AJ Bell holds more than the current and proposed capital adequacy requirements for Sipp providers.
Who are the owners of the business?
AJ Bell is owned by its management team and two institutional investors, Invesco Perpetual and Midas Capital Partners.
• Trustee investment plans
• Exchange traded funds
Property partnerships and unregulated collective investment schemes are subject to case by case review.
AJ Bell Platinum clients can choose from the open market.
Initial £425
Ongoing £480 per annum
Statutory money purchase illustration £50
Investment transaction £30 per transaction
Additional bank/building society account £50
Cash transfer in/out £75
Drawdown
Set up drawdown £150
Additional fund designation to an existing drawdown fund £150
Income withdrawal £15 per month
Income withdrawal reviews £150 per review
Flexible drawdown registration £75
Annuity purchase £75
Property
Property purchase £550
Property administration £360
Property sale £300
Syndicated Sipp purchases with Sipp, group Sipp or third party Yes
Group Sipp Yes
Multiple Platinum Sipps can pool together to hold commercial property. Additional charges apply
Property purchase fee £100 per member
Sale fee £100 per member for each joint property sold or loan repaid
Scheme pension: No
Drawdown, flexible drawdown, capped drawdown, phased drawdown Yes
Phased retirement Yes
The Platinum Sipp can link to AJ Bell’s own platform or platforms from other providers
Chris Harrington
Partner, wealth management, Cowgill Holloway
We use the Platinum Sipp for commercial property purchases. While property purchases can be onerous and complicated, what you tend to find is that business owner clients are capable of taking care of things themselves.
While AJ Bell can provide access to its own investment managers, property managers, solicitors and lenders, it also allows clients to choose their own. If they own the business and the property, they are probably capable of collecting their own rents.
AJ Bell is quite cautious, but if they allow something, then it is 100% safe. However, the Sipp has become more flexible recently. It used not to allow a client to part own a property, but 12 months ago it changed its processes, so a client can now own part of a property with the other part owned by their Sipp because often properties are such high value there is not enough money in the Sipp.
The Platinum Sipp allows ‘joint venture’, syndicated Sipp purchases. We have done a few. A typical case recently had four Sipps paying 25% each for a property. There was a mortgage that made it more complicated, so each Sipp paid off 25% of that too from the rents.
Normally, the property value would be above £750,000. Syndicated purchases can be a nightmare to administer, but AJ Bell has done well.
We also use other Sipp providers, such as Hornbuckle Mitchell and Rowanmoor Pensions for properties, and Standard Life for other investments, such as funds and collectives.
AJ Bell processes property transactions very quickly. It is a matter of weeks between considering it, approving it and transacting it. Other providers I have used will take two months to decide whether they would do it, and another two months to carry it out after that.
The Platinum Sipp gives us a single point of contact, who has only a small number of Sipps to look after. We do not use the AJ Bell platform; instead we typically use Standard Life, Nucleus or Ascentric.