How Your Savings Are Invested

We want you to feel confident about your decision to save with Penfold, so here’s a clear and friendly overview of how your savings are invested. If you stumble upon any confusing terms, our glossary of pension terms is here to help!

Who invests my money?

At Penfold, we’ve teamed up with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to grow and protect your savings with our Standard and Sustainable Plans. They invest your money in a wide range of low-cost investments globally, working hard to give you the best returns.

For our Sharia Plan, we collaborate with HSBC, another of the world’s largest asset managers, ensuring your investments align with Islamic principles on finance.

How does BlackRock manage my money?

BlackRock invests your money through their MyMap strategy, which is specifically designed for long term retirement savings. It is low cost, broadly diversified, and built to react to the market, so that the ups and downs should be within the level of risk you are comfortable with.

No investment is risk free – taking risk is good as it should help your savings grow over the long term more than just sitting in a bank account. BlackRock add an extra layer of ‘risk management’ for your money though, which should help protect it in times when global investment markets are less stable. This should give you the peace of mind to leave your investments in place for many years and not have to check them from day to day.

Learn more on the BlackRock MyMap website.

How do BlackRock MyMap funds work?

BlackRock MyMap funds spread your money across a wide range of BlackRock’s iShares passive tracker funds. These funds correspond to a mix of stocks, bonds and other alternative assets like real estate across the world.

The different risk levels you can choose broadly correspond to different splits between stocks, bonds and other assets, where a higher proportion of stocks generally means higher risk level and higher expected return.

The split between stocks, bonds and other assets is dynamic, which means it can shift depending on what is happening in global investment markets. This is what gives your money that extra layer of protection.

Pensions are a long term investment, so it is generally a good idea to use low cost investment options that give you the best chance of growing your money over the long term.

BlackRock do this by giving you exposure to potentially high growth global stock markets, but protecting your money through diversification and intelligent risk management.

What about the Sustainable Plan?

When your money is invested in global stocks and bonds, it funds lots of different companies in various countries and industries.

We believe there should be a way to grow your money safely over the long term while also funding companies that make a positive change in the world, like helping the environment or increasing social equality.

Similar to our Standard MyMap fund range, the Sustainable MyMap fund invests across thousands of companies and other assets. However, it aims to invest only in companies that meet high sustainability standards and scores.

When selecting companies, it considers a broad spectrum of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) themes, such as climate change, natural resources, pollution and waste, environmental opportunities, human capital, product liability, stakeholder opposition, social opportunities, corporate governance and corporate behaviour.

Read more about the Sustainable Plan.

What is the Sharia Plan?

Our Sharia compliant fund is managed by HSBC and matches our four fundamental principles of investing: passive investing, broad diversification, low cost, and managed risk.

It invests only in companies compliant with Sharia law. As a 100% equity investment, it carries the highest level of risk and potential returns compared to our other funds, but it’s a great option for those looking for a socially responsible way to invest under Sharia law without compromising growth.

Read more about the Sharia Plan.

With pensions, as with all investments, your capital is at risk and the value of your pension with Penfold may go up as well as down. You may get back less than you put in.