How much do you need to retire? More than half of Britons don’t think they can afford it

Is Interactive Investors' SIPP (pension) any good?

Yes, interactive investor won “Best SIPP Provider” in the 2025 Good Money Guide Awards. ii has a really good pre-selected fund section, which makes crucial SIPP asset allocation decisions much easier. It’s very low cost too, with excellent education and research, and a huge range of investments to choose from.

The key advantage of interactive investor’s SIPP is that it has a flat-fee structure. This means that annual account charges do not increase as your pension pot grows in size. This structure can help those with larger SIPP portfolios save on fees, however it can be a little expensive for small pensions if you are just starting to invest for your retirement.

For smaller pension pots, those that just want to invest in ETFs, InvestEngine offer a free SIPP, but it is limited to just UK-listed ETFs, so you can’t buy individual shares. One of the good things about ii’s SIPP is that you can buy bonds, gilts, and shares in small and large UK and international companies.

Even though ii charges £3.99 for buying funds. If you compare this to Hargreaves Lansdown, which does not charge for buying and selling funds, but HL SIPP fees are higher. If you have £100,000 in your SIPP with ii you’d pay £71.88 a year, versus HL where your fees would be £450.

So, if you have a big pension, is it worth moving it to ii? Well, yes at the moment, as interactive investor claim their SIPP pricing can give you an additional £68,467 towards your pension after 30 years compared to HL. Plus, if you transfer your SIPP to ii before 31st August, you can claim up to £2,000 in cash back.

Of course, you’ll need to add cash or start a transfer of a minimum value of £10,000 to qualify for your cashback reward. Terms apply.

Is Wealthify's pension any good?

Wealthify won “Best Pension” in the 2025 Good Money Guide Awards as it lets you invest either in an original portfolio of investments from the UK and overseas or choose an ethical investment plan made from a blend of environmentally and socially responsible investments.

Pension Fees: Wealthify has recently cut management fees for SIPP accounts holding more than £100,000 by introducing a tiered charging structure.

Any amount above £100,000 in Wealthify Personal Pension accounts will be charged at a lower annual fee of 0.3%, putting the service in a very competitive position against other providers.

This represents a reduction on the offering’s standard annual fee of 0.6% on balances up to £100,000. Both fees are charged monthly. In real terms, that means if you have £200,000 in your Welathify pension, your fees will now be £300 a year lower

The updated pricing structure is aimed at enhancing the appeal of Wealthify’s SIPP, particularly among more affluent clients.

Wealthify chief executive Richard Ambrose said: “Too many people are unaware of what they are paying in fees. It’s our duty as pension providers to make this clear. Fees are charged as a percentage of the pension pot, so the more you put in, the more fees will eat into your retirement savings.

“Whatever stage people are at with their pensions, I hope Wealthify’s new tiering inspires them to review their fees and vote with their feet so that they aren’t paying more than they need to.”

By introducing tiered fees, Aviva-owned Wealthify’s  SIPP offering comes in line with its direct digital wealth manager competitors Nutmeg and Moneyfarm, as well as other personal pension providers.

Moneyfarm for example have slightly higher tiered management fees depending on the amount of assets held in their SIPPs. Wealthify’s decision to cut its pension management fees on sums above £100,000 to 0.3% puts it in a more competitive position.

Its “Fixed Allocation” service carries a fee of 0.45% up to £100,000 and then 0.25% on further investments.

By contrast, Moneyfarm has multiple fee tiers, starting at 0.75% from £500 before falling to 0.7% on investments above £10,000, 0.65% above £20,000 and 0.6% above £50,000. 

Moneyfarm’s SIPP management fees then fall to 0.45% above £100,000, 0.4% above £250,000 and 0.35% above £500,000.

It is important to note these charges concern only the management of the SIPP and do not account for other costs such as the fees of funds in which portfolios are invested or transaction fees.

Market Access: You can only invest in either an Original Plan or an Ethical Plan with Wealthify, so you can’t buy individual shares. So Wealthify’s pension is better for those who just want to invest passively without being too involved. Once you have chosen your plan, you can then decide how much risk to take on by setting your pension from cautious to adventurous. You can see the difference in how Wealthify pensions are balanced for risk below, the more risk/reward you choose, the more stocks are allocated to your portfolio.

Performance: Excluding fees, Wealthify plans have returned just over 24% since 2019, with an average return of just over 4% per year. Which, if we’re honest, is not great seeing as the S&P, the major US stock market that contains 500 of the biggest US public companies, has returned around 85%. It’s not exactly a fair comparison because Wealthify plans are diversified (as portfolios are supposed to be) across bonds and different countries.

It will certainly be interesting to see the 2026 performance update after the most recent stock market crash, where you’d expect a diversified portfolio to be more resilient than an index tracker.

Customer Service: Great support from Wealthify from an experienced team that can help with any issues either via email, chat or over the phone.

App & platform: Both are easy to use and easy to navigate.

Research & Analysis: When you are logged in, you get some brief market updates online, but that’s about it, other than the odd email, about how things like the budget may affect your investments.

Remember that past performance is not an indication of future results.

Capital at risk. Your tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances and it may be subject to change in the future.

Is Moneyfarm's pension any good?

Yes, Moneyfarm’s pension account fees are scaled between 0.75% for accounts between £500 and £50,000, then above £100k are 0.45% to 0.35%. Average investment fund fees are 0.2% and the average market spread when buying and selling is 0.10%

Fees: Moneyfarm’s pension account fees are scaled between 0.75% for accounts between £500 and £50,000, then above £100k are 0.45% to 0.35%. Average investment fund fees are 0.2% and the average market spread when buying and selling is 0.10%

Is AJ Bell's pension any good?

AJ Bell won “best SIPP provider” in our 2023 and 2022 awards. They offer a huge range of UK and international markets to invest in (with low FX fees). AJ Bell also scored very well in our survey for customer support and has an easy-to-use and low-cost SIPP account platform.

AJ Bell SIPP Special Offers:

Up to £500 cashback: Switch your SIPP to AJ Bell and they will pay up to £35 per investment and £100 in exit fees as cash back to cover your costs up to £500.
£100 gift vouchers: If you refer a friend to AJ Bell that opens a GIA, LISA, ISA or SIPP with more than £10,000 (within 120 days) you both get £100 Amazon gift vouchers.

AJ Bell SIPP Fees:

Annual account charges are 0.25% for shares (capped at £10/month) and tiered for funds (0.25% up to £250,000, 0.10% up to £500,000, and free beyond), with dealing charges of £5 for shares (£3.50 for frequent traders) and £1.50 for funds.

Is Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP (Pension) Any Good?

Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown SIPP costs start at 0.45% of your portfolio value. The account charge for shares is capped at £200 per year. Funds are charged at 0.45% for the first £250,000, then 0.25% between £250k and £1m, then 0.1% between £1-£2m. There is no charge above £2m. There is no charge for buying funds, but shares are charged at £11.95 per deal or £5.95 if you do over 20 deals per month.

But, if you open a SIPP with HL before the 30th June with £10k or more you’ll get a discount of 40% on account fees. As HL is generally quite expensive, this is a great deal, and could save you £180 in fees. But keep in mind that when this discount ends in 2026, if you have £100,000 in your SIPP with HL it will cost £450 a year, versus £155.88 with interactive investor.

For beginners and smaller accounts Hargreaves Lansdown, is a great choice, as HL offer one of the best apps on the market and provide stock research and analysis on the most heavily traded stocks in the UK and US. Hargreaves Lansdown is also good for beginners because they are quite simple to use and have an excellent reputation for customer support from their Bristol based offices.

They may be a little more expensive that some of the other platforms, but you certainly get what you pay for.

Some SIPP accounts are better suited to beginners than others. Generally speaking, beginner investors require a SIPP that is easy to use, cost-effective, and offers access to products that are well suited to beginners such as ready-made portfolios.

So, if you are a complete beginner to SIPP investing and are not confident enough to choose what individual stocks and shares you want to own in the long term. A private pension may be more appropriate. One private pension account (which is not actually a SIPP because you can’t buy individual shares) that is well suited to beginners is Wealthify. Wealthify is a robo advisor (or digital wealth manager) that offers a managed pension product. With Wealthify, you choose an investment style based on your risk tolerance. One advantage of Wealthify is that the minimum investment is just £50. One downside, however, is that there are only a few investment options to choose from.