A pension plan designed for modern retirement saving
Traditional workplace pension funds can often feel generic, difficult to understand and disconnected from the people saving into them.
The Penfold Plan was created to combine institutional investment expertise with a pension experience people actually engage with.
Built with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, the plan is designed to:
- support long-term growth
- automatically adjust risk over time
- provide diversified global exposure
- offer sustainable investing options
- keep customers informed and engaged
- The result is a pension plan designed to feel simpler to understand – without simplifying the investing behind it.
The thinking behind the Penfold Plan
Hear directly from BlackRock about how the Penfold Plan was designed, how the portfolios evolve over time and the principles behind long-term pension investing.
Designed to evolve over time
The Penfold Plan uses a lifecycle investment approach.
That means your pension’s investments gradually evolve as you move closer to retirement.
When retirement is further away, the plan focuses more on long-term growth potential. As retirement approaches, the plan gradually shifts toward lower-risk investments designed to help reduce exposure to sudden market changes.
Growth
Designed for customers with a longer retirement horizon who are comfortable taking more investment risk in pursuit of higher long-term growth potential.
Typically includes a higher allocation to global equities.
Balance
Designed to provide a balance between long-term growth potential and lower expected volatility.
Includes a more diversified mix of growth and defensive assets.
Protect
Focused more heavily on preserving savings and reducing investment volatility as retirement approaches.
Typically includes a greater allocation to bonds and defensive assets.
What your pension is invested in
The Penfold Plan invests across a diversified range of global assets.
Diversification helps reduce reliance on any single market, sector or asset type and is designed to support more resilient long-term investing.
Global equities
Shares in companies around the world designed to support long-term growth.
Bonds
Government and corporate bonds designed to help manage volatility and provide stability.
Alternative assets
Additional diversified assets that may help improve long-term portfolio resilience.
Liquid assets
Assets that help support portfolio flexibility and operational stability.
How the plan has performed
The Penfold Plan officially launched in February 2025, but the underlying investments used within the plan have significantly longer track records.
To help illustrate how the portfolios may have behaved in different market conditions, BlackRock created simulations using historical data from the underlying investments.
From March 2025 onwards, performance reflects real-world results.
It’s important to note that it cannot be definitively said exactly how this plan would have performed in the past. Simulations should not be taken as a guarantee of expected past or future performance, but are designed to be illustrative only. A full list of the assumptions made to generate the simulations is available and should be carefully considered.
And remember: Past performance, whether actual or simulated, isn’t a reliable guide to the future. All investments carry risk, and the value of your pension can go down as well as up. Returns can also be affected by changes in currency.
A long-term approach to sustainability
The Penfold Plan considers sustainability as part of a broader long-term investment approach.
Environmental, social and governance considerations can help investors better understand long-term risks and opportunities across businesses and markets.
- Stewardship and engagement
BlackRock engages with companies on topics such as governance, climate risk and long-term business resilience.
- Sustainable investment options
Customers can access investment approaches that place greater emphasis on sustainability considerations.
- Long-term thinking
Sustainability analysis forms part of understanding how businesses may perform and adapt over time.
Your pension, without the spreadsheets
The Penfold app helps customers stay connected to their pension without needing to become investment experts, making it easy to
- Track performance in real time
- See monthly updates with the latest figures
- Download factsheets and simple summaries
- Chat with our friendly support team whenever you need