Keeping pensions in the family

A new SIPP from AXA has been launched, offering families and business partners a flexible way to invest together, tax efficiently.

AXA's Family Suntrust is a pooled SIPP, which meets the growing demand from groups of individuals looking to finance their retirement to match their lifestyle. At the same time it offers clients greater investment flexibility and potentially lower fund charges with the opportunity to minimise inheritance tax.

Members within Family Suntrust can choose from a wide range of investment options and may invest via:

Stocks, shares and collective investments managed by a discretionary fund manager

AXA Isle of Man's Premier Invest offshore bond, which includes a range of over 3,500 funds that can be selected online and a share dealing facility

UK commercial property

Winterthur and AXA Trustee Investment Plans

Other offshore and onshore bonds, stocks and shares, and Trustee Investment Plans

Deposit accounts

Specialist SIPP investments.

David Thompson, managing director of sales and marketing, AXA Winterthur Wealth Management, said: "Times have changed and pension planning has to reflect that. With its reputation for self-invested pensions and income drawdown innovation, AXA Winterthur is in a strong position to construct a new SIPP proposition that helps groups of individuals plan for retirement with a common investment strategy in their own pooled SIPP."

Mike Fosberry, director, Smith & Williamson Personal Financial Planning, who has been piloting the scheme, said: "Family Suntrust is a new approach to group pension planning and the appeal also lies in the potential to secure lower charges from fund managers who will deal with one single, joint sum rather than lots of smaller pots of money. This is just the sort of innovative pension product that IFAs are seeing demand for."

The total minimum initial investment for all members in a Family Suntrust is £200,000 per scheme, with each individual member (including minors) initial contribution or transfer value being a minimum of £1,000. Annual or single contributions can be paid by the individual or their employer within current SIPP limits. Individuals can also arrange for transfer payments from other registered pension schemes.

AXA Winterthur has developed a reputation for innovation in the self-invested pensions market, with AXA* being one of the first life companies to launch a SSAS in 1979 and Winterthur being the first company to launch a SIPP in 1990 and income drawdown in 1995. AXA Winterthur has more than 22,500 self-invested pensions clients, with more than £2.5billion under management in self-invested pensions (as at August 2008).

*Sun Life Assurance Society, now part of AXA.

The value of investments can go down as well as up and are not guaranteed. Your clients could get back less than they originally invested.