Investment & Investing

So far I've got a note to call these guys:
http://www.contractoruk.com/money/contractor_pensions_advice.html

I did the same thing in June 2013 (just found his email) though and never called the guy back...

Hah. Yeah.

Look. I'm not an IFA, you might get different advice elsewhere, but if you work through a LTD then something like

• open off the shelf pension with a well known provider
  
• pay in a reasonable sum from your ltd each month (might take time to set up)
  
• pay a small sum from your personal income each month
  
  

would be a great and easy start, mostly because of the tax benefit, rather than the performance of the pension. You can always transfer the pension elsewhere if you aren't happy with it in year two.

off the shelf

Is there not a special scheme to required for the ltd company?

Not as I understand it. Your LTD can pay directly in to a retail pension. I don't think I'm wrong but happy to be corrected.

A sensible fund is the Sydenham girls education and welfare fund.
I'm currently the manager of this fund and can promise extraordinary returns on your investments.

I've been told the Keep Hippy Balls Deep in Bikes and Booze Fund provided by Mutual Disgust is the fund to go for.

Sounds like it...
https://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/pensions_contractors_limited_company.aspx

Contractors can invest up to £40,000 each year without any additional tax implications, up to a lifetime allowance of £1m
Pensions are no longer about saving money to buy an annuity. Contractors can draw down on their pension funds from age 55 following new rules announced in 2014 that enable contractors to take multiple lump sums direct from their pension fund.
A contractor’s pension savings can be passed onto their family if they die before age 75 - provided you've not bought an annuity.
A contractor’s pension savings are perfectly safe as pensions funds cannot become insolvent. A private pension fund is carefully protected by law.
If a contractor is risk adverse and concerned about funds invested in the stock market, they can choose to keep their pension pot in cash - just like an ISA.

Really?
I heard the return on that was terrible.
Constant investment, no visible return on investment since some 24 hour race, constant replacement of parts.

Seriously, investing into SGEWF will return at least one world class engineer and one future world leader.

The RoI is the suffering investors get to enjoy vicariously and the fund manager is already a god among men.

I keep investing in to my cat fund but the only return I get is scooping shit out of a box of sand despite being promised purrs and affection. Useless.

Try these: https://www.money.co.uk/pensions.htm

Then let me know which one to pick :)

Hargreaves Lansdown service is great, a lot of their website functionality is available without an account, I'd suggest having a play. I looked at others(AJ Bell, III, Halifax) before selecting HL, other providers websites didn't compare to HL.

Tax relief is received 6-10 weeks after money is added to the account, all sorted automatically by HL.

They aren't the cheapest but I'm very happy with the service they provide here is a comparison table and also a blog that I subscribe to:
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Vanguard are yet to offer a SIPP, they expect to offer this at some point in 2018. When VG announce that they were going to offer UK accounts this year it hit HL share price as they are priced significantly lower than HL
http://citywire.co.uk/money/hargreaves-hit-as-vanguard-targets-diy-investors/a1016792

HL provide a service where you select your goal (Growth or Income) and then your desired risk
http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/leave-it-to-an-expert

Tax relief is received 6-10 weeks after money is added to the account, all sorted automatically by HL.

Even the higher rate tax?

Wicked. Thanks for all the info.

@hippy Vanguard offer some retirements funds which automatically move to less risky investments the closer you get to your retirement. You just choose the fund with the date of you expected retirement and the fund will do all the balancing. In terms of simplicity it can't really be beat. They're available though HL if that's the platform you want.

For example : here's the fund if you expect to retire in 2055

Given the move by Vanguard into Europe and the lower costs did you investigate them at all?
Someone else mentioned them being decent the other day (dt?). But they don't offer a pension yet so maybe for now I will focus on setting one of them up somewhere.

This indicates there are UK-specific retirement funds via Vanguard (probably the same ones you linked to via H&L). Are they different to SIPPs somehow?

https://www.vanguard.co.uk/documents/adv/literature/trf-adviser-guide.pdf

I find it confusing I can 'buy' Vanguard stuff through H&L.

I will start to investigate once they offer the service, probably leave it a year to see if there are any issues and then make a decision whether it would be better than HL.

Think of it this way: A Sipp or ISA are just containers.
Inside these containers you can store different types of assets (funds, shares, cash etc).

Platforms like H&L provide the containers (ie the Sipp or ISA), and offer you access to a number if different funds to put in it.

Vanguard (in the uk at least) have traditionally just provided funds. So you would buy their funds though other companies platforms.

However, Vanguard entered the uk platform market this year. Initially just offering ISA and normal investment account. And as @Tango130 says will probably offer a SIPP at some point.

No, the basic 20% is claimed automatically, the additional 20% you will need to ring HMRC and ask them to add it to your tax code. I'm PAYE so it was quite a quick call, less than 5 mins. Self employed I'm guessing will be on your tax return.

http://www.hl.co.uk/pensions/sipp/tax-benefits-of-a-sipp

So, maybe I could create a H&L pension for now as well as a Vanguard fund, say an ISA or something. Drop coin into both and review in a year?

Yes, and you can invest in Vanguard funds within HL.

You can store your Vanguard fund within the H&L SIPP (and/or ISA if you want both).

If your SIPP is purely made up of Vanguard funds then it will be relatively straight forward to move them over to the Vangaurd platform if/when they make the SIPP available (if it's proves cheaper).

Look at the funds available and read the factsheets to see fees and how the fund has compared against the index. Pick a few funds that spread your money (i.e. North America, EU, UK Asia, property etc). If stuck look at all the "managed funds" range e.g. Standard life managed fund. They are generally bog standard funds that spread risk for you and choose where to invest. Invest what you are comfortable with and see how it goes. Will be ups and downs but good diversification should reduce overall movements. If you can find a decent IFA, then I honestly believe paying them a small fee every couple of years is incredibly valuable and the benefit will exceed the cost. Finding a decent one is the issue I find...

Apologies a bit rambly but hopefuly makes some sort of sense

The guy has gotta crawl before he can walk.