Pension fees on a £250,000 pot — the comfortable retirement marker.
How much do pension fees cost on a £250,000 pot? Compare percentage fees versus flat-fee SIPPs for larger pension pots.
A £250,000 pension pot puts you in the top third of UK retirees by private pension wealth. It's also roughly the figure the PLSA's Retirement Living Standards research identifies as needed to fund a 'moderate' retirement when combined with the full state pension. At this pot size the compounding cost of fees is brutal: a 1% annual charge over 25 years takes around £100,000 off the final pot value compared to a 0.3% provider. Crucially, this is the pot size at which flat-fee platforms start to dominate. A flat £180/year platform fee works out to 0.07% on £250k — versus 0.50% (£1,250/year) on a typical workplace SIPP. The savings over 25 years run into five figures.