Do you envision a retirement filled with exciting trips, fancy meals out, and fun new hobbies you didn’t have the time to pursue when you were younger? The cost of these things can stack up — especially if you haven’t got much money saved for them.
But after working for most of your adult life, you deserve to spend your retirement doing the things that bring you joy (instead of worrying about money).
So, you may already be looking at SIPPs to help you boost your savings for it.
If this is the case, then you’ve probably already done your research, and are clued up on the benefits of SIPPs and how they work.
But before you go ahead and open one with the first provider you find, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind to help choose the right one for you.
- What to look out for when choosing a SIPP provider
- Why choose Wealthify for your SIPP?
- Our reviews
- How to open a SIPP
After all – and as is the case with many things – not all SIPPS are created equal.
So, whether you plan on spending your later years cruising around the world or relaxing in your dream countryside home; here are some of the key things to think about (and why you may want to consider a Wealthify SIPP while you’re at it).
What to look out for when choosing a SIPP provider
With there being so many providers out there, choosing one to go with can be a bit overwhelming.
And why wouldn’t it be? This is your hard-earned retirement money they’ll be looking after, so you deserve a reputable, trustworthy company who won’t hit you with hidden fees, while making the right decisions for you.
So, to make this easier for you, we’ve outlined some of the key things to consider:
Fees and charges: It’s normal for SIPP providers to have management fees, and to have to pay things like trading costs. However, keep in mind that some may also charge for withdrawals, or for transferring your pension to another provider.
Investment options: Are they going to invest your money in a range of asset types and regions to spread your risk? Will you have a say in what you’re investing in – like having the option to have an ethical pension that only funds companies that are having a positive impact?
Ease of use: Does their platform make it easy for you to do things like top-up your pension pot, or see how much you’ve paid in already? Does it give you estimates on how much you could end up with when you retire, and have an app so you can check your account at any time?
Transparency: If possible, see if you can find the provider’s past investment performance on their website. If they’re making this difficult to find, then this could be a red flag (but do remember that past performance isn’t a reliable indicator of future results). Customer service: If a company is going to be looking after your money, you’ll want them to have reliable, responsive customer service. Read their reviews to get a feel for theirs, and don’t forget to look at when you can contact them, too.
Security: Some things to look out for are whether they’re regulated and authorised by the FCA (as their aim is to protect consumers), and if they offer FSCS protection (where up to £85,000 will be reimbursed to you if the provider goes out of business).*
Flexibility: A key benefit of SIPPs is that you can choose how much you pay in and how often, but the minimum amount won’t be the same for every provider. So, you might want to check this, as well as how flexible access to your money will be when you can withdraw.
Trust and reputation: You don’t need to go for the largest provider out there. However, some things you might want to consider are whether they’re a well-known brand, if they’ve won lots of awards, and whether they have positive reviews on various platforms.
*Just FYI: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) offers protection of up to £85,000 per person — not per company or product.
Why choose Wealthify for your SIPP?
At Wealthify, a Personal Pension (what we call our SIPP) is just one of the investment products we offer. And as is the case with our Stocks and Shares ISA, General Investment Account, and Junior ISA, your Wealthify SIPP will be managed by experts, who do everything for you.
This means you don’t need to worry about keeping an eye on the financial markets or having an in-depth knowledge of investing. It’s our job to decide when to buy and sell investments to help keep your performance on track (and your pension pot growing).
We’re also owned and backed up Aviva – one of the UK's largest financial institutions – making us a name you can trust with your money.
Here are some of the other benefits of choosing a Wealthify SIPP:
We have a low minimum investment: Open your Personal Pension with just £50 and pay in as much or as little as you like going forward (provided it’s at least this amount). You can do this through one-off payments, or by setting up a monthly Direct Debit.
You can invest in a way that works for you: Choose from five investment styles based on your attitude to risk, as well as whether you want an ethical SIPP.
It’s easy to monitor your performance: Check how your investments are doing and see a handy breakdown of where your money is invested whenever you’re curious, thanks to the user-friendly dashboard that’s available via our website and app.
You can transfer your other pots to us: If you have any pension pots from previous jobs, our easy pension transfer means you can combine them in one Wealthify SIPP.
We’ll automatically add the tax relief: If you’re a basic rate taxpayer, you’ll receive a 25% top-up on the contributions you make into your pension as tax relief from the government. We’ll add this to your pot for you, so there’s no need to contact HMRC.
We’re always transparent about our fees: When it comes to Wealthify SIPP fees, there’s no need to worry about being hit with extra hidden costs alongside our normal charges.
Low and transparent investment fees
As already mentioned, it’s normal for SIPP providers to charge fees for managing your pension. And because your savings will be invested in the stock market, there are investment charges to take into consideration. too.
At Wealthify, we aim to keep ours as low as possible, so you can keep more money in your pension pot. We also won’t charge you for things like deposits and withdrawals (when the time comes), or for transferring your pension to another provider.
Here’s how Wealthify SIPP fees work (which are quoted annually, but charged monthly):
- Wealthify SIPP fee: This charge covers the ongoing management of your pension, and is 0.60% for balances up to £100,000, and just 0.30% for any portion above this amount.
- Average investment costs: This includes things like fund charges (which are taken by the fund provider directly), and market spread (which is the different between the cost we buy your investments and sell them for). This is around 0.16% for pensions with an Original theme, and 0.7% for Ethical Pensions.
Each SIPP provider will have their own set of fees, so make sure you shop around and check what these are before you make any decisions. And don’t forget about things like withdrawal or transfer fees (although we don’t charge them at Wealthify, others might).
Ethical investment options
With some pensions (like any workplace ones you would have been enrolled into when starting a new job), you won’t have much control over where your savings are invested.
This means your hard-earned money could be funding industries that don’t align with your values.
But with a Wealthify SIPP, it’s possible to give your money the potential to grow without sacrificing what’s important to you.
With our Ethical Investing option, your money will support organisations that are committed to making a positive impact through their ESG (environmental, social, and governance) standards. This could be by working to reduce their impact on the environment, treating their staff well, or by supporting charities and their local community.
We also aim to exclude key industries that are considered harmful to society from these pensions, including gambling, tobacco, weapons, and adult entertainment.
But how do we ensure these companies continue to have a positive impact?
The actively managed funds employed in our Ethical Plans (including our Ethical Pension) will regularly monitor the activities of the companies that are included in them to help ensure they maintain their ethical standards.
This gives you another thing you don’t need to worry about with Wealthify.
Simple pension transfer process
A great benefit of SIPPs is that they can give you a central pot to transfer all your old workplace pensions into from the various jobs you’ve had.
This is because you’ll have all the money that’s been paid into them in one place. This could make it easier to see how much you have saved, how your pot is growing, and whether you need to increase how much you’re paying in to reach your goal.
Here’s how you can transfer you pensions to Wealthify in three simple steps:
1. Set up your account: Use our Pension Plan creator to get a feel for how much yours could be worth when you retire. Then, tell us a few details about yourself, before completing our short suitability quiz to help us choose a suitable risk level for your Wealthify SIPP.
2. Enter your pension details: for each of the pensions you want to transfer to us, we’ll ask you to give us the name of your current provider, as well as the account reference number, and the approximate value of your pot.
3. Leave the rest to us: Authorise the transfer so we can contact your current providers and move the money to us. It will then be invested into your new Wealthify Pension; however, do keep in mind that this process typically takes between two and six weeks.
And before you decide to transfer a pension into a Wealthify SIPP, make sure you check:
- How our fees stack up against the ones you’re currently paying.
- Whether your provider will charge you for moving your pension to us.
- If you’ll lose any benefits (like loyalty bonuses) by transferring.
Check out our pension transfer page for everything you need to know before you start the process.
Wealthify reviews
Not only are we backed by Aviva, but our products and services have won various awards over the years. So, you can rest assured your money is in good hands!
Here are just some of the highlights over the years:
YourMoney Awards 2024: Best Investment Platform for Beginners
Personal Finance Awards 2023 and 2024: Best Personal Finance Online Service
YourMoney Investment Awards 2023: Best Overall Investment Platform
Moneyfacts Consumer Awards 2022: Digital Wealth Management Provider of the Year
Boring Money Best Buys 2021, 2022 and 2024: Best for Customer Service
Online Personal Wealth Awards 2021: Best Wealth Investment Platform
British Bank Awards 2020: Best Investment Provider
But it’s our customers’ opinions that matter most! They’re always praising how we keep them in the loop with what’s happening with the financial markets and their investments, as well as our friendly Customer Care Team (who are always happy to help with any queries).
Take a look at some of our Wealthify SIPP reviews below:
How to open a SIPP
You don’t need to have an existing pension to transfer to start saving in a Wealthify SIPP; you can open an account with just a £50 deposit, and top-up your pot whenever you want.
And if you do have old ones that you need to track down, you can always open a pension with us, then transfer them into it later on.
Here’s how to open a Wealthify SIPP:
1. Tell us how much you want to invest, what your preferred investment style is, and whether you’d like your Wealthify Pension to only contain ethical investments.
2. You’ll then need to take our suitability quiz. This will give us a feel for your appetite for risk, helping us build a portfolio of investments that suits your circumstances and goals.
3. Now our investment experts will be able to build your Pension Plan for you while ensuring everything aligns with your chosen investment style.
4. We’ll manage your new Wealthify SIPP for you on an ongoing basis, and you can easily see how it’s performing at any time; just log into your account via desktop or the app.
Our Personal Pension can offer a great option to save for your future, thanks to our affordable fees, easy-to-use platform, flexible investing options, and award-winning customer service. Plus, your portfolio will be managed by a team of experts to help it grow further over the years.
Open a Wealthify SIPP and start giving your money more potential today.
Wealthify does not provide advice. If you’re not sure whether investing is right for you, please speak to a financial adviser.
With investing your capital is at risk, so the value of your investments can go down as well as up, which means you could get back less than you initially invested.
ISA rules apply. Your tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances, and it may be subject to change in the future.
