A Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) is one of the most powerful wealth-building tools available to UK investors. And yet it’s still remarkably underused, particularly by those who come to retirement planning later in life.
But even starting from scratch at 50, a well-executed strategy can produce a pension pot that most Britons will never come close to. Here’s how.
What £1,000 a month can become
The first thing to understand is that a SIPP comes with an immediate boost. Every £1,000 deposited is automatically topped up to £1,250 by the government, thanks to tax relief. That’s a 25% instant return even before a single investment’s made.
Drip feeding this £1,250 each month into a simple index tracker is already a rock-solid strategy. At the UK stock market’s long-run average of 8% a year, a 50-year-old starting from scratch could realistically have around £432,547.78 by the time they reach 65.
To put that into context, the UK average pension pot stands at just £137,800. That single strategy, consistently applied, would already be more than three times the national average.
But with the right stock picks, the numbers can look dramatically more impressive.
Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in future. The content in this article is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be, neither does it constitute, any form of tax advice. Readers are responsible for carrying out their own due diligence and for obtaining professional advice before making any investment decisions.
Making your money work harder
Hill & Smith‘s (LSE:HILS) a leading provider of infrastructure solutions. Think road safety systems, galvanised steel structures, and engineered products for energy and data centre construction.
It isn’t a household name, but it’s been one of the most quietly exceptional compounders on the entire London Stock Exchange. And over the last 15 years, the group’s delivered an average annualised total return of 17%.
Just to put that in terms of money, anyone drip feeding £1,250 a month into the stock since June 2011 is now sitting on a SIPP worth a staggering £1,021,765.54!
The question now is, can Hill & Smith continue to thrive?
Will the gravy train continue?
The group’s most recent trading update was genuinely encouraging. In the four months to April, group revenue was up 5% on an organic constant currency basis, driven by double-digit growth from its US businesses. Management even upgraded its full-year profit outlook to the top end of analysts’ expectations, thanks to continued compelling structural tailwinds.
US infrastructure spending remains robust, demand for data centre and energy transmission solutions is accelerating, and Hill & Smith’s recent acquisitions (Freeberg and Hentech) are both performing in line with expectations.
Pair that with a strong balance sheet providing headroom for further M&A, the group appears well-positioned to keep compounding.
So where’s the risk?
What to watch
While Hill & Smith is seemingly thriving in North America, the same sadly can’t be said for its UK and Indian operations. Demand in these markets continues to be subdued, with operating margins declining as prior-year infrastructure contracts didn’t repeat.
Management’s implementing changes to improve UK performance, but the details won’t be revealed until the interim results in August. In other words, investors are being asked to trust the process, and that does allow some uncertainty to creep in.
Nevertheless, with capital still being deployed seemingly sensibly and management focused on long-term value creation, the company appears to be exactly the kind of dependable compounder SIPP investors should look at, in my opinion. That’s why I’ve already bought shares for my own retirement portfolio.
Should you invest £5,000 in Hill & Smith Plc right now?
When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.
And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if Hill & Smith Plc made the list?
Zaven Boyrazian owns shares in Hill & Smith.
