James Hay Reveals What Investors are Banking on for Retirement

06 August 2007

by Chris Smeaton

• Favourite investments revealed by UK's largest SIPP provider
• Most detailed view yet of where people are investing for their retirement
• Direct property holdings remain surprisingly low

James Hay, the UK's largest SIPP provider, today announces details of the most popular holdings across its SIPP assets. James Hay has nearly £12 billion assets under management with 38,000 investors.

This shows the most popular assets that people are investing in for their retirement.

Most popular assets

Asset                                                   Value             Percentage

Trustee Investment Plans              £3.5 bn           31%

Collectives (Unit Trusts, OEICs)   £3.1 bn           26%

Investment Bonds                            £1.5 bn           13%

Stocks and shares                           £1.25 bn        11%

Cash                                                   £950m              7%

Property                                              £700m              6%

Corporate Bonds                              £500m              4%

Other (including Loan Stock/Gilts, Second Hand Endowments, Warrants, Structured Products)                                           £300m               3%

Total                                                   £11.8 bn         100%

As expected, the most popular investments overall were diversified schemes - trustee managed investment schemes, unit trusts and investment bonds. Stocks and shares are the most popular of the directly held assets, comprising 11 per cent of portfolios. Corporate bonds and cash make up smaller components of the portfolio, though the cash may be a liquidity buffer, rather than an asset allocation play.

Interestingly, property only comprises six per cent of portfolios, despite a significant increase in appetite for commercial property as a portfolio diversifier.

Most popular Unit Trusts

 

Unit Trust                                                              Percentage of James             Sector

                                                                                Hay SIPP investors

                                                                                holding unit trust

Jupiter Income Trust                                           2.18%                                          UK Equity Income

Fidelity European                                                2.02%                                           Europe excluding UK

Artemis European Growth                                 1.60%                                           Europe excluding UK

Fidelity Special Situations                                 1.59%                                           UK All Companies

Fidelity Global Special Situations                    1.48%                                           Global Growth

Liontrust First Income                                        1.44%                                           UK Equity Income

Invesco Perpetual Income                                1.41%                                           UK Equity Income

UBS US Equity                                                    1.29%                                           North America

Invesco Perpetual High Income                      1.25%                                           UK Equity Income

Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities     1.21%                                           UK All Companies

The list includes some of the best known and highly regarded funds in the UK, managed by star names such as Anthony Bolton (Fidelity Special Situations), Tony Nutt (Jupiter Income), Nigel Thomas (Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities) and Neil Woodford (Invesco Perpetual Income & Invesco Perpetual High Income). All these funds are available via James Hay Investment Centre which offers:

• Access to online investment trading
• Free next day switching
• Multi-manager strategy with single point of contact
• Records of client portfolio
• Reconciliation of client's investments
• Consolidated investment reports
• Initial and trail commission to intermediaries, as required

The Investment Centre continues to rapidly grow and now boasts in excess of 50 Fund Managers and 1,000 funds.

Its two fund ranges, Collect and Select, offer a variety of retail and institutional funds.

Further competitive discounts on the Initial Management Charge (IMC) are available as well as a price promise on the top 20 Lipper funds.

Most popular shares

Share                                     Percentage of James Hay                          Rank in FTSE 100

                                                SIPP investors holding stock                     (by Market Capitalisation)

BP                                           3.74%                                                                 2

GlaxoSmithkline                   3.38%                                                                 4

Vodafone                               3.24%                                                                 5

Lloyds                                    3.22%                                                               11

Shell                                       2.95%                                                                 1

RBS                                        2.85%                                                                 6

HSBC                                     2.83%                                                                 3

BT                                           2.57%                                                               16

Tesco                                     2.05%                                                               12

National Grid                        1.75%                                                               25

As expected, this reflects the largest companies on the stock market by market capitalisation, with only four of the top ten most popular shares outside the top ten biggest UK companies (and none outside the top 25). There are some notable absentees - HBOS, Astra Zeneca and British American Tobacco don't feature.

Chris Smeaton, Propositions and E-Commerce Manager, James Hay, said: "This research shows a   fascinating insight into which investments SIPP investors are using to fund their retirement. Given that SIPPs offer the greatest range of investment options, this gives a whole of market view of the most       popular asset types, stocks, unit trusts and pension funds."                                                                            

"James Hay is committed to offering investors a truly whole of market SIPP proposition with competitive pricing and excellent service."

James Hay SIPP is backed by Grupo Santander, the seventh largest bank in the world. James Hay has won over 22 awards for its SIPP product and service in the last six years.