We’re changing how we invest your pension savings

More recently, we have been monitoring how the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused market volatility. We believe that the reasons for changing the investment approach and the timing of the change are still appropriate.

What’s changing?

1. Your investments will start moving earlier as you approach your retirement age

We are extending the period that we switch your money into lower risk funds, from four to eight years. This means your pension savings will move more smoothly into lower risk funds that are less likely to fall in value.

The bar chart below shows how the funds will change as you approach your retirement age.

‍List of funds:

• Smart Cash Fund
• Smart Annuity Fund
• Smart Income Fund
• Smart Growth Fund – Moderate Risk

The bar chart above shows how the percentage of your pension savings change in the years leading up to your selected retirement age.

2. We’re making our investment approach more sustainable

As responsible asset owners, we consider environmental, social and governance factors when selecting our investments.

We are changing the investment strategy in line with our responsible investing principles.  This means that we’ve asked our investment managers to:

• Engage with companies that have been identified as critical to help limit climate change as part of the Paris Agreement.
• Help limit greenhouse gas emissions by not investing in companies that receive the majority of their revenue from coal mining.
• Not invest in companies that manufacture controversial weapons or violate the United Nations Global Compact principles on human rights, labour, environment and corruption.

How will this affect you?

These changes will affect you differently depending on how close you are to your retirement age.

We recommend that you take this time to review your retirement age to ensure your pension savings are invested in a way that best suits your retirement goals. If you would like help with retirement planning or need further guidance visit Pension Wise (this is now part of the MoneyHelper Service). This is a free government service that offers impartial guidance to people over the age of 50 on how to take their pension savings.

You can change your retirement age by signing in at www.smartpension.co.uk/sign-in and clicking Funds and Change your retirement age.

If you are concerned by the recent stock market volatility caused by fears about the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), you can read more in our latest article.

Contact us

You can get in touch by email at [email protected] or by calling us on 0333 666 2626.