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When it comes to retirement, few investment vehicles come close to the power of a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP).
Just like a Stocks and Shares ISA, it enables British investors to grow their wealth without capital gains or dividend taxes interrupting the process. But unlike an ISA, SIPPs also provide investors with tax relief. And combined, these advantages can supercharge an investment portfolio in the long run. In fact, even with just a spare £500 a month, SIPPs can help investors build a million-pound nest egg.
The power of tax relief
Whenever money’s deposited into a SIPP, the government tops up the balance based on an investor’s income tax bracket. So for someone paying the Basic rate of 20%, a £500 deposit is automatically transformed into £625 of investable capital.
That extra £125 each month makes an enormous difference over the space of 30 years – almost £300,000. Assuming a portfolio generates an average return of around 10% a year, investing £625 each month over the next three decades when starting from scratch translates into a SIPP worth £1.4m versus £1.1m with just £500.
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.
Accelerating compounding with stock picking
Earning a 10% return in the stock market isn’t too tricky. The FTSE 100’s long-term average annual return is around 8%, the FTSE 250 11%, and the S&P 500 10%. With that in mind, a good blend of low-cost index trackers should be able to hit this target return.
Obviously, this assumes these indexes continue to deliver returns in line with their historical performance, which isn’t guaranteed. But even if these indices live up to expectations, not every investor has the luxury of a 30-year time horizon.
Luckily, stock picking offers a potential solution here. Instead of relying on passive index funds, investors can take a more active stance and hand-pick which companies to invest in.
There’s no denying that taking this investing approach comes with considerably more risk and demands far more emotional resilience to volatility. But it also opens the door to stellar opportunities.
Demonstrating potential results
Take Melrose Industries (LSE:MRO) as a prime example. The industrial turnaround specialist-turned-aerospace pureplay has endured pretty wild swings in its share price. Yet even with all this chaos, the stock’s still generated close to an 18.5% annualised return over the last 15 years. And at this rate, reaching the coveted £1m threshold with £625 of capital each month would only take 18 years – almost half the time.
With a £5.8bn market-cap, Melrose continues to show ample growth potential, backed up by management’s target of £1.2bn of underlying earnings by 2029 versus £540m in 2024. If the company’s able to hit this target, its days of double-digit share price growth might not be over just yet. That’s why I’m still holding onto Melrose shares in my SIPP today.
However, the risks can’t be ignored. As a critical supplier to other aircraft manufacturers, demand for Melrose’s products and services is ultimately tied to the build rates of other manufacturers over which it has no control. And the historical track record of planes being built on time’s quite patchy.
Nevertheless, Melrose’s proven ability to navigate cyclical market conditions makes me cautiously optimistic. Therefore, investors looking to jump-start their SIPP in 2025 might want to give Melrose a closer look.
