In essence a SiPP is...

Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) were introduced in 1989 to give those planning for retirement greater control over where their pension fund is invested. A SIPP offers the widest range of pension investments including Cash, Equities (both UK and foreign), Gilts, Unit Trusts, OEICS, Hedge Funds, Investment Trusts, Real Estate Investment Trusts, Commercial Property and Land, Traded Endowment Plans and Options.

Many people favour SiPP’s as a personal pension plan because they can use the SiPP to purchase commercial property (subject to them following the rules in relation to property purchase). Other people use SiPP’s as a method of obtaining retirement benefits via a SiPP drawdown route which enables a phased drawdown route which could be beneficial in the event of death after retirement.