- Experts have rated AJ Bell SIPP & Pension as an outstanding provider, achieving a perfect score of 5.0/5 across multiple criteria, including pricing, market access, and customer service. They highlight the platform's low fees and extensive investment options, including shares, funds, and bonds, while noting high phone dealing charges as a drawback.
- Across 1103 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4.2/5, customers frequently commend the platform's user-friendly interface, responsive customer service, and transparent fee structure. Many users appreciate the ease of investing and the variety of investment options available, although some express concerns about occasional platform stability and the need for app improvements.
Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.Our experts have rated AJ Bell SIPP & Pension across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing5.0
- Market Access5.0
- Online Platform5.0
- Customer Service5.0
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Low SIPP account fees of 0.25% & share dealing commission
- Wide range of shares, bonds and funds
- Ability to add a Junior SIPP for your children
Cons
- High phone dealing charges
See full expert review
Our verdict
AJ Bell offers the cheapest SIPP account when you compare them against providers that charge a percentage of your portfolio value. You can invest in a wide range of investments, including stocks in more than 20 markets, over 4,000 funds, ETFs, and bonds.
Capital at risk.
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.
Customer reviews for AJ Bell
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 1,103 reviews
- Excellent46%
- Very good35%
- Basic15%
- Poor3%
- Bad2%
Read customer reviews
Decent Value but Lacking Stability & Accountability
AJ Bell offers decent value for money compared to some competitors, but my experience has been mixed. Over the years, I’ve encountered several issues with platform stability, which can be particularly frustrating during crucial trading periods. Additionally, I’ve often felt like just another number rather than a valued customer when raising concerns. While I’ll continue using the service for now, the increasingly competitive platform market makes it worth exploring alternatives. The website and app are functional and reasonably user-friendly, but overall, there’s room for improvement.
Happy customer
I've used AJ Bell for more than 20 years, which says everything
A. J. BELL
Very pleased with their service. Good help line with any issues I trust them!
Simple to use
user friendly and easy to use
Easy to use and many options available
I find AJ Bell easy to use and navigate either through the App or through a browser. The customer service is easily available too. I am invested in some of their funds and also some independent funds. There is a wide variety of stocks available too ,which makes it easy to invest directly in those firms too. I really like their magazine too.
Overall I am satisfied with their services !
AJ Bell Dodl
For me this is a very good App and a great introduction to investing. It is very low cost but be aware shares to purchase are limited.
Have been investing my money into their ready made funds, cautious, adventurous, balanced, you get my drift and splitting different amounts into those funds. Have also purchased a small amount of shares. The funds and shares are doing ok to date but remember it’s for the long haul so I am prepared for the pendulum swinging back and forth regarding prices.
I did some research before picking an investment account mainly for a beginner and came across Dodl which seems to tick
the boxes for me at this given time.
Would definitely urge others looking for a low cost way of investing and just starting out to give it a try, I would at some point like to try the bigger platform with AJ Bell but still carrying out my diligence and also have to factor in that the costs will more higher.
Very little contact through Bank...
Very little contact through Bank of Scotland.
no thoughts
no thoughts
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Easy to use.
Easy to use.
4/5
Good
Good
Very good all round
Very good all round
very good updated website
very good updated website
Excellent Investment company
Excellent Investment company
Good value easy to deal...
Good value easy to deal with
i dont know enough
i dont know enough
Used for Lisa. Purchasing ETFs...
Used for Lisa. Purchasing ETFs is a bit higher than I would like and website could be easier to use but good for Lisa
Poor performance
Poor performance
AJ Bell’s move to launch four new Ready-made pension portfolios earlier this year is a challenge to the digital wealth management sector.
The investment platform’s move to provide three risk-rated growth funds with annual management charges of just 0.45% puts it in a competitive position against the likes of J.P. Morgan-owned Nutmeg, Moneyfarm, and Aviva-owned Wealthify. These digital wealth managers specialise in offering their own pension solutions at similar or somewhat higher pricing points.
The new solution also links to a pension finding tool launched by AJ Bell last year for no extra cost. This allows customers to track down their pensions and automatically combine them into a simple, low-cost pension account.
“Our new Ready-made pension service takes away the hassle, automatically finding all your pensions and combining them into an easy, low-cost account,” AJ Bell managing director managing director Charlie Musson said at the time of the launch in May.
Competitive fees
AJ Bell’s new funds each invest solely in a range of low-cost index trackers, allowing the firm to keep charges competitive.
Given the management fee for AJ Bell’s SIPP is around 0.25%, investors in the Ready-made pension portfolios would pay 0.7% annually, excluding a £1.50 dealing charge to sell the fund.
In addition to the cautious, balanced and adventurous growth funds, there is also a responsible investing option with a fee of 0.60% per year. Total fees amount to 0.85% for this solution when including the SIPP platform fee.
The Ready-made pension fees compare favourably with those of similar solutions provided by Nutmeg, Moneyfarm and Wealthify.
Fees at Nutmeg and Moneyfarm start at 1% and 0.99% for their pension solutions, while Wealthify’s charges start at 0.75%. This includes each firm’s own management fees as well as underlying charges for the funds invested in. The platform charges are tiered, meaning they are reduced depending on how much assets are invested.
Given the power of compounding, what appear to be relatively small differences in annual fees can have a big affect on the value of investments and eventual outcomes.
AJ Bell noted at the time of the Ready-made pension launch that someone combining three pension pots each worth £25,000 could in five years be more than £1,300 better off by switching from pensions charging between 1%-0.5% to the new solution.
In 10 years this rises to more than £3,100, while in 20 years the difference rises to more than £8,600.
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
