The driving forces behind the continuing growth of Sipps

Despite the abandonment of proposals to allow tax-efficient investment in residential property and exotics via Sipps, the number of investors taking out these pensions has greatly increased

Self invested personal pensions (Sipps) were introduced by the Chancellor of the day Nigel Lawson, in 1989. In his Budget speech he said: "I propose to make it easier for people in personal pensions to manage their own affairs." And 17 years later on, they are getting a large amount of positive publicity. Indeed one of the main investment stories, as far as 2006 is concerned, has been the Sipp sector's continuing growth in spite of the last minute U-turn in last year's pre-Budget report. As we all recall, on 5 December 2005, the Chancellor announced that the pension tax advantages for inve...