Hargreaves Lansdown: Pensions & retirement options

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) is a leading “investment supermarket” for private investors. Trusted with £82 billion worth of investments by more than 980,000 clients, HL is well known in the UK.

With HL, you can start a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) to begin growing your pension pot. Or, if you’re approaching retirement age, HL offers three retirement income options: annuity, drawdown or a mix-and-match approach.

Read on to find out more about HL, and whether it might provide the right pension arrangements for you.

What does Hargreaves Lansdown do?

By giving you the tools and information, HL aims to help you make your own educated decisions. From the website to the app, to the specialised helpdesk, HL’s goal is to make it easy for you to manage your investments and pensions.

For those looking to save for retirement, HL offers:

• Vantage SIPP (self-invested personal pension)

For those who are about to retire, HL offers:

• Annuity (a guaranteed income for life, in return for a pot of pension savings)
• Drawdown (where you “draw down” funds from your invested pension pot to give you an income)
• UFPLS (“uncrystallised funds pension lump sums” – where you take money from parts of your pension not previously accessed)

Hargreaves Lansdown’s Vantage SIPP

SIPPs are one of the most tax-efficient ways for you to save for retirement. With HL’s SIPP, you stay in control of your pension online 24/7. There are tools, research information, and watchlists which you can call upon to help make decisions at any time.

• Manage online, by phone, by post, or through the HL app
• ‘What Investment’ readers have voted HL ‘Best SIPP Provider’ for 10 consecutive years
• Choose from a wide range of investments
• Easily transfer old pensions to a SIPP
• 6 days-a-week call service to answer any questions
• Flexible access allows you to take money out from age 55 (57 from 2028)

Learn more about Hargreaves Lansdown’s retirement options

• Annuity

  An integral part of the UK’s pension system, an annuity is a type of retirement income product that you can purchase with some (or all) of your pension pot. It pays you a regular income for the rest of your life, or an agreed period.

  • Access to annuity quotations from the whole of the market.
  • ‘Best Rate Promise’
  • No charge for buying and selling funds
  • Free analysis and updates from the HL research team

• Drawdown

  Take a variable income from your pension pot, whilst keeping some of it invested.

  • Good if you want to access your pension and keep invested
  • Allows you to take out tax-free cash at the start
  • Allows the option for taking unlimited taxable withdrawals

• UFPLS

  Investment trusts are similar to funds as they offer exposure to a professionally managed portfolio.

  • Choose from over 400 investment trusts and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
  • Free limit orders and stop losses

How safe is my investment?

HL is a FTSE 100 company that has been managing investments for more than 35 years. It’s regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is bound by its rules on investment business.