More about SIPPs

"Pensions are one of the single biggest investments that most of us ever make. Yet many pensions remain neglected, with their owners paying sky high charges or suffering mediocre performance."

Bestinvest’s no fee, flexible service will help maximise potential returns and provide you with the support and investment advice you require to meet your needs at retirement. The Bestinvest SIPP provides a free environment to hold pension funds.

The SIPP plan itself is flexible and transparent, enabling you to control and monitor your pension investments. Unlike other pension plans it allows you the freedom to gain access to over 1000 funds with the choice and capacity to tailor your pension portfolio. Our experts will guide you through the process of opening a new plan or transferring a current pension. Once the plan is set up we can provide ongoing investment advice and reporting at no additional cost.

We believe that we are the only independent advisers that provide bespoke investment advice for no additional charge. If you prefer, we can take responsibility for managing your portfolio on an ongoing basis.

Investment Freedom

Break free from the restricted and often mediocre range of funds offered by most pension providers. Instead pick the best from the extensive investment range available.

Why settle for second best? The table to the right demonstrates how the average pension fund compares to the equivalent unit trust. The results are clear. Standard pension funds perform worse than their unit trust counterparts. And over the years this difference can have a significant impact on how much you have in retirement.

If you select the very best unit trust managers the differences are even greater. Remember, these figures are averages. Past performance should not be taken as a guide to the future.

Transparency and Flexibility

Many people view their pension plans as ‘at arm’s length’ investments: Complex structures that they expect to plod along until an income is required in retirement. However, there is no good reason why pension monies shouldn’t work as hard as any other investments. A SIPP could be the answer to your needs. In fact you can run your SIPP like you run your ISAs - proactively seeking the best funds and adapting your investments when the time is right.

Unit Trust Performance Beats Pension FundsSector Unit Trusts Pensions

Cautious Managed	4.4%	4.2%
Balanced Managed	4.6%	4.6%
UK All Companies	4.7%	4.5%
UK Smaller Co's	7.9%	6.8%
Global Emerging Markets	11.1%	10.7%

Source: Lipper. Figures show annualised returns over 10 years bid to bid with net income reinvested to 28/09/07. ABI Sector averages compared with equivalent IMA sectors

Important

The wrappers used in the Bestinvest SIPP are provided by FundsNetwork and Cofunds with special terms applying for Bestinvest clients.

Although we have designed our SIPP proposition for clients like you this does not mean that it is necessarily suitable for your specific requirements or that transferring an existing pension to it is necessarily going to be suitable for you. If in doubt, you should seek specialist pensions advice.

The tax advantages of all pension policies are open to change by Her Majesty’s Government.

Any pension requires a long term commitment and any investment you make via a SIPP should be viewed as such. Importantly, the value of such investments can fall as well as rise and returns are not guaranteed.

Always join an employer’s pension scheme first if they make a contribution.