How your savings are invested

If you’d rather not choose your own funds from the self-select range, your savings will automatically be invested in the default investment option for your Plan. This may be a single fund, or several funds combined as a strategy.

A default option has been selected by the Trustees of your Plan and is carefully monitored. It may also be changed if the Trustees decide that a different option would be more appropriate.

Keep in mind that default investment strategies are designed to meet the needs of a wide range of people with different ages, backgrounds and income needs. Therefore, it is not guaranteed that your Plan’s default option will be right for your individual goals.

The default option is often known as a ‘lifestyle strategy’ or ‘working life strategy.’ This means that during the early years of your working life, your savings are invested in higher risk investments, such as company shares, that have the potential for higher long-term growth, however this is not guaranteed.

As you get closer to your retirement age, the strategy aims to preserve its value by gradually moving your savings into more cautious investments, such as bonds and cash funds. Please note the low risk investments still carry risk. With this type of strategy, all the changes to your investments happen automatically.

So, even if your retirement is some way off it’s worth thinking about when you'd like to retire, as your choice may affect how your retirement savings are invested. For example, if you select a retirement date but continue to work past it for a few more years your investments could potentially be growing more slowly due to moving into asset classes with lower growth potential. Or if you retire earlier than the date you’ve selected, your retirement savings could be invested in higher risk assets, that could mean you have less time to recover from significant fluctuations in the value of your investments.

The value of your retirement savings can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

You can choose funds from the range available through your Plan. This is often called self-select. It allows you to tailor an investment strategy to your individual goals.

You can see which funds are available through your Plan when you log in to PlanViewer. Each fund has its own factsheet. If you are unsure about whether your choice of funds are suitable for your circumstances or you need advice on any of the options available to you, we recommend that you speak to an authorised financial adviser. You should regularly check the suitability of your investments so that they continue to match your attitude to risk and goals.