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Investing within a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) is one of the best ways to build wealth for retirement in the UK. With these accounts, an investor can build up a substantial savings pot quickly and efficiently.
What’s the secret to this kind of investment account? Well, there are three ways that it can potentially boost wealth.
Free money from the government
One huge advantage of investing within a SIPP is contributions typically come with tax relief. This is essentially a reward from the government for saving for retirement.
Put in £800 as a basic-rate taxpayer, and the government will add in another £200 for you (a near-instant 25% risk-free return). Higher-rate and additional-rate taxpayers can pocket even more tax relief.
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.
No tax on gains or income
Another big benefit is that there’s no tax to pay on investment gains or dividend income. In a SIPP, investments can grow free of tax.
This feature shouldn’t be overlooked. If an investor had held Rolls-Royce shares in a general investment account over the last three years and turned £2,000 into £25,000, they’d be looking at Capital Gains Tax of £3,600 or £4,800 depending on what tax band they’re in.
However, if they’d held the shares in a SIPP, they wouldn’t have to pay a penny of tax. That’s a huge extra boost to their wealth.
Opportunities for capital growth
Finally, most SIPPs offer access to a vast range of investments. So, there are tons of opportunities to grow your retirement savings.
Rolls-Royce is just one example of a good investment in recent years. There are many other stocks (and funds) that have done well, and helped investors build wealth for the future.
Looking ahead, one stock that I think will do well (in the long run) is CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD). It’s widely regarded as the world’s premier cybersecurity company.
This stock is listed in the US but can still be held within a SIPP. Over the last three years, it has returned about 65% per year in US dollar terms but obviously past performance isn’t an indicator of future results.
Taking a five-year view, however, I see huge potential here. Because the cybersecurity industry is likely to see enormous growth as artificial intelligence (AI) is adopted by businesses.
Some experts believe that cybersecurity could end up being bigger than AI. Many see the industry being worth $1trn in the years ahead.
What’s unique about CrowdStrike is that it offers continual cloud detection and monitoring services. Additionally, customers benefit from community immunity – if a new threat is detected at a company in London, every other CrowdStrike customer globally is protected from that same threat within seconds.
Now, this stock is expensive from a valuation perspective because profits are still small (the price-to-earnings ratio is about 100). This adds risk – investors should expect the share price to be volatile.
There are plenty of other risks to consider too. These include competition from rivals, software glitches, and the failure to prevent a cyberattack.
But taking a long-term view, I’m very bullish here. I think the stock is worth considering for a SIPP today while it’s well off its highs.
