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What is a Vanguard Personal Pension?

It’s a flexible low cost pension that could help your retirement savings go further. Whether you’re just starting to save, or you’re already retired, our low costs mean you keep more of your money. 

As with other pensions, the government will give you tax relief on your contributions, which makes it a tax-efficient way to grow your money. 

The Vanguard Personal Pension is a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) where you control how you want your money to be invested. Then when you turn 55 you can start to enjoy your savings (this is going up to  age 57 from 2028).

Why choose our Vanguard Personal Pension

Straightforward

If you’re a hands-on investor you can build your own portfolio using our individual funds.

You can choose from a wide range of fund types to suit your investment style and attitude to risk.

View our funds

Value

Our funds are good value, which means you can keep more of your returns. 

View our fees

Over 45 years of experience

We’ve been taking a stand for investors for over 45 years. Now over 50 million clients worldwide invest with us for their future.
 

Learn more about Vanguard

Choose how to invest

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Compare how you want to invest

You can manage your investments yourself, or let us do it for you. Here’s a quick comparison of the 2 options.

 
Do it yourself
We do it for you
24/7 access to your investments
UK-based customer service team
Which? Recommended Provider for Investment Platforms
No hidden charges or exit fees
A personal risk profile based on how you feel about risk
Choosing your funds
You pick from our range of over 85
We pick for you based on your risk profile
Managing your portfolio
You manage your portfolio yourself
We regularly monitor your portfolio and make changes when needed
Personalised guidance from our investment experts
-
You can pay into your pension from business accounts and other Vanguard accounts
Only after your account has been opened
Drawdown available
Currently for retirement savers only

The cost of investing

How much you’re charged depends on the value of your invested balance, type of account and the fund charges.

Our fees

 

Self-managed

Managed

Account fee (from 28 February 2025)

for invested balances under £32,000

£4 a month

(£48 a year)

0.15% a year

 

Account fee (from 28 February 2025)

for invested balances of £32,000 and over

0.15% a year

(max £375 a year)

0.15% a year

(max £375 a year)


Fund management fee
 

0.06% to 0.79% a year 
 

0.16% a year on average 
 

Management fee
 

None
 

0.30% a year
 

You can find out more about what our account fees are until 28 February 2025

You can find our fund management fees for each fund on our fees and charges page
 

What this could mean for you if you invested:

If you invested £10,000 in a Self-managed pension

  Account fee

  £48 a year
 


+

  Fund management cost

  £28 a year
  (0.28%) 


=
  Total
 
  £76 a year
 

These examples are only to give you an indication. We assume you invested into one of our Target Retirement Funds. We’ve shown average fund management fees, which may vary depending on your portfolio.

If you invested £10,000 in a Managed pension

  Account fee

  £15 a year
  (0.15%)


+

  Fund management cost

  £16 a year
  (0.16%) 


+

  Management fee

  £30 a year
  (0.30%)


=
  Total
 
  £61 a year
 
  • These examples are only to give you an indication. We’ve used an average fund management fee, which may vary depending on your portfolio.

 

Why is the account fee different for our Managed Pension?

We’re committed to helping individuals throughout their investment journey – from getting started to achieving their lifetime goals. For our Managed Pension service, we keep our costs as low as we can to give more people a helping hand with investing their money.

 

Work for yourself?

We created our Vanguard Personal Pension with the self-employed in mind. It gives limited company directors, sole traders and partnerships the chance to save for retirement in a tax-efficient way. 

Are you on track for your retirement?

Use our pension calculator to get an idea of how much you should save to get the retirement you want.

Save for retirement and save on tax

Paying into your pension is a tax-efficient way to save, whether you're employed or self-employed.

Tax relief on your contributions

When you pay into a pension, the contribution that would normally end up as tax goes towards your retirement instead.

25% tax free lump sum

When you start taking money from your pension you can usually take up to 25% tax free. The maximum tax-free cash you can take from all your pensions is £268,275.

Benefits for the self-employed

If you're a company director, you could benefit from making pension contributions from your business account.

Tax-efficient growth

Investing in a Vanguard Personal Pension is a tax-efficient way to grow your money for retirement. 

Enjoy extra pension peace of mind

We make investing straightforward by choosing and managing your funds for you. All tailored to how you feel about risk.

Bring all your pensions together in a transfer

If you have old workplace pensions all over the place, you could make life simpler, and potentially save money, by transferring them to us. 

With no minimum pension transfer value, it does not matter how big or small your pension is. 

Pension drawdown without the drawbacks

We do not charge any extra fees when you start to take money from your pension. Everything's included in our account fee.

Could our Personal Pension be the right choice for you?

Have another question?

Search our FAQs, ask our chatbot or send us a message

Go to help and support
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We bring value to 50 million clients all over the world

Would you like to join us? It’s quick and easy. You can open a Personal Pension in 10 minutes.

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Still not sure?

Get free and impartial guidance from the government's MoneyHelper service.

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