Pensions guide: all you need to know about SIPPs

An increasing number of professionals of all nationalities have been moving and working abroad over the past 20 years.

Whether you are a young executive or a high net worth individual with a diversified portfolio of global assets, you will certainly have specific financial requirements and objectives. And top of your list should be pension provision

Do you:

·        Have a pension from a previous employer?

·        Have a pension which you no longer contribute to?

·        Feel you are being charged too much by your existing pension provider?

·        Feel the performance of your existing pension funds is poor?

If you have a UK-based pension there is a good chance that you will be able to make more of your scheme by transferring it into an alternative pension arrangement.

There are three options that you can consider for your UK pensions scheme:

    Leave it where it is
    Transfer to a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)
    Transfer to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS)

A SIPP is essentially a pension wrapper that can hold a variety of different investments in potentially different currencies and aims to provide you with tax efficient savings for your retirement.

The wrapper acts as a custodian, holding assets on your behalf. If, for instance, you have shares in Australian, US and UK companies these can all be held in one place and be traded from one location rather than having to deal with local brokers and their own rules and regulations. The accounts can be held in different currencies too, so accounts can be opened in various currencies to take advantage of strengths and weaknesses as they occur.

To read the full report and find out how SIPPs can improve your pension click here