If someone told you that you had to spend the rest of your life shopping in Aldi or you could drive any car as long as it was a Ford, would you be satisfied? Well it’s a bit like that with standard pensions when you compare them to SIPP pensions.
Now there is nothing wrong with Fords, I have owned one in the past and I have also been known to shop in Aldi on occasions. However as a human being I like to have the freedom to choose the car I drive or where I shop for my groceries.
So surely the same thing should apply to one of the most important life decisions I will need to make.
Putting something by for the future is even more important now than ever yet people are still leaving their retirement to chance or putting money away in a pension and forgetting about it.
Now there is nothing wrong with a pension, but it is restricted to only a few products compared to the whole new world of investments that is opened up with a SIPP. With a SIPP you get to choose where and when to invest your money and if you are the sort of person who likes choice and control, then a SIPP is perfect.
At a time when most people are worried about how their investments are performing it is important to note that twice as many people are satisfied with their SIPP investments compared to those who hold standard pensions.
The most telling stat, however, is that only 29% of SIPP investors said they had seen their pension fall “a long way” short of their expectations, while a whopping 42% of standard pension holders felt the same.
Finding the best sipp pension products
My guess is that more people would be happy with their SIPP if they were given access to the right advice and the best choice of investment products. With greater choice sometimes comes more confusion.
The biggest difference between a Sipp and a personal pension is that a Sipp holder can invest into basically anything that is approved for sipp investment, while someone with a personal pension can only invest into specific funds offered by their provider.
For example, a SIPP holder can invest into shares, bonds, funds, commercial property, farmland or even gold amongst other products. There are some fantastic investment vehicles out there that can deliver outstanding returns if you only know where to look.
Higher levels of freedom and choice are seen by many in the financial advice industry as the main reasons why more people are satisfied with SIPPS than standard pensions.
Sipp pension holders are far more involved in how their money is invested than someone with a regular pension who might only get a letter in the post once a year for 30 years at the end of which it is too late to change course.
Even though SIPPs have been around for 20 years, it was previously only high net worth individuals who made use of them. Now increasingly as the performance of standard pensions comes under the spotlight Sipps are being seen as more attractive even for those with more modest pension pots.
SIPPs offer the same tax advantages as standard pensions. Not only are contributions tax-deductible, investments done are tax-free both when it comes to income tax and capital gains tax.
So when it comes to shopping around for ways to save for a satisfying life after 65, there are few better options out there than a SIPP pension.
Click here for the latest sipp pension products.
