Many people are retiring younger and living longer. Both require careful planning and nurturing if you are to make the most of them and enjoy a healthy and comfortable post-work period in your life.
It goes without saying that a comfortable retirement is not going to happen if the State pension is the only income you have, and so how do you go about ensuring security and comfort?
In the first instance, many would agree that a pension that both you and your employer contribute to is a good starting point. It is, however, becoming more and more common for people to have several strands to their pension plan and a SIPP is one strand that is worthy of investigation.
What Are Your Options?
A Self-invested Personal Pension (SIPP), such as those offered by Bestinvest, is a financial product that allows the investor two options. Investors can either choose a Ready-made Portfolio managed by experts or manage their own investments.
Ready-Made Portfolios
Ready-made portfolios are made up of a number of investments picked by experts. The experts manage the investments and change them from time to time, ensuring that the holder of the ready-made portfolio is always getting the best of their capital. Taking a hands-off approach is what suits most people, but there are exceptions and some people like to be a little more involved.
Choose your own investments
Alternatively, you can choose the investments that the portfolio contains. This, of course, gives you more control over where your money is invested. This kind of SIPP is best suited to those who are au fait with the world of investments and who are willing to do the research it takes to keep the SIPP working effectively.
The Advantages of SIPPs
The main benefit of utilising a SIPP is that you can view all of your investments in one place and all at the same time. This means that keeping abreast of how those investments are performing is easy. With SIPPs you also have more investment options than older, traditional pensions. Your money can be invested in a wide range of investments such as shares, bonds, investment trusts, commodities and property. And like any other pension, SIPPs also give you a 20-45% boost to your contributions.
Investing in a SIPP can be an excellent way of helping to secure your financial future whether you transfer all the capital from your current pension scheme or use a SIPP as an additional strand to your wider pension plan.