When is going to be the best time to transfer SIPP?

freeisgood

The market is going to be very volatile, it already is.

I need to get my money out of a very highly managed expensive SIPP and into a self managed one, the trouble is when I’m going to be able to do this without suffering a major loss as I know nothing will happen with my funds for weeks in limbo..

is there going to be a good time any time in the coming six months?

Exodi

Are you able to transfer in-specie?

(This means transferring the stocks, as opposed to the stocks being sold, transferring the cash, and then rebuying them). Note not all platforms support in-specie transfers, and those that do restrict it to funds available on their platform. A way to get around this would be to ensure you are invested in funds the new platform offers.

This entirely removes interim volatility.

freeisgood

I need to get my money out of a very highly managed expensive SIPP and into a self managed one

SIPP = Self Invested Personal Pension, so this seems a bit confused.

Nonetheless, what platform are you currently on and which do you intend to move to?

It could be that you are invested in 'active' funds or using a managed service on the current platform that costs a lot, but is also likely easy to change to a cheaper DIY option without changing platform. Hard to say without any details about the providers or funds in question.

El_Torro

If the current provider is St James Place for example they don't have cheap DIY options on their platform.

I would do the transfer now. Stock markets are near record highs so I don't think you're going to lose out on significant growth by being out of the market for a week or two. Sure, you might lose out on 20% growth but I highly doubt it.

dunstonh

When is going to be the best time to transfer SIPP?

It doesn't matter in most cases. SIPPs allow in-specie transfers and you are not out of the market.

its only on cash transfers that you are out of the market. And as you cannot predict the unpredictable, you cannot second-guess when the potential best time is. Statistically, positive periods outnumber negative periods. So, any cash transfer is statistically more likely to miss out on positive returns than negative returns.

I need to get my money out of a very highly managed expensive SIPP and into a self managed one, the trouble is when I’m going to be able to do this without suffering a major loss as I know nothing will happen with my funds for weeks in limbo..

As it's a SIPP, why not just change the investment?

If the current provider is St James Place for example they don't have cheap DIY options on their platform.

However, SJP don't have a SIPP and they don't have a platform. (not intending to be pedantic but just referencing the point that the OP says its a SIPP rather than a personal pension).

Exodi

El_Torro

I would do the transfer now. Stock markets are near record highs so I don't think you're going to lose out on significant growth by being out of the market for a week or two. Sure, you might lose out on 20% growth but I highly doubt it.

I think a week would be unusually fast, 2-4 weeks seems to be the common indication for cash only.

Nonetheless even looking at a global fund like VWRP, you would be down anything between 0.4% - 3.9% depending on when you sold over the past three weeks.

If you liquidated your shares in the exact middle of the range (i.e. three weeks ago on the 15th), you'd be down 3.9% if you bought in again now - and this is using a global index fund as an example. Having the potential to lose £3.9k for every £100k invested I think should automatically classify it as in 'last resort' territory (unless the OP has a negligible amount of money invested). Perhaps ironically, the savings the OP might have wanted to make on platform fees may well dwarf this difference, at least for several years.

Why risk it if they don't need to?

freeisgood

So sorry, I will provide a bit more clarity .

currently with Polaris 4 ,st James’s place… want to ditch the expensive fees and go self managed.

Have opened an account at interactive investor…

I just want to make the right decision. I have worked out that I will have exit fees for St James place, but can’t do anything about that…

I know that moving across is the right decision in the long run. I have 12 years to build up my pot into something okay till retiring..

( i’m struggling to find any advice because there are only independent advisers who are interested in managing a fund, and not assisting me with a little guidance transferring my pot into something like Vangaurd) , I have been using AI for guidance.

I had an acquaintance he said don’t do anything till the spring.. but apart from that, I’m really at a loss of what to do.

currently 200,000 in the pot and I have 12 years before retiring age 67

It was only when I used ChatGPT a few months ago that I realised what a large amount I was paying to have my fund managed by SJP which is why I want to get out..

I waited till at least this month because last month the exit fee would go down from 4% to 3% which is helpful .

I stopped contributing for the past couple of months because I’m on this six year ticking clock of exit fees…So I want to be able to carry on contributing once the transfer has taken place. As currently, I am not paying in for the past couple of months… I am worrying.

I suppose I could start contributing into interactive investor account and maybe open up a retirement vanguard 2040 for example, but there’s no obvious guidance.

So I am at a loss.

I really appreciate your comments, thank you

freeisgood

It would need to be liquidated before transferring I understand with Polaris 4..

LHW99

If you transfer now, you should stop paying the expensive fees in the near future. If you wait till spring, you will definately pay at least 6 months more higher fees.

DRS1

Some pension providers or platforms offer incentives to get you to transfer to them which may go some way to mitigate the exit charges. I don't know if ii have such an offer on right now but Aviva do

Transfer your Pension | Combine multiple pension pots - Aviva

There is also a thread here which may have useful information

The Cashback for Bank or Investment Accounts Discussion Thread - Page 239 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Aylesbury_Duck

"The market is going to be very volatile, it already is."

Is it? By what measure? And what intelligence does your friend have that suggests next Spring is a good time for the move?

You can't control what the markets are doing, so that leaves you with the levers of fund choice and fees. If you have a fund choice that meets your objectives, and a provider whose fees are acceptable, then I'd crack on and make the move, assuming you've understood the exit fee situation.

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82160353#Comment_82160353

II always seem to be running a SIPP cashback offer:

https://www.ii.co.uk/ii-accounts/sipp/offers-and-cashback/sipp-cashback

This month it's £500 on assets of £200k or more.

You can also combine it with the RAF promotion, to get £200 for them and no account fees for six months, so a value of £90 for OP. Even if they don't know someone with an II account, people are happy to share their codes, for obvious reasons.

Fees for OP currently look to be ~1.7%: https://www.sjp.co.uk/sites/sjp-corp/files/SJP/our-charges/Annual_Charges_Document_230825.pdf

So definitely looks to be worthwhile moving, even if they are exposed to some cost and volatility.

By comparison, on £200k II would charge ~0.09% as a platform charge and then whatever the OCF is for the fund - say 0.11%, giving a TER of 0.2%…

That's a difference of £3,400 in fees per year vs £400. Even if you were very unlucky with volatility like the example I gave above, it would still only take ~2 years to breakeven on the fees, after which you'd be £3k better off a year which is ideal considering you mention you have a decent investing horizon.