Vanguard SIPP fund options are all Vanguard's own: its funds and ETFs, ready-made LifeStrategy and Target Retirement funds, or a managed portfolio.
The SIPP is sold as the Vanguard Personal Pension, and Vanguard's key features document (November 2025) says it does "not presently permit direct shares or any investment other than Vanguard Funds to be held in your Vanguard Personal Pension". Hearing how a fund choice sits against your age and pot size is where an FCA-authorised adviser helps. Nobody charges for the call-back, and to start it you only need the form on this page.
What can you hold in a Vanguard SIPP?
Vanguard mutual funds and Vanguard ETFs, plus cash while you decide where to invest, according to the key features document. Some are UK-based open-ended investment companies and unit trusts; others are domiciled in Ireland, including the ETFs, which are traded like stocks on a stock exchange. Many track an index; others are actively managed or invest in other Vanguard funds.
For now, anything outside that range is shut out: single company shares, commercial property, physical gold and funds from other firms cannot be held in the account. Cash can sit in it, but the document warns that cash is out of the market and "will not benefit from any stock market growth whilst uninvested".
Fund prices move both ways, so a pension can end up worth less than was paid into it. Vanguard's own wording is that "past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results".
LifeStrategy funds: ready-made mixes of shares and bonds
Each LifeStrategy fund "combines multiple individual index funds into one fund portfolio", according to Vanguard's own page on them. There are five levels, from 20% to 100% in shares, and the fund is managed to keep that mix. Two ranges exist: "LifeStrategy invests more in UK shares and bonds than LifeStrategy Global, which invests in line with global markets."
Vanguard's self-managed costs and charges document, dated 20 August 2026, shows a fund ongoing cost of 0.20%, separate from the account fee, for every LifeStrategy and LifeStrategy Global fund listed, as at 30 June 2026. Transaction costs are separate and vary by fund; the Vanguard SIPP fees page sets out how the layers add up.
Target Retirement funds, and picking one for every payment
A Target Retirement fund is built around a date. Vanguard says you pick "the Target Retirement Fund closest to your planned retirement date or within 5 years after that", and it then moves the mix from shares towards bonds as that date nears. The costs document lists them in five-year steps from the 2015 fund up to the 2065 fund, each with a fund ongoing cost of 0.24% (as at 30 June 2026), before Vanguard's account fee.
The key features document also offers a standing instruction: by choosing the option "you will instruct that all future Contributions and Transfers are invested in a specific Vanguard Target Retirement Fund chosen by you". It adds that you may change your investment options at any time.
Building your own mix from the full range
The alternative is to pick funds one at a time. Vanguard's self-managed costs and charges document lists equity, bond, money market and multi-asset funds, and ETFs as well as mutual funds. The document covers Vanguard's whole self-managed service, and its client terms (August 2026) limit each account to the funds applicable to that product, so a listed fund may not be open to the pension. A few rows, with each fund's ongoing costs as at 30 June 2026 unless stated:
| Fund in the document | Type | Fund's ongoing costs a year |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund | Equity | 0.23% |
| Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF | Equity ETF | 0.14% (as at 28 July 2026) |
| Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF | Equity ETF | 0.07% |
| Vanguard ESG Screened Developed World All Cap Equity Index Fund (UK) | Equity | 0.20% |
| Vanguard U.K. Inflation-Linked Gilt Index Fund | Fixed income | 0.12% |
| Vanguard Sterling Short-Term Money Market Fund | Short-term reserves | 0.12% |
These are fund costs only, taken from each fund's price; transaction costs, ETF bid-offer spreads and Vanguard's account fee come on top. Which of these funds the SIPP itself accepts is worth asking an FCA-authorised adviser.
The managed option, where Vanguard picks the funds
The Managed Personal Pension is the same SIPP with the choosing taken away. Vanguard's page says it picks "your funds based on how you feel about investment risk and when you plan to start taking money from your pension", and its managed costs document (15 June 2026) says it "selects the portfolio of up to twelve funds that you will be invested in". The page is plain about the trade: "you will not be able to buy or sell specific investments."
It also says Vanguard does "not currently choose and manage investments for pensions that are in drawdown". Which way suits you is covered in Vanguard's managed and self-managed options, and opening either one in how to open a Vanguard SIPP.
Which funds when you start drawing money
Once you take tax-free cash, money moves into a drawdown account and needs an investment. Vanguard's flexible income page says you can use the full range or one of four investment pathways, tied to your plans for the next five years: a Target Retirement fund for no withdrawals or a long-term income; its U.K. Short-Term Investment Grade Bond Index Fund if you plan to buy an annuity; and its Money Market fund if you plan to take everything out. The key features add that you can keep your existing investment instead. For how drawdown works in general, see pension drawdown.
Moving in existing investments
Vanguard says that "all non Vanguard funds will be transferred as cash", so funds from another provider are sold on the way in, and it may be able to re-register Vanguard funds you already hold without selling them. The wider steps are in how to transfer a pension.
Vanguard SIPP investments: common questions
Can a Vanguard SIPP hold individual shares, property or gold?
Not at present. Vanguard's key features allow only Vanguard funds in the account, so there is no route to buying a company's shares, a building or bullion directly.
Does a Vanguard SIPP offer a money market fund?
Vanguard's flexible income page names its Money Market fund as the drawdown pathway for taking all your money out within five years. The costs document gives its Sterling Short-Term Money Market Fund fund ongoing costs of 0.12% (as at 30 June 2026).
Which Vanguard fund is best for a SIPP?
Vanguard's key features document says it does not give personal advice on which investment you choose. Choosing between a ready-made fund and a mix of your own turns on your age, other pots and nerve for risk. An FCA-authorised adviser goes through those on a call, and this page's short form requests it at no cost.
Can I change funds after I start?
Under the Target Retirement option, the key features document says you may change your investment options at any time. In the managed service, Vanguard's managed key features (June 2025) say it is not possible to manage any part of the investments yourself.
Before you choose a fund
Nothing in a fund list says which Vanguard route fits your retirement plans. An FCA-authorised adviser looks at that on a call, and a call-back from one costs nothing via this page's short form. Fund charges and the account fee are in Vanguard SIPP fees, the Vanguard SIPP review looks at the provider more widely, and the SIPP guide covers what a SIPP is.
Read on 26 October 2026 unless dated, from Vanguard: the self-managed key features (November 2025), the costs and charges documents for the self-managed (20 August 2026) and managed (15 June 2026) services, its client terms (August 2026), and its fund, managed pension and drawdown web pages.