- 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.
AJ Bell SIPP & Pension 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
4/5
Not for the smaller investors
Not for the smaller investors
Clear understandable useful customer friendly
Clear understandable useful customer friendly
best value
best value
No view, it is thru...
No view, it is thru a financial advisor
Hold a SIPP, Trade now...
Hold a SIPP, Trade now and again, good magazine. there Good
Very concise website able to...
Very concise website able to get straight to where you need to go, no trailing stop loss though.
4/5
Decent platform with poor costs...
Decent platform with poor costs especially FX costs for US stocks
Good solid service but expensive...
Good solid service but expensive for overseas shares
Low fees
Low fees
Simple to use, efficient and...
Simple to use, efficient and improved value for money
Good
Good
Extensive trades, adequate website, not...
Extensive trades, adequate website, not so epensive.
Great for isa
Great for isa
great service
great service
Reasonable
Reasonable
No comment
No comment
Positive reduction in trading fees...
Positive reduction in trading fees to remain competitive. Use app only rarely
Good quality site and service....
Good quality site and service. Easy share purchase and selling activity with good records..
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
