W. Shakespeare
Stage 1, Infancy:
A helpless baby, just crying and throwing up.
“At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.”
Stage 2, Schoolboy:
This is where his formal education starts, but he is not entirely happy with school. His mother is ambitious for him and has washed his face thoroughly before sending him off to school, but he goes very slowly and reluctantly.
“the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school.”
Stage 3, Teenager:
He’s grown into his late teens, and his main interest is girls. He’s likely to make a bit of a fool of himself with them. He is sentimental, sighing and writing poems to girls, making himself a bit ridiculous.
“the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow.”
Stage 4, Young man:
He’s a bold and fearless soldier – passionate in the causes he’s prepared to fight for, and quickly springs into action. He works on developing his reputation and takes risks to that end.
“a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.”
Stage 5, Middle-aged:
He regards himself as wise and experienced and doesn’t mind sharing his views and ideas with anyone and likes making speeches. He’s made a name for himself and is prosperous and respected. As a result of his success, he’s become vain. He enjoys the finer things in life, like good food.
“the justice,
In fair round belly, with good capon lin’d,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances”
Stage 6, Old man:
He is old and nothing like his former self – physically or mentally. He looks and behaves like an old man, dresses like one and he has a thin piping voice now. His influence slips away.
the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,
“With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound”
Stage 7, Dotage and death:
He loses his mind in senility. His hair and teeth fall out and his sight goes. Then he loses everything as he sinks into the oblivion of death.
second childishness and mere oblivion,
“Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
How the experts would invest a SIPP at every life stage
With data showing how pension investors adapt their strategies over time, Jennifer Hill asks the experts how they would invest a SIPP at three life stages.
Pension investors tend to evolve their strategies over time as they balance risk and reward in line with changing objectives, risk tolerance and time horizons.
Data from interactive investor shows how fund choices typically shift as savers move from accumulation to drawdown, with a gradual shift from growth-focused strategies towards greater emphasis on capital preservation and income as retirement approaches.
Life stage investing can provide a useful starting point, provided the approach remains flexible enough to reflect individual income needs, wider assets, tax position and investor psychology.
“Early career, mid-career and retirement are useful reference points, but they are not instructions,” says Paul Richardson, managing director of Concept Financial Planning.
To provide a framework, we asked a panel of financial advisers, wealth managers and investment specialists to set out how they would construct a SIPP portfolio across three stages: early career accumulation, mid-career consolidation and the transition into retirement and beyond.
Early career: maximising growth
For investors in their 20s and 30s, the emphasis is on building capital through sustained equity exposure, with time doing much of the heavy lifting.
“The goal of an investor in their early career – until their mid-to-late 40s – should be to build a capital base and let compounding do the trick,” says Mihir Choughule, chartered wealth manager at Tideway Wealth. “If you’re a younger investor, with access to a SIPP locked until at least age 57 currently, then you have the opportunity to take equity risk and deal with the volatility, which most people should do.”
He suggests “as close to 100% as comfortable” in equities where there are no near-term cash requirements. Alongside broad global trackers such as the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cp Idx £ Acc (BD3RZ58) and Fidelity Index World P Acc (BJS8SJ3), he highlights the need to diversify away from US stock market concentration risk through more selective active strategies. These include Schroder Global Recovery Z Acc GBP (BYRJXL9), Artemis Global Income I Acc (B5ZX1M7) and Redwheel Global Intrinsic Val R GBP Acc (BJBPX96), alongside regional and thematic funds such as Jupiter Asian Income I GBP Acc (BZ2YND8) and VT Teviot UK Smaller Companies Net Acc (BF6X212).
For interactive investor fund analyst Tom Bigley, a simple accumulation approach is broad global equity exposure via a passive vehicle such as the UBS Core MSCI World ETF USD acc GBP
Investors seeking active management may prefer Capital Group UK NewPersp P ACC (BS3F739) or, for investors with a higher risk tolerance, Scottish Mortgage Ord
The public/private portfolio recently hit an all-time high on the back of its exposure to Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A SPCX4.95%.
At Canaccord Wealth, a SIPP portfolio for an early career investor would typically sit at the highest end of its multi-asset managed portfolio range, with 97% in equities.
“These investors have an exceptionally long time horizon,” says senior investment director Paul Derrien. “By contributing regularly, they are able to buy more investments at lower valuations during periods of market stress.”
He sets out a broadly global equity allocation designed to capture diversified growth across regions and styles, with fund examples as illustrative building blocks: 27% US equities (Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF Acc GBP
22% global equity income (Guinness Global Equity Income Y GBP Acc (BVYPNY2)), 18% UK equities (Fidelity Special Situations W Acc (B88V3X4)), 12% emerging markets (L&G Global Emerging Markets Index I Acc (B4KBDL2)), 11% thematic exposure (Polar Capital Global Tech I GBP Hdg Inc (BW9HD62)), alongside smaller allocations to Japan (4%, iShares MSCI Japan GBP Hedged ETF Acc
IJPH and Europe (3%, BlackRock European Dynamic A Acc (0049520)), with the remaining 3% in cash.
Across the panel, the message is consistent: early stage portfolios are overwhelmingly equity-driven, with diversification achieved through region, style and theme rather than asset class.
As Katrania Lowers, chartered financial planner at Colmore Partners, puts it: “Being too cautious too early and leaving decades of compounding on the table is a far more damaging outcome than riding out a market correction.”
Asset allocation weightings for maximising long-term compounding in early career
| Asset class | Canaccord Wealth | Colmore Partners | interactive investor | Tideway Wealth |
| Equities | 97% | 80-100% | 80-100 | 100% |
| Bonds | 0% | 0-10% | 0-20% | 0% |
| Alternatives | 0% | 0-10% | 0% | 0% |
| Cash | 3% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Mid-career: balancing growth and stability
For investors in their 40s and 50s, the focus shifts from pure accumulation towards balancing continued growth with greater portfolio stability, as savings pots grow and investment decisions carry more financial and emotional weight.
Colmore Partners typically blends three multi-asset fund ranges: Columbia Threadneedle Universal MAP, Vanguard LifeStrategy and L&G Multi-Index. Investors at this stage might combine CT Universal MAP Balanced 3 Acc (BF99VZ4), Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity A Acc (B3TYHH9) or Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity A Acc (B4PQW15) with L&G Multi-Index 5 I Acc (B8VZ3F5) or L&G Multi-Index 6 I Acc (B95KML2).
“What changes at each life stage isn’t the framework; it’s where you sit within it,” says Lowers. “If you’re mid-career with meaningful ISAs or other investments alongside your pension, you might still carry 80-100% equity in the SIPP because your overall wealth picture is balanced elsewhere. If the pension is your only pot, a more moderate 60-80% equity position could be appropriate.”
Choughule at Tideway Wealth also points to wider financial pressures at this stage. “The priorities may change. They may have a family and associated costs such as education fees, and earnings are often at or near their peak, so tax efficiency becomes critical.”
He combines equities to protect against inflation risk with income-bearing assets such as bonds and infrastructure. Funds include Man Sterling Corp Bd Profl Acc C (BNLYQX6), Artemis Short-Duration Stgy Bd I GBP Acc (BJXPPH6), Royal London UK Government Bond M Acc (B881TW5), FTF ClearBridge Global Infras Inc WAcc (BMF7D55)andWS Ruffer Diversified Return C GBP Acc (BMWLQT5)
For Canaccord Wealth, mid-career investors would typically sit one step down the risk spectrum at profile 6, reflecting an equity allocation of around 80%. However, Derrien suggests increasing this towards 100% following a market correction before reducing exposure again as markets recover.
“We would maintain this level to, say, five years before retirement, which should provide a long enough time horizon to ensure equity markets are at a high enough level to switch to a more conservative phase,” he adds.
Asset allocation weightings for diversifying while maintaining growth in mid-career
| Asset class | Canaccord Wealth | Colmore Partners | interactive investor | Tideway Wealth |
| Equities | 80% | 60-80% | 60-70% | 60% |
| Bonds | 17% | 20-40% | 30-40% | 30% |
| Alternatives | 0% | 0-5% | 0% | 10% |
| Cash | 3% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Transition into retirement and beyond: balancing income, stability and long-term growth
As investors approach retirement, the emphasis shifts towards generating income, preserving capital and managing sequencing risk – the danger that sharp market falls early in retirement can disproportionately damage a portfolio when withdrawals are being taken at the same time.
“Recovering from losses becomes harder once capital has already been sold to fund income needs,” says Bigley at ii.
“Multi-asset investment trusts such as Capital Gearing Ord CGT
, alongside high-quality government and corporate bond funds, can reduce portfolio volatility while maintaining some growth exposure.”
He cautions against becoming overly defensive. “While holding larger cash balances may feel safer, excessive cash exposure can create inflation risk over time, eroding purchasing power.”
For Choughule at Tideway Wealth, the solution is to separate short-term spending needs from longer-term growth assets. He suggests splitting assets into two pots: one focused on low-volatility fixed income to fund spending over the next five years, and another invested for longer-term growth.
“The first should be entirely in low-volatility bonds that offer a ‘cash plus’ return,” he says. Funds include Sanlam Ninety One Intl Crdt I1 GBP BsInc (BNYNB91), Artemis Short-Duration Stgy Bd I GBP Inc (BJXPPJ8)andRoyal London Short Duration Gilts M Inc (BD050C7).
The remaining portfolio can maintain higher-risk exposure through equities and diversified assets, helping preserve purchasing power.
Canaccord Wealth’s retirement portfolios move down the risk spectrum, typically to risk profile 4, reflecting around 40% equities, 47% bonds, 10% alternatives and 3% cash.
“This should provide enough certainty to avoid nasty surprises in equity or bond market falls, while still delivering returns comfortably above inflation,” says Derrien.
Example holdings across government bonds, corporate credit, alternatives and equities include L&G All Stocks Gilt Index I Inc (B8387G1), Invesco Sterling Bond Z GBP Acc (BFLV578), hedge fund BH Macro GBP Ord (LSE:BHMG) and Slater Growth P Acc (B7T0G90).
Colmore Partners typically holds a cash buffer outside the SIPP. “The fund adjustment is only half the job,” says Lowers. “The other priority is a cash buffer – enough to cover one to two years of income.
She adds that investors approaching retirement might move towards a 60/40 split in favour of equities, reducing further if the pension is the primary income source. This could involve lower-risk multi-asset strategies such as CT Universal MAP Cautious 3 Acc (BF99VX2), Vanguard LifeStrategy 40% Equity A Inc (B41F6L4) and L&G Multi-Index 3 I Inc (B6VR4B0)or L&G Multi-Index 4 I Inc (B8VZBR3).
Lowers makes a final point for those planning ahead: the minimum pension access age will rise from 55 to 57 in 2028.
“If all your wealth is locked in a pension and you want to retire before that, structurally you can’t,” she warns. “Building across wrappers – pensions, ISAs and general investments – isn’t just tax planning. It’s key for flexibility and giving yourself options.”
For the investor who is transitioning to retirement, we have linked to the income (Inc) share class where available, although accumulation (Acc) share classes are also an option.
Asset allocation weightings for preserving capital while sustaining income in retirement
| Asset class | Canaccord Wealth | Colmore Partners | interactive investor | Tideway Wealth |
| Equities | 40% | 40-60% | 30-60% | 30% |
| Bonds | 47% | 40-60% | 40-70% | 65% |
| Alternatives | 10% | 0% | 0% | 5% |
| Cash | 3% | 1-2 years | 0% | 0% |
Important information – SIPPs are aimed at people happy to make their own investment decisions. Investment value can go up or down and you could get back less than you invest. You can normally only access the money from age 55 (57 from 2028). We recommend seeking advice from a suitably qualified financial adviser before making any decisions. Pension and tax rules depend on your circumstances and may change in future.
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