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Hand-picked, diversified pension plans that help grow wealth
Our pension plans invest in a series of innovative funds provided, and managed, by BlackRock and HSBC. These funds invest across different markets around the world, offering a range of risk and return profiles to match each saver's goals.
As with all investments, your capital is at risk.
The Standard Lifetime plan
The Standard Lifetime plan is our default fund. It automatically adjusts its asset allocation across three stages as savers reach retirement age.
This plan has been designed to meet the needs of the majority of our savers who do not receive financial advice and who do not want to make their own investment or fund risk decisions. Its aim is to take savers through to retirement, delivering a low-cost and good value outcome.
However we know one size doesn’t fit all and this plan hasn’t been designed to meet the needs of all of our savers. If you think that the fund’s aims are not suitable for you we encourage you to explore our other investment options or seek investment advice.
Stage 1
During this stage the plan invests mostly in riskier assets like shares. These are typically more volatile which gives them the greatest growth potential over the long run, but in the short term can lead to losses. At this point, investors are a long way from retirement which gives plenty of time to recover from short term drops.
Stage 2
Once a saver reaches the age of 60, the plan starts to shift their funds from shares to more stable investments like bonds.
Stage 3
When a saver starts drawing on their pension, the plan aims to protect the value of the pot by holding less volatile investments which should still deliver some growth.
If the Standard Lifetime plan doesn't meet your needs we have four other plans to choose from.
Standard
Managed by BlackRock. Suitable for those who want greater control over their investments. Choose from four risk levels designed to fit different stages of life and investment preferences.
Sustainable
Managed by BlackRock. The Sustainable plan aims to make a positive impact on the world without sacrificing growth by investing in companies with high ESG (environmental, social & governance) ratings.
Sharia
Managed by HSBC. Approved by an independent Sharia committee, this plan invests 100% in shares that are fully compliant with Sharia law.
Sustainable lifetime
Managed by BlackRock. For savers who would prefer their pension is invested with an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) strategy, we also offer a Sustainable Lifetime plan.
Our investment principles
At Penfold, we think about four principles of investment when it comes to growing our members’ assets.
- Passive investments. Our plans use funds that provide exposure across whole markets as opposed to actively managed funds which involve humans picking individual investments. These passive style strategies have been proven to generally outperform active strategies over the long term.
- Low cost. We believe in low cost investments because fees eat into a saver's pot as they accumulate over many years. Our portfolios invest across a wide range of low cost investments called Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to keep the cost as low as possible for our customers.
- Diversification. Diversification sounds complex, but it simply means not having all your eggs in one basket. Our plans hold a wide range of investment types across different regions and asset classes to reduce the risk that multiple markets could fall at the same time. This helps to smooth out volatility from returns. Our plans invest across equities, bonds, commodities, and other alternative assets
- Active risk management. To manage risk, our core fund managers use technology to respond to what’s happening in the markets and the world as a whole. They do this by actively changing the investment allocation across different asset classes depending on the level of volatility in the market, providing an added layer of protection for you compared to more rigid investment portfolios.
Backed by the biggest
Your pension plans are managed by two of the best known fund managers on the planet.
BlackRock
Our Lifetime, Standard and Sustainable plans use a series of innovative new funds managed by BlackRock. These funds invest your money across different markets around the world, offering a range of risk and return profiles to match your goals. Dynamic allocation helps these funds outperform other investment strategies that typically stick to a more rigid investment formula (like a “60/40” stocks to bonds fund).
HSBC
Our Sharia plan invests in the HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index Fund and is suitable for anyone looking for a socially-responsible, Sharia compliant way of saving for the future. The fund has an elected Sharia board monitoring the fund and investments to ensure it remains Sharia compliant. All major decisions must pass the board and they issue an annual certificate evaluating compliance with Sharia principles.
Please see our FAQ below for more information about how the fund managers manage your funds.
Have your say
A portion of each pension fund is made up of stocks, which may include a small stake in companies like Apple, Microsoft or Google. Most pension providers don't let savers see which companies they're invested in - to us, that doesn’t seem right.
Our view is that everyone should know where your money is invested. That's why our Explore Your Pension feature gives savers complete visibility into their investments - including a breakdown of each individual company they have a stake in.
Explore Your Pension also provides a platform for voting on issues raised at company AGMs. There's also visibility of vote history, how the majority of Penfold savers voted, and vote results. Even better, it's completely anonymous.
More benefits of our pension
Charges & fees
We hate hidden charges. That’s why we have one fee that covers absolutely everything within our service.
Salary sacrifice
Cut business and employees National Insurance bills with free salary sacrifice consultation and implementation.
Single savings view
Combine pensions into one account to see total pension savings and get a clear view of projected retirement lifestyle.
Protection
Have peace of mind that pension savings managed by Penfold will be looked after, no matter what the future holds.
Frequently asked questions about our funds
BlackRock and HSBC’s website has more information about the funds invested in each of our plans:
- Standard lifetime plan, Stage 1 - BlackRock MyMap 6
- Standard lifetime plan, Stage 2 - BlackRock MyMap 5
- Standard lifetime plan, Stage 3 - BlackRock MyMap 4
- Sustainable lifetime plan, Stage 1 - BlackRock MyMap 7 Select ESG Fund
- Sustainable lifetime plan, Stage 2 - BlackRock MyMap 5 Select ESG Fund
- Sustainable lifetime plan, Stage 3 - BlackRock MyMap 3 Select ESG Fund
- Standard plan, Level 1: BlackRock MyMap 3
- Standard plan, Level 2: BlackRock MyMap 4
- Standard plan, Level 3: BlackRock MyMap 5
- Standard plan, Level 4: BlackRock MyMap 6
- Sustainable plan, Level 1: BlackRock MyMap 3 Select ESG Fund
- Sustainable plan, Level 3: BlackRock MyMap 5 Select ESG Fund
- Sustainable plan, Level 5: BlackRock MyMap 7 Select ESG Fund
- Sharia plan: HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index Fund
We’ve made it easy, and free, to change your pension plan or adjust the risk level in just a few taps from the Penfold dashboard.
We hate hidden fees and you probably do too. We'll only charge you one fair, transparent annual fee for administering your pension that covers absolutely everything, including the BlackRock/HSBC fund management fee, within Penfold’s pension service.
With the Lifetime, Sustainable Lifetime, Standard and Sustainable plans you'll pay an annual fee of 0.75%. We'll automatically deduct a portion of your annual fee from your pension in 12 monthly instalments. If your pension pot size is larger than £100,000 the fee is reduced to 0.4% on the portion of your savings over this amount.
With the Sharia plan you'll pay an annual fee of 0.88%. We'll automatically deduct a portion of your annual fee from your pension in 12 monthly instalments. If your pension pot size is larger than £100,000 the fee is reduced to 0.53% on the portion of your savings over this amount.
Find out more about our pension plan fees.
As an under-18 year old who has been enrolled into our workplace pension you'll have the same full-featured access to Penfold as anyone else with one difference. If you're under-18 you are unable to make changes to the default plan you have been invested in and your pension must remain invested in this plan until you reach the age of 18.
Flexibility is important to us here at Penfold, including the ability to select a plan from our carefully selected range. You will still be able to view all of our plan options and as soon as you reach the age of 18 you will have the option to switch your plan to any that we offer.
At Penfold we don’t hold or manage your money ourselves. Anything you pay or transfer into your Penfold pension is initially deposited into a secure account held by a custodian bank. Your money is usually held here for one business day before being used to buy into your investment plan, managed by BlackRock or HSBC, two of the world’s largest money managers.
As with any investment, this involves risk. The value of your pension can go up as well as down, and you could get back less than you put in. However, greater risk can lead to greater returns. If you have a long time before retirement, investing over the long-term can help ease any short-term losses.
All of your pension savings are kept separate from Penfold and belong entirely to you - your money can’t be touched by us or any of our partners. In the unlikely event that something negative happened to Penfold your pension would be transferred to another provider, ready for your retirement.
Find out more about how we keep your pension safe
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