipp functionality bolted on.

I also don’t like they sit on your monthly contribution for about 3 weeks until the first Wednesday of the following month.

Having used HL for almost 20 years without issue, whilst I am saving on charges , the rest of ii is a let down imho