A glimmer of hope

The all-singing, all-dancing Sipp has been one of the few rays of hope in an otherwise gloomy investment scene. However, not all schemes are as open to the range of investable assets as clients might assume

Wrapping your own home in a Sipp pension plan was never one of Gordon Brown's best ideas. In hindsight, even those who grumbled at his eventual u-turn must be counting their blessings as house prices tumble and buy-to-let implodes. But even those who opt for a more conventional asset range may find their choice of Sipp provider curtailed. Post A-day, investors have had a wide palate of asset classes opened up to them by HMRC. Esoteric investments such as commercial property, unquoted stocks and loans to non-connected parties have been added to more conventional assets such as Oeics, inves...