Pensions - where to start?

[Purplehaze34]

I’m 45 with no pension and would like to start putting money into a private pension.

I’m self employed and have a reasonable income so what would people suggest?

I’m completely clueless and really don’t want to take any risks!

There are now some low cost SIPPs on the market, where you could have fees of 0.4% or less. There are stakeholder pensions which have fees over 1%.

Investing has risk. You cannot find anything which is no risk.

I would suggest you learn about pensions and about risk. There are various websites and podcasts available which often cover the topic of pensions.

Money To The Masses
Meaningful Money
The Retirement Cafe

These three are provided by UK based financial planners, so they are a good source for information.

Maybe have a look at Vanguard SIPPs. My mother has her's with Halifax.

I think just put away as much as you can.

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/self-invested-personal-pensions#:~:text=A%20self%2Dinvested%20personal%20pension,to%20draw%20a%20retirement%20income.&text=The%20main%20difference%20is%20that,the%20investments%20you%20can%20choose.

If you don’t have an employer contributing then it may not be the best investment vehicle (though it can be tax efficient depending on your income)