The phrase “small self administrated pension schemes” can be abbreviated to SSAS. These differ from self invested personal pension plans (SIPPS), because they are usually taken out by a small group of people. This amount of people in this group has to be fewer than 12 members, and there are a lot of reasons why people might want to consider this type of policy. But before this articles goes on to discuss the benefits that a SSAS plan has, it should be mentioned here that these are mainly intended for those who are executives in director controlled companies, or those in family businesses. If you do not fall into this category then it may be worthwhile looking at a SIPP pension scheme that works on the same premises, but is intended for an individual and not a small group of people.

SASS policies require an investment choice much like SIPP’s. The investment choice can be anything, but popular choices are gold, land and stocks and shares. Regular payments are made by trustees towards this investment choice, and in many cases a trustee overseer will monitor the progress of the investment choice and hopefully money will be made. There are obvious risks involved just like any investment, but unlike other investment pension schemes there are some additional advantages.

• Members of a SASS policy can qualify for additional loans that can be put towards their investment.
• If a SASS scheme chooses to invest in property, the property in question can then be leased back to the company in a very tax-efficient manner.

These are the main advantages of a SASS, but generally speaking a SASS shares a lot of similarities of a SIPP. The most obvious being that a SASS is for a number of people, whilst a SIPP is for an individual. In this case then the advantages of a SASS are similar to a SIPP. However there are some disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that most of the control goes to the policy overseer. This person will have to monitor the investment constantly in order to get the best return. It is possible that some people may see this aspect as a pro whilst others may see this as a con. From this perspective then it is essential to make sure that the trust fund overseer is the best person suited to the job.