Best personal pensions & SIPPs

Clare says

Working out fees for ii can feel complicated. There are a few ways to include a A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP in your account, and each comes with a different price tag. If you just want a SIPP, then you’ll be choosing between the £5.99 per month Pension Essentials plan if your SIPP is worth less than £50,000, and the £12.99 per month Pension Builder plan if (or when) your pension is worth more than £50,000.

That makes ii one of the cheapest providers on our list for SIPPs/personal pensions: £71.88 per year for pensions under £50,000, and £155.88 per year for pensions over £50,000. If you have a large pension pot, that’s extremely good value.

You will need to factor in dealing costs if you plan to trade, which are a reasonable £3.99 per trade for all UK and US assets, but an expensive £9.99 per trade (plus extremely high 1.5% FX fees on anything less than £25,000) for all other international deals. Of course, if you’re a buy-and-hold investor, this won’t concern you much.

If you want to add a SIPP to your ii Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAISAs and/or Junior ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) (JISAs) are tax-free savings accounts for children under the age of 18. Only a parent can open a JISA but anyone can contribute. You can choose to save for your children through either a cash Junior ISA where you will earn interest on any cash in the account, or a stocks and shares Junior ISA where you will invest your child’s savings on their behalfJISAs and general trading account, you’re looking at £22.99 or £29.99 per month: potentially much less of a steal. For some examples of costs, jump to the brand comparison table further down this page where I’ve compare the providers featured on this page and others in the market.

interactive investors’ A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.ready-made portfolios have also performed very well for those saving within a SIPP as you can see from this table.

Something else that interactive investor does well is interest on uninvested cash. You’ll get a healthy 3.04% The annual equivalent rate (AER) is used to describe the percentage of interest you’ll receive on your savings and investments. AER accounts for compound interest whereas the gross interest rate does not. AER is also known as APY (the annual percentage yield). AER on the first £10,000 you hold within an interactive investor SIPP, and rates increase with the amounts you’re holding after that, up to 4.85% AER on cash amounts over £1,000,000. That’s slightly more than AJ Bell offers at each amount, and a lot more than you’ll get with InvestEngine or Moneybox as they don’t pay any interest on uninvested cash you choose to hold within your personal pension/SIPP at all.

Fees

• £5.99 a month Pension Essentials plan for pensions worth less than £50,000
• £12.99 a month Pension Builder plan for pensions over £50,000
• Flat fees work out very cheap on large portfolios, but can be comparatively expensive if you’re starting small
• Adding a SIPP to an existing ISA or general trading account could raise costs to £22.99 – £29.99 per month
• Dealing fees range from £3.99 – £9.99
• Very high FX fees starting at 1.5%

Use this platform if

• You just want a low-cost SIPP
• You want to invest via a ready-made portfolio that has historically performed very well
• You want a wide range of assets to choose from
• Or you’re a buy-and-hold investor
• You don’t want to invest in fractional shares

Investments

• UK stocks
• US stocks
• European stocks
• Rest of World stocks
• Bonds and Gilts
• Funds
• ETFs
• Indices
• An Initial public offer (IPO) is when shares in a company are made available to investors. It’s sometimes known as either a ‘listing’ or ‘floating’ on the public market.IPOs
• Ready-made portfolios
• Investment trusts
• Forex

Clare says

On cost alone, InvestEngine would be my top choice.

InvestEngine announced in December 2024, that they were scrapping all platform fees on SIPPs. That means there are no account fees at all to pay if you’re a DIY investor. If you want InvestEngine to take on the job of selecting funds and managing the composition of your portfolio for you, then there’s a fee to pay for the managed service. But at 0.25% of your investment value per year, it’s still a very competitive rate.

InvestEngine can currently only facilitate transfers into their SIPP from Vanguard, which is my one major gripe about this product at present. But they are working hard on adding more providers and we expect to see a much longer list of eligible transfer accounts in 2025. Likewise with employer contributions, which InvestEngine is also working towards offering in the near future. Once both of those are switched on, it would mean you could transfer in old pensions, cut your costs, and (if you’re in a position to arrange your own workplace pension), get your current workplace pension going into it too.

Our analysis shows that even small reductions in costs can make a huge difference to the total pension pot you end up with at retirement, so fee-free is a big deal.

However, as InvestEngine does only offer Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are traded in much the same way as stocks. Instead of an individual stock, however, you own a basket of different assets which track the performance of a particular index or market. Exchange traded funds, this won’t be the right solution for everyone.

Fees

• DIY self-invested personal pension

Zero platform/account/annual management fees

The only fee you will pay will be relevant ongoing fund charges, levied by fund providers. These vary and are listed within the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) for each fund. Fees are deducted from your portfolio.

• Managed self-invested personal pension

0.25% management charge
Ongoing fund charges (see above)

Use this if

You’re happy to invest only in ETFs, and want to save into a personal pension with the lowest-possible costs.

Investments

700 Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

Clare says

AJ Bell’s A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP is a popular choice thanks to the brand’s reputation for good customer service, low fees, and a wide range of assets to invest your SIPP in. If you decide to take a DIY approach, you’ll be able to choose from the majority of UK shares, stocks from 24 international share markets, and over 2,000 funds, as well as investment trusts, bonds and Exchange-traded funds (ETFs). There’s no fractional shares at AJ Bell, though, which is a shame.

If you decide to use a A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.ready-made portfolio for your SIPP, AJ Bell offers 16 different options, all suggested as top choices by the AJ Bell investment team. For those who want as little responsibility for investment choices as possible, AJ Bell suggests their AJ Bell Balanced fund. Over the past five years, this has produced 29% returns for investors. That’s not spectacular considering Vanguard’s recommended fund produced returns of 88.1% over the same period, but it’s just one option among many AJ Bell offers so I’d advise checking the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) that every fund should provide, where you’ll find past performance data.

On fees, AJ Bell is one of the lowest-priced investment platforms in the UK, although watch out for dealing fees which can add up.

Fees

Custody charges

• 0.25% (max £10 per month) for shares/ETFs
• 0.25% – 0.10% for funds (0% for funds over £500k)

Annual ongoing charges

• 0.31% for Growth funds
• 0.45% for Responsible Growth fund
• 0.65% for Income funds

Share dealing fees:

• Standard share dealing charge: £5.00
• Frequent shares dealing charge (10 or more trades in the previous month): £3.50
• Funds dealing charge: £1.50
• AJ Bell fund: no dealing charge

Use this if

• You want to build your own SIPP and want access to a good choice of assets
• You value good customer service
• You want low fees from a well-established provider

Investments

• Stocks
• Bonds and gilts
• A commodity is any basic raw material that can be bought and sold, for example, copper, silver, oil or coffee.Commodities
• ETFs
• Ready-made portfolios

Clare says

With an average return of 80.5% over 5-years on their recommended pension from the BlackRock LifePath range, Moneybox customers can benefit from one of the best performing personal pensions on the UK market. With this choice, your money will be invested differently as you age, with risk levels adjusted to the stage of life you are in. That’s sensible, as you’ll want to lower the level of risk your savings are exposed to as you close in on your planned retirement age.

There’s not a whole lot of choice with Moneybox as this is a person pension and not a A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP. There are just three other options that Moneybox customers can choose: the Fidelity Index World fund; a socially responsible fund; and the HSBC Islamic Global Shares fund. This isn’t, therefore, an option for those who want to pick and choose their own stocks.

Platform fees of 0.45% on balances up to £100,000 (reduced to 0.15% on balances over £100,000) plus 0.09% – 0.88% fund provider fees will work out comparatively expensive. But you’re getting an easy to set-up and easy-to-manage, high performing provider for your fees, which you might feel makes Moneybox good value for money. Of course, it’s essential to remember that past performance does not predict future performance so those great returns are not guaranteed.

Fees

• £0 monthly subscription fee
• 0.45% platform fee on balances up to £100,000
• 0.15% platform fee on balances over £100,000
• 0.09% – 0.88% fund provider fee

Use this platform if

• You want a fund that has historically performed very well
• You want to manage your pension via an easy-to-use mobile app
• You want to pair an Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAISA with your personal pension account

Investments

• US stocks
• Fractional shares
• Funds
• ETFs
• A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.Ready-made portfolios

Clare says

Dodl is an easy-to-use, no-frills investment app. As it’s been created by AJ Bell, you know you’re getting a service that is highly secure and slick, and you get access to AJ Bell’s extensive educational materials and competent customer service team.

The ultra-low 0.15% account fee – and zero dealing charges – means this is one of the lowest priced A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPPs on the market, and a good introduction to pension saving if you are yet to get off the starting blocks but know you should get something set up.

For some people, however, Dodl will be too basic and pared back. The choice of assets is very limited – just 80 individual stocks and seven AJ Bell funds are available. If you don’t want too many decisions, then this limited menu of options may well be a pleasant relief, and a contrast to the confusing complexity of other platforms. But if you have ambitions to grow as an investor, and learn to trade using sophisticated tools and strategies, you’ll outgrow Dodl.

Fees

• Ultra-low account fees – 0.15%
• No dealing charges
• Free to open an account and withdraw money
• £100 lump sum minimum deposit (or £25 for monthly deposits)
• FX fees: 0.75% – 0.25%

Use this platform if

• You want to get a pension started without being overwhelmed by choice, or bamboozled by jargon
• You’re happy to choose investments from a more limited menu of choices
• You want a low cost pension but still value good customer service

Investments

• UK and US stocks
• Funds
• ETFs
• A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.Ready-made portfolios

Clare says

PensionBee makes setting up and saving into a pension as easy as it can possibly be. If you’re someone who has been putting off getting a personal pension sorted, then PensionBee could be a good match as it effectively removes all the layers of complication and even makes tracking down and consolidating past workplace pensions a simple task.

The app is a joy to use and customer service is excellent. You won’t be frustrated with a lack of communication or help – processes run smoothly and transparently.

PensionBee’s pension isn’t a A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP – it’s a personal pension. That means you won’t get as much choice over how your savings are invested. There are just eight different funds to choose from. You might appreciate the lack of anxiety-inducing options if you’re wanting to keep things simple. But for others this won’t provide enough flexibility and freedom. You should also expect to pay a bit more for this kind of service, although for a personal pension, this one is competitively priced with a Tracker fund costing between 0.50% – 0.28% depending on how much you have to invest.

On performance, our independent research measured the performance of PensionBee’s default option – the Tailored plan, managed by BlackRock. Performance isn’t terrible (28.5% vs the industry average of 30.5%), but it is below the average and returns aren’t as good as those produced by Moneybox, Vanguard and Plum. Remember, of course, that past performance does not guarantee future performance however.

Use this if

• You just want to get a pension sorted with as little stress as possible
• You’re self-employed and don’t have the time to research different retirement investment options
• You don’t want too much choice and you want help choosing a pension fund
• You want to use a smart and well-designed app to monitor and manage your pension

Fees

• Relatively low annual fee
• For sums over £100k, rates are halved
• No minimum contribution
• Flexible contributions

Investments

• 8 x A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.ready-made portfolio options: Tailored, Tracker, Fossil-fuel-free, 4-Plus, Impact, Shariah, Preserve, Pre-annuity

Clare says

Vanguard has won a Which? Recommended Provider accolade for four consecutive years since launching its A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundSIPP in 2020.

With Vanguard, you only have access to Vanguard’s own funds and ETFs – there’s no individual stocks and shares to choose here – but there are plenty to choose from including the popular Vanguard Target Retirement Fund range. Our independent research into past performance of those A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.ready-made portfolios that providers recommend, shows that Vanguard’s Target Retirement Fund range does very well against the industry average, producing median average returns of 88.1% over ten years (industry average: 66.8%). Always remember, however that past performance is not a guarantee of future performance and all investing involves risk.

On fees, Vanguard’s account fee of 0.15% can reasonably claim to be the lowest of all the major investment providers. However, that doesn’t include the fund fees and if you want a managed option, there’s an extra fee for that too. A bit of number crunching shows that, while it is still a cheap option for those with smaller portfolios, it is far from the cheapest provider when you have a large pension invested. What’s more, it is possible to invest in a Vanguard fund more cheaply through other providers as the Vanguard website isn’t the only place you’ll find them. Talking of websites, you’ll have to be happy managing your account via the web as Vanguard doesn’t have a mobile app.

Fees

• One low account fee: 0.15% p/a
• Low ongoing costs: 0.20% on average
• Account fees capped at £375
• Additional fee for managed service: 0.30%
• High minimum deposit: £500 lump sum / £100 p.m
• Fees are comparatively high for larger portfolios
• No dealing fees

Use this if

• You want a retirement fund that has performed well in the past
• You would feel reassured investing with a large, established brand
• You only want to invest in Vanguard funds

Investments

• Vanguard funds and ETFS