Sipp (retirement)

[Tweety1]

Following on from the retirement thread (I didn’t put this in there as it might get lost) is there a better SIPP provider. So I don’t want to choose my own funds as I really haven’t got a clue and I have seen some that have ready made ones that you can select. Some are easier to understand as L&G ask for level of risk, not sure about HL and then I saw Vanguard on money saving expert but their options are confusing.
Any experience Dibbers that can help? It’s really a mindfield.

[yozza1977]

If you are passive investing I would check out which funds have the lowest charges. The site Monevator has a good comparison of the main options. Fees differ between a percentage of funds 0.15%+ or fixed fee. If you have a large portfolio 25k+ fixed fee may win out.
From a personal perspective Vanguard works well if you are happy using their funds only, Fidelity is reasonable. HL I find expensive comparatvely.
Vanguard you really dont have to venture too far from their lifestrategy funds 20,40,60,80 etc. The 20/40/60 is reflective of the equity content of the fund, the greater the equity the increased risk profile.

monevator/compare-uk-che...nline-brokers/

[Tweety1]

Originally Posted by yozza1977

If you are passive investing I would check out which funds have the lowest charges. The site Monevator has a good comparison of the main options. Fees differ between a percentage of funds 0.15%+ or fixed fee. If you have a large portfolio 25k+ fixed fee may win out.
From a personal perspective Vanguard works well if you are happy using their funds only, Fidelity is reasonable. HL I find expensive comparatvely.
Vanguard you really dont have to venture too far from their lifestrategy funds 20,40,60,80 etc. The 20/40/60 is reflective of the equity content of the fund, the greater the equity the increased risk profile.

monevator/compare-uk-che...nline-brokers/

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I did look at the vanguard life strategy funds as I need one made for me - I don’t want to choose my own.
Do I need to be aware of other charges like when you come to take your pension? Do providers charge for this?
Currently I am after a straightforward pension with a good reputable company. I have never heard of vanguard before but saw it on money saving website so figured it must be okay! I will have a look at the link
Thank you

[Guest]

I watched a programme the other day talking about the amount of money that vanguard has under investment. It's is enough to give every person in the UK over £93k cash. That is a lot ! They are not a small fly by night company.

I use vanguard for my ISA.

As well as lifestrategy they also do target retirement funds. There are lots of videos on youtube. (I follow @pensioncraft on YouTube for investment and economics info. The vanguard sipp video is quite informative. I get it's a year old but interesting to watch anyway.




It's entertainment only.


Choosing a pension and pension provider is a really tricky and important and complex thing to do. Perhaps get some independent advice from a pensions advisor would be my suggestion.

[Tweety1]

Originally Posted by FamilyGWales

I watched a programme the other day talking about the amount of money that vanguard has under investment. It's is enough to give every person in the UK over £93k cash. That is a lot ! They are not a small fly by night company.

I use vanguard for my ISA.

As well as lifestrategy they also do target retirement funds. There are lots of videos on youtube. (I follow @pensioncraft on YouTube for investment and economics info. The vanguard sipp video is quite informative. I get it's a year old but interesting to watch anyway.




It's entertainment only.


Choosing a pension and pension provider is a really tricky and important and complex thing to do. Perhaps get some independent advice from a pensions advisor would be my suggestion.

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Thank you I will have a look.
I think when I saw the Vanguard site it just doesn’t look as appealing plus I haven't heard of them. However they definitely seem to have the lower charges.
I’ve just watched the video and it was very self explanatory thank you for posting I’m going to find him on YouTube as he was v cleat and easy to understand

[amy56]

Stupid question I suspect! - but I’ve been looking at the vanguard life strategy after the other thread too! Is it a pension then? I thought I was looking at it as an investment plan rather than a pension? (Im looking for something that will give me a lump sum in 10 years or so, I’m thinking we would put some money into it monthly, money that we are willing to have an element of risk with rather than our main savings) x

[Tweety1]

Originally Posted by amy56

Stupid question I suspect! - but I’ve been looking at the vanguard life strategy after the other thread too! Is it a pension then? I thought I was looking at it as an investment plan rather than a pension? (Im looking for something that will give me a lump sum in 10 years or so, I’m thinking we would put some money into it monthly, money that we are willing to have an element of risk with rather than our main savings) x

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Tbh im not but if you watch the YouTube video that was posted (which was v helpful) he opens a SIPP and selects life strategy as his investment choice.
Hopefully more knowledgeable ppl will respond

[400ixl]

Originally Posted by amy56

Stupid question I suspect! - but I’ve been looking at the vanguard life strategy after the other thread too! Is it a pension then? I thought I was looking at it as an investment plan rather than a pension? (Im looking for something that will give me a lump sum in 10 years or so, I’m thinking we would put some money into it monthly, money that we are willing to have an element of risk with rather than our main savings) x

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It's a fund, so a managed mix of equities. You could just buy it to invest, buy it from within an ISA, or buy it from within a SIPP.

The container is just a way of investing in units of the fund with particular benefits such as tax free within an ISA.

[tspill]

Originally Posted by amy56

Stupid question I suspect! - but I’ve been looking at the vanguard life strategy after the other thread too! Is it a pension then? I thought I was looking at it as an investment plan rather than a pension? (Im looking for something that will give me a lump sum in 10 years or so, I’m thinking we would put some money into it monthly, money that we are willing to have an element of risk with rather than our main savings) x

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Not a stupid question.

Vanguard Life Strategy in its various risk guises is a set of funds. It is globally and sector diversified - this is good. All these multi asset funds have some management decisions made when they were set up. Vanguard chose to have what is called a home bias - i.e. they have 25% of their stock in UK companies when the UK is about 7% of the global economy. This is good or bad depending on your perspective. For me it is good as it reduces inflation and currency risk for foreign investments. This is what I use.
This is an investment.

SIPPs and ISAs and NOT investments. They are tax wrappers that offer different tax advantages. They are like the boxes that you put your investments into.

So you can purchase a VLS fund within either a SIPP or an ISA - or indeed outside an tax wrapper in a GIA (General Investment Account).

If you are going down the VLS route, there are five risk options. VLS 100 (100% equities) - considers the higher risk; down to VLS 20 (20% equities) - considered the lower risk. There are VLS 80, 40 & 40 in-between. This is the big choice you need to make depending on your age, timeframe and tolerance to risk. The remain %age is invested in bonds/gilts which have traditionally been considered less risky than equities.

To make things a little more complicated - each of these five options also has two options - Income units or Accumulation units. Income will pay you the dividends. Accumulation will reinvest your dividends. So this depends if you want your investment to grow more (Acc) or whether you want the dividends out as cash (Inc).

You also need to decide which platform to host them on. I use a combination of Charles Stanley Direct, iWeb, Vanguard and Aegon. The difference is generally the fees they charge.

My current favourite is iWeb (owned by Halifax) as their charges are a one off fee of £100. Plus £5 to buy the fund. There are no monthly charges. So it is cheap.
Others charge a %age. CSG charge 0.35%; Interactive Investor charge £10/month; Vanguard charge 0.13%; Hargreaves Langsdown charge 0.4%. But check these as I am doing this from memory)

There is also a fee for the fund. VLS charge 0.22%.

Hope this explains some of this.

OP. I see you saying you don't want to make choices. Unfortunately that is not possible. No matter what you do here - you will be making a choice in one way or another. You cant avoid making a choice.

Personally, for the most part, I now use a combination of -
Vanguard Life Strategy 40
Vanguard Life Strategy 80
Vanguard Developed World exc. UK (all equities and no UK - to slightly offset the UK home bias of VLS - while I like some home bias, 25% is a bit much for me).

Other companies other than Vanguard that do multi asset funds (HSBS, Blackrock, Fidelity etc.). They all have slightly different management decisions for their investment strategy. I personally chose Vanguard as i think is is the closest to a passive investment fund.

[Tweety1]

Originally Posted by tspill

Not a stupid question.

Vanguard Life Strategy in its various risk guises is a set of funds. It is globally and sector diversified - this is good. All these multi asset funds have some management decisions made when they were set up. Vanguard chose to have what is called a home bias - i.e. they have 25% of their stock in UK companies when the UK is about 7% of the global economy. This is good or bad depending on your perspective. For me it is good as it reduces inflation and currency risk for foreign investments. This is what I use.
This is an investment.

SIPPs and ISAs and NOT investments. They are tax wrappers that offer different tax advantages. They are like the boxes that you put your investments into.

So you can purchase a VLS fund within either a SIPP or an ISA - or indeed outside an tax wrapper in a GIA (General Investment Account).

If you are going down the VLS route, there are five risk options. VLS 100 (100% equities) - considers the higher risk; down to VLS 20 (20% equities) - considered the lower risk. There are VLS 80, 40 & 40 in-between. This is the big choice you need to make depending on your age, timeframe and tolerance to risk. The remain %age is invested in bonds/gilts which have traditionally been considered less risky than equities.

To make things a little more complicated - each of these five options also has two options - Income units or Accumulation units. Income will pay you the dividends. Accumulation will reinvest your dividends. So this depends if you want your investment to grow more (Acc) or whether you want the dividends out as cash (Inc).

You also need to decide which platform to host them on. I use a combination of Charles Stanley Direct, iWeb, Vanguard and Aegon. The difference is generally the fees they charge.

My current favourite is iWeb (owned by Halifax) as their charges are a one off fee of £100. Plus £5 to buy the fund. There are no monthly charges. So it is cheap.
Others charge a %age. CSG charge 0.35%; Interactive Investor charge £10/month; Vanguard charge 0.13%; Hargreaves Langsdown charge 0.4%. But check these as I am doing this from memory)

There is also a fee for the fund. VLS charge 0.22%.

Hope this explains some of this.

OP. I see you saying you don't want to make choices. Unfortunately that is not possible. No matter what you do here - you will be making a choice in one way or another. You cant avoid making a choice.

Personally, for the most part, I now use a combination of -
Vanguard Life Strategy 40
Vanguard Life Strategy 80
Vanguard Developed World exc. UK (all equities and no UK - to slightly offset the UK home bias of VLS - while I like some home bias, 25% is a bit much for me).

Other companies other than Vanguard that do multi asset funds (HSBS, Blackrock, Fidelity etc.). They all have slightly different management decisions for their investment strategy. I personally chose Vanguard as i think is is the closest to a passive investment fund.

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I knew there would be ppl in here that get this
So what is the difference between the life strategy and the retirement fund? Is there any? Trying to utilise the tax advantage you get with a pension...
Have you had any issues with vanguard? I’ve just read a few negative reviews but it was only the top view and mainly how long they take to process requests the rest of the reviews were great!
Thank you for your detailed response as it is becoming clearer to understand(I think) so any other information is always welcome