BestInvest SIPP

Sobryma

Hi after an 'interesting' letter from HL, I've had a look at other SIPP providers and BestInvest took my eye as despite apearing a tad dearer than HL (who seem v. competitive) they do seem to other a degree of advice in setting up SIPP.

Has anyone used them for growth portfolio planning, if so how do you rate them (I note they've won a Daily Telegraph award)?

Retired_I.F.A.

Was it the same newsletter I had which included sections on where the H+L experts invest their own pensions? I rolled about laughing at Tom McPhail in that one where he said he contributes regular premiums to his SIPP to benefit from pound cost averaging.

I proved to him pound cost averaging was nothing but a load of salesmans bull years ago when he was my Scottish Widows rep.

Some people don't learn they just get better paid jobs and fancier titles. :rolleyes:

Any IFA can advise on setting up a SIPP if that's the route advisable to take and the cost of that advice depends on your negotiating skills.

Sobryma

Well the letter arrived shortly thereafter....

Take your point on setup, BestInvest's webpage gives the impression of ongoing support/management .... but is this a bit far fetched?

EdInvestor

Who is the administrator of the SIPP and what are the charges?

Sobryma

It's not obvious who administers it on their webpage but I think I read somewhere that it was AJ Bell. It looks like they use FundsNetwork & Cofunds for funds.

If more than £50k they rebate commission, so most funds are 0-0.5% initial charge, they have a trail commission of 'typically' 0.5%.

I think the initial setup and ongoing support in establishing portfolio look better than HL. I might ask them for references.

Man_in_Black_4

The Bestinvest SIPP is actually the Fidelity Funds Network SIPP (which is adminstered by Standard Life). If you hold £50k + in collectives on the Funds Network platform, the usual SIPP charges are 'waived' (well, subsidised by Bestinvest and FundsNetwork whilst feel like doing it). You then pay the standard AMC on the funds held. This then pays Best 0.5% trail as standard, and 0.25% in platform fees.

The funds are all purchased at ceation price (this is standard for the Funds Network SIPP regardless of who you get it through), with no intitial commission added on, regardless of how much is invested - but you pay the admin fees etc if you've got less than £50k there...

Its a different kettle-of-fish to the H-L offering. As H-L run their own platform, you can hold other stuff than collectives (e.g. single company shares) as long as you don't mind paying a 0.5% fee on them. You can't really do this with the Best offerring. On the other hand, they give 'sort of advice' to you once a year if you ask for it on what funds you should hold - in fact, all they do is run your details through the same asset-allocation tool on their website.

Torquil Clarke similarly offer a white-labelled version of the Funds Network SIPP. Chelsea FS and intethic.com on the other hand are looking at launching a white-labelled SIPPcentre/Cofunds offerring that'll probably be better value than the Bestinvest offering.

EdInvestor

Man_in_Black wrote: »

The Bestinvest SIPP is actually the Fidelity Funds Network SIPP

In that case you will probably find there are charges beyond a certain number of switches.

Sobryma

Thanks - Man in Black / EdInvestor that is v. helpful. Maybe best option is to stick with H-L - I'll give some thought.

objective

Man_in_Black wrote: »

The Bestinvest SIPP is actually the Fidelity Funds Network SIPP (which is adminstered by Standard Life). If you hold £50k + in collectives on the Funds Network platform, the usual SIPP charges are 'waived' (well, subsidised by Bestinvest and FundsNetwork whilst feel like doing it). You then pay the standard AMC on the funds held. This then pays Best 0.5% trail as standard, and 0.25% in platform fees.

The funds are all purchased at ceation price (this is standard for the Funds Network SIPP regardless of who you get it through), with no intitial commission added on, regardless of how much is invested - but you pay the admin fees etc if you've got less than £50k there...

Its a different kettle-of-fish to the H-L offering. As H-L run their own platform, you can hold other stuff than collectives (e.g. single company shares) as long as you don't mind paying a 0.5% fee on them. You can't really do this with the Best offerring. On the other hand, they give 'sort of advice' to you once a year if you ask for it on what funds you should hold - in fact, all they do is run your details through the same asset-allocation tool on their website.

Torquil Clarke similarly offer a white-labelled version of the Funds Network SIPP. Chelsea FS and intethic.com on the other hand are looking at launching a white-labelled SIPPcentre/Cofunds offerring that'll probably be better value than the Bestinvest offering.

Ah ha . . . mysterious 'man in black' - the man that knows what intethic (who they?) are "going to do" - AND thinks it'll be better than Best . . . ??
Obviously inside knowledge.

jamesd

Man in Black and objective, please do as required at the top of every page and "always declare any interest" in what you're writing about.

objective, two first time posters is interesting. I wonder if Hargreaves Lansdown might be creating an opening for those with larger fund values or more diversified holdings to transfer to other providers with their 25 deals limit letters. Regular sell splits and regular purchases from cash in the SIPP would seem like two ways to offer a better service to some of those affected.

Dominic Cummings left BestInvest to set up intethic so it'll be no surprise at all if it's more competitive than BestInvest, at least initially. As former head of BestInvest strategy and acquisitions nothing less would really be expected, since he surely knows what he has to compete with.