Recommend me a company pension

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Have a look at Sippdeal, there are no ongoing management charges rather than the 0.5% pa ( I think ? ) in HL. If you are going to buy and hold equities it's a good deal I think. The admin and online trading setup has been good. You may have to pay a setup charge but I'd try ringing them, I got that waived.

One thing I have slight worries about is what if Sippdeal or HL or ? went into administration, your money ( shares in my case ) appear to be 99% safe but I can't quite get that 100% feeling. So I'm splitting my pot into two at the moment, and maybe three in time. It also means you can cash in the pensions at different times.

I agree about the feeling of safety from spreading it over providers. As for cashing in, it's not a factor. You don't need to cash in a pension 100% at a time. With a SIPP what you do is "crystallise" a certain amount of the pension: that part is now in the out tray of the pension, so to speak, but the rest is still pension savings as normal.

[rootsnall]

Hmmmmm, thanks, will do some research.

Probably over worrying, but I have spoken to a mate who is a barry big time in the pension world and he said split it. If you've got 300K then have it in three lots of 100K.

[scooterscot]

I'd still contribute as much as I can to a pension given everything that's going on, even if I was your age.

I'm with Scottish widows, however, I have a product that's good for me which may not necessarily be good for you.

I would strongly recommend talking to a IFA for advice.

[Retro]

Safety

Have a look at this from H/L

http://www.h-l.co.uk/investment-serv...our-investment

You will see that cash deposits in a SIPP are currently split between the five largest banks and each has the usual £50,000 protection.

[Fred Bloggs]

I do the SIPP with HL and I pay £1k a month into it by direct debit from the Ltd Co account. I also pay in lump sums when I can. Because I use only unit trusts, I pay no fees other than the underlying charges levied within the trusts. Since I am now 53, I am going to draw out my 25% tax free lump sum shortly (before April 5th 2010) which will go straight into ISA's between me and Mrs Bloggs 2009 and 2010 ISA allowances. So that's that sorted. Then I'm taking a 0% draw down whilst continuing to invest into the SIPP. Over the next 10 years I'll be ramping up the SIPP investments until I am putting almost all the Ltd Co turnover into the SIPP at around age 63. All part of the plan and for me, this is very probably the main reason I contract rather than go staff. As a staff bloke I could take home the same as I get contracting currently, due to hours cap and rate cut.

[Fred Bloggs]

Have a look at this from H/L

http://www.h-l.co.uk/investment-serv...our-investment

You will see that cash deposits in a SIPP are currently split between the five largest banks and each has the usual £50,000 protection.

I believe you will also find that any investments are also at arms length from HL such that if HL go bump, your money and investments will be kept seperate from HL.

[ctdctd]

Thanks for all the replies so far.
Looks like the consensus is H-L so that is who it will be!

I already have (small) pension pots with a couple of other providers so the load is spread.

That covers the basic pension framework - now to decide what to invest in. Personal savings are mainly cash so I'll be able to be a bit more adventurous with the SIPP. Booooomed - or possibly Doooomed

[ctdctd]

I'd still contribute as much as I can to a pension given everything that's going on, even if I was your age.

[Andy2]

Since I am now 53, I am going to draw out my 25% tax free lump sum shortly (before April 5th 2010) which will go straight into ISA's between me and Mrs Bloggs 2009 and 2010 ISA allowances. So that's that sorted. Then I'm taking a 0% draw down whilst continuing to invest into the SIPP.

At what age can you start withdrawing money from your pension ?

[ctdctd]

At what age can you start withdrawing money from your pension ?

50 before April 2010, 55 afterwards