The suitability of Sipps

The meeting was with a new client, James Seymour, who ran his own company. David had not yet met him, but understood that pensions would be on the agenda.

David reached James’s office and was shown through to the boardroom, where he waited until he was called in. He sat opposite James, who said, ‘so, you are the pension man – I need one of those self-invested Sipps’ – and then sat back in his chair.

David was quite taken aback and did not know where to start; all of his carefully considered preamble was now useless. ‘Why?’ was all he could muster in response.

‘The guys at the golf club have all got one and they say I need one – is that not true?’

‘Well,’ said David, hesitantly, ‘it depends on what you want to do.’

‘I’d like to look after my own investments – that’s where the self-invested bit comes in,’ said James, pointedly.