Gold bullion.
Investment grade gold bullion is the only physical commodity that can be held within a self invested pension (subject to meeting prescriptive rules).
Gold bullion is used by some clients to diversify and enhance their investment portfolio but it can only be held within a self invested personal pension (SIPP) or small self administered scheme (SSAS) provided:
- it is of a purity of not less than 995 thousandths and is in the form of a bar or wafer, of a weight acceptable by the bullion markets
- the pension scheme member cannot hold the gold bullion personally
- it is placed in a secure vault to the order of the trustees
- the pension scheme member must have no use of the gold – it is held for investment purposes only.
The simplist and most secure method of investing in gold bullion is via a UK direct gold investment service. Dentons uses the services of The Royal Mint, Sharps Pixley and Ravenscroft. These services provide the required gold storage arrangements and have sufficient controls in place to ensure that any monies are paid back to the SIPP or SSAS bank account only.
Due diligence checks will need to be undertaken by the client's financial adviser, where applicable, and Dentons before any instruction can be given to the gold bullion dealer.
Please note: Gold bullion can be a volatile investment asset with no guarantee of future returns. Dentons requires a minimum pension fund size of £50,000.