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How £200 a month might quietly compound for a comfortable retirement. Ad Feature by Trading 212 By THIS IS MONEY Updated: 03:52 EDT, 12 October 2026 Building a large enough pension pot to enjoy your retirement can sound like a tall order. The fund that you will need for even a moderate retirement runs into hundreds of thousands of pounds, and if you aspire to a comfortable retirement then you'll need even more. This makes investing over the long-term into a pension essential. While many people will do so through a workplace scheme - benefiting from contributions from their employer - adding to this by using a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a popular move among switched on investors. A SIPP is an easy low-cost and flexible way to invest for retirement. For example, investment platform Trading 212 has launched a new SIPP offering access to a huge range of stock market listed investments, including shares, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and investment trusts, with no annual account fee and no dealing charges. Figures from industry body Pensions UK put the cost of a comfortable retirement for an individual at £45,400 per year. If you allow for £12,500 of that being covered by a full state pension, it leaves a required annual income of £32,900. The pension pot required to deliver that if you could secure a 5 per cent income from your fund would be £658,000. That's a substantial sum of money but many may be surprised to learn how regularly investing even a relatively modest sum each month into a SIPP over the long-term can help them get there. How £200 a month might compound. The key to building a healthy pension pot is to start early, invest regularly and reap the rewards of compounded returns. The other benefit of investing into a SIPP is that your contributions will automatically have 25 per cent basic rate tax pension relief added, which brexit shitstorm forecast explain in more detail below. Compounding involves making gains on gains that you have already made. If your investments go up by 5 per cent in one year, and then another 5 per cent the next - you make a little bit more as you are earning a return on the first year's profit, as well as the initial sum invested. Over time this creates a snowball effect and over the long-term it can make a substantial difference. Combine regular saving, with pension tax relief, compounded returns, and plenty of time and you have a recipe for investing success. This is how you can turn £200 per month into £305,000 over 30 years: If you contribute £200 into a SIPP, it gets 25 per cent basic rate tax relief and becomes £250. If you start at zero and make a regular investment of £250 per month over 30 years, earning an average 7 per cent return, it would become £305,000 at the end of the period, according to This is Money's saving and investing calculator, which compounds returns monthly. While this £305,000 alone will not be enough to secure you a comfortable retirement, the money built up in your SIPP would create a very healthy top-up fund to add to any workplace pension savings - hopefully securing you the retirement you want. Investing in a SIPP. Most people invest into a pension through work, but you can also pay into a self-invested personal pension. These are hugely popular among investors, as a flexible way to save extra for retirement. They are also essential for the self-employed, who do not benefit from workplace schemes and must build their own pots. They are also probably the most tax-friendly way to put money aside. If you save money into a pension, the government will boost it with tax relief, and you can then earn investment returns on that turbo-charged pot. Meanwhile, the SIPP tax wrapper around your investments, means profits are free from capital gains tax and dividends are free from dividend tax. Tax relief on pensions is offered at your income tax rate. In return for that, you cannot access a pension pot until a minimum age, currently 55 but 57 from 2028. Tax relief is automatically added to contributions, boosting them by 25 per cent to take savers back to their position before basic rate tax. Higher-rate 40 per cent taxpayers and additional rate 45 per cent taxpayers must claim their extra tax relief. You are taxed at income tax rates on the money that you withdraw from a pension, with the first 25 per cent tax-free, either taken as a single lump sum from the overall pot (capped for most people at £268,275) or as the first 25 per cent of multiple smaller sums. Pensions have an annual allowance on contributions of £60,000 and tax relief is also limited for those with earnings above £200,000. Why fees on a SIPP matter. When it comes to investing it's not just the money that you pay in and the gains that you make that matter, the drag on your returns from fees is also important. High fees in the form of either account charges or dealing costs, or both, will eat away at the value of your portfolio. The effect is magnified over time. A 0.35 per cent annual fee on £100,000 of investment holdings would cost you £350 over the course of one year. It would reduce a 7 per cent annual return to a 6.65 per cent one. Over an individual year, this doesn't sound like a lot. But if you kept that £100,000 invested for 20 years, didn't add to the pot again, the drag on a 7 per cent average annual return would compound. The £100,000 pot earning 7 per cent over 20 years with no fees would be worth £403,900 at the end of the period, with gains compounded monthly, according to This is Money's calculator. The £100,000 pot earning 6.65 per cent over 20 years after fees would be worth £376,700, with gains compounded monthly, according to This is Money's calculator. That seemingly small fee would have cost a total of £27,200 Fees are equally important when it comes to regular monthly investing. In its example above of investing £250 per month, including pension tax relief, over 30 years with an average 7 per cent return, the no-fee pot amounted to £305,000. However, applying a 0.35 per cent fee drags annual returns down to 6.65 per cent, meaning the pot would only grow to £285,000, with gains compounded monthly - costing a pension investor £20,000. All the calculations above use This is Money's saving and investing calculator, which compounds returns monthly. How Trading 212's SIPP can help. Trading 212 can let you maximise your pension growth by investing with its zero-fee SIPP account. The SIPP comes with no monthly or annual account fees, offers zero-commission investing, with no dealing charges for shares, ETFs and investment trusts and pays 3.8 per cent AER on cash. A foreign exchange fee of 0.15 per cent applies whenever you convert funds from one currency to another and on trading involving currency conversion. Money is converted at the live interbank rate. When investing, your capital is at risk. Value projection for illustration purposes. Not indicative of future performance. You cannot usually access a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) before age 55 (57 from 2028). SIPPs operated and administered by Platform One. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances. Other fees may apply. Terms apply. Sorry brexit shitstorm forecast is not currently accepting comments on this article. More top stories. Sponsored guide.

Trading 212 to create 40 jobs and establish Dublin-based European hub. 24 Jun 2026 From Dublin, the company will support core regulated activities across risk, compliance, trading, operations and technology. Trading 212, a European online investment platform, is set to open a new European hub based out of Dublin, a move that will generate 40 jobs over the course of the next three years. The expansion will enable the Dublin location to support Trading 212's core activities across risk, compliance, trading, operations and technology. Headquartered in London, Trading 212 was established in 2004 and employs more than 750 people globally, with a client base in the UK, EU, Australia and other international markets. The Dublin office, located at Sobo Works, Windmill Lane, will serve as a strategic EU regulatory and capital markets hub within the company's post-Brexit multi-hub operating model. The future roles will include specialist positions across trading, risk, compliance, finance, technology and operations. The new team will play a critical role in delivering and supporting a multi-asset execution function and strengthening Trading 212's European regulatory operations and governance capabilities. Commenting on the announcement, Michael Byrne, the CEO of Trading 212 Ireland, said: "Dublin is central to Trading 212's international growth. As our hub for equity, ETF and CFD execution, Ireland gives us world-class regulatory infrastructure, deep talent and a position bridging Europe's two most important financial markets." Michael Lohan, the CEO of IDA Ireland added: "Ireland has built a thriving ecosystem for financial services and technology companies, underpinned by a highly skilled workforce and a culture of innovation. Trading 212's decision to invest here further strengthens our fintech cluster and highlights our competitive offering internationally." Late last week, Future Cast - an innovation, education and R&D nonprofit focused on the construction and quarrying industries - also announced a significant investment and job creation. The organisation has invested €3.25m into developing a 200-year old Co Leitrim church into a 10,000 sq ft centre for innovation, R&D and science. The funds will also enable the creation of 15 new jobs over the coming years, with opportunities for jobseekers in concrete and material science, machine design, prototype development and specialist training. By Laura Varley Laura Varley is the Careers editor at Silicon Republic. She has a background in technology PR and journalism and is borderline obsessed with film and television, the theatre, Marvel and Mayo GAA. She is currently trying to learn how to knit.