Important information: A SIPP is for those wanting to make their own investment decisions when saving for retirement. As investment values can go down as well as up, the amount you retire with could be worth less than you invested. Usually, you won’t be able to withdraw your money until age 55 (57 from 2028). Before transferring your pension, check if you’ll be charged any exit fees and make sure you don't lose any valuable benefits such as, guaranteed annuity rates, lower protected pension age or matching employer contributions. If you’re unsure about opening a SIPP or transferring your pension(s), please speak to an authorised financial adviser.
Comparing the Standard Life SIPP
Standard Life is the second most popular traditional pension provider that people choose to transfer their pensions from after opening an ii SIPP.
Both ii and Standard Life offer a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), each having similar features but very different approaches to charging.
Important factors in comparing the different approaches to charging are the value of the pension and the amount of fund trading and/or switching.Â
Depending on the number of fund buys / sells or switches you make, the ii SIPP could be more expensive for you.
Why are Standard Life charges so different to ii's?
Standard Life's percentage charge
The large difference in charges can be explained because Standard Life charge a percentage of the value of a pension. This means for small pensions the cost can be very low but as the value increases so does the amount of money that is taken.
Standard Life SIPP charging:
Fund under £100,000 = 0.6%
from £100,000 to £249,999 = 0.55%
from £250,000 to £499,999 = 0.45%
Fund £500,000 or more = 0.4%
With Standard Life you won't pay any trading charges to buy or sell funds.
ii's flat fee and trading charge
While Standard Life charge a percentage fee, we charge a low, flat fee. That means you get to keep more of your wealth, even as the value of your pension increases. And with less of your pot going on charges, you can reach your retirement goals sooner.
| Pension value | ii monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Up to £50,000 | £5.99 |
| Over £50,000 | £12.99 |
When it comes to buying and selling investments in your pension, you can do this using our free regular investing service. Or, if you make a one-off investment, we charge £3.99 a trade.
ii vs Standard Life - Monthly charge comparison
| Pension pot value | ii SIPP | Standard Life SIPP |
|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | £12.99 | £25 |
| £100,000 | £12.99 | £45 |
| £250,000 | £12.99 | £93 |
| £500,000 | £12.99 | £166 |
| Regular investing | Free | Free |
| Online fund Buy/Sell | £3.99 per trade | Free |
| Contributions | Free | Free |
| Withdrawals | Free | Free |
We were careful to compare products that are all SIPPs and products that even made available some of the same investment funds, with the same fund investment charge. It was also important we highlighted to buy or sell a fund with Standard Life there is no charge and with ii there is a charge when the free regular investing service is not being used. Read more about our analysis.
Why transfer your pension(s) to the ii SIPP?
Our SIPP lets you take control of your retirement. With ii, you can enjoy:
- Greater investment opportunities - an ii Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) gives you the freedom to invest in more than 40,000 UK and global stocks.
- You are in control - check on your investments any time, anywhere with our secure mobile app.
- Fair, flat fees - there is no percentage fee, so your costs stay the same as your portfolio grows.
- Flexible pension drawdown options
- No fee to transfer in, and it's free to leave.
- We're a Which? Recommended SIPP provider.
Our SIPP charges
- When you open our SIPP you will start on our £5.99 a month Pension Essentials plan.
- When the value of your account grows above £50,000 you will move onto our £12.99 a month Pension Builder plan.
- Existing customers with an ISA and/or Trading Account on our Investor Essentials plan can add a SIPP for an extra £5 a month. You can then invest up to £75,000 across your accounts. Above this you will move onto Investor + SIPP for £21.99 a month.
- You can add a SIPP on our Investor plan for just £10 a month (plus your existing monthly fee).
- There are some other fees for things like foreign currency exchange and Stamp Duty on shares. View our charges page for a full list.
Benefits of our plans
- All our plans allow you to invest as little as £25 a month using our free regular investing service.
- UK and US trades cost only £3.99.
- There are no extra fees for taking money out of your pension.
Full terms for our Pension Essentials plan can be found here.
We promote transfers to the ii SIPP on a regular basis. It is important that you take enough time to decide whether transferring your pensions is right for you. If you need more time and wish to qualify for an offer, please wait until the next offer period.
Things to consider before you transfer
Please check that you won’t lose any safeguarded benefits if you transfer. This could include guaranteed annuity rates or lower protected pension age than the Normal Minimum Pension Age (rising from 55 to 57 in 2028).
Please also check any transfer-out fees your current pension provider may charge.
Please note that if you plan to hold both drawdown and non-drawdown pots in your ii SIPP, you cannot allocate specific investments to each pot separately. This means that the value of each pot will change in line with the overall performance of all the investments held in your SIPP.
Before transferring, we recommend seeking advice from a suitably qualified financial advisor or free, impartial pension guidance from MoneyHelper or (if you are 50 or over) Pension Wise.