Standard pension plan
Take complete control of your pension. Tailor your investments by choosing one of four levels of risk to fit your preferences and outlook.
Diversified, balanced, low cost
Our Standard plan has four different risk level options, supported by BlackRock’s MyMap range. Each level offers:
- Broad diversification: Investments are spread across a wide range of investments and industries to reduce how susceptible your savings are to market volatility.
Balanced risk: Advanced technology adapts and manages the way your savings are invested in response to market and wider world changes. - One simple all-in fee: You'll only pay one annual fee of 0.75% for savings under £100,000 and 0.4% for any amount over £100,000. Find out more about our fees.
How we compare
Over the 32 months since the BlackRock MyMap range started to the end of December 2021, Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% delivered a return of 33.7%, our Standard plan Level 4 delivered 43.5%.
Vanguard, like BlackRock, is one of the world’s largest asset managers and highly experienced at building index tracking funds.
Vanguard’s LifeStrategy 80% Equity fund is invested with a similar allocation to the Standard Level 4 fund. It has around 80% of investments held in shares in publicly listed companies and is broadly diversified, i.e. invested across many markets on different continents.
Risk level choices
Tailor your pension to fit your stage of life and investment preferences
Level 4
Highest growth potential
Highest risk
More than 15 years from retiring
Only objective is long term growth
Not worried by short term drops
Level 3
Medium to high growth potential
Medium to high growth risk
More than 10 years from retiring
Mostly looking for long term growth
OK with larger dips to get larger gains
Level 2
Low to medium growth potential
Low to medium risk
Around 5 to 10 years from retiring
Aiming for a little more growth
OK with moderate dips in value
Level 1
Lowest growth potential
Lowest risk
Retiring in the next 5 years
Low and stable growth
Most protection from dips in value
It's easy to adjust your risk level in a couple of taps, online or with our app.
In collaboration with BlackRock
We're proud to collaborate with the world's largest investment manager, BlackRock, to protect and grow our customers' pension savings with our Standard plan.
Our shared philosophy on the principles of passive investing, diversification and managed risk at a low cost led us to work with BlackRock to offer their MyMap investment options.
Investments are spread across a wide range of BlackRock’s iShares passive tracker funds using advanced technology to balance growth and risk. These funds correspond to a mix of stocks, bonds and alternative assets across the world.
How volatility drives allocation
Volatility is a natural part of investing and to be expected over the long term. It’s a result of the risk in investment markets - the same risk that helps you grow your money.
For those a long way from retirement a certain level of volatility is not a problem, as there is a long time to recover from any drops. However, it can be damaging for those close to retirement who will be looking forward to a stable income.
This is why Standard plan Level 4 may be better for those in the earlier stages of saving, and Level 2 or Level 1 may be considered the most suitable for those customers about to retire, as it is designed to deliver steady returns with the lowest volatility.
Each of our Standard plans aim to achieve a certain level of returns over a five-year period while controlling volatility, the amount the investments go up and down in value, within a defined range.
- Standard plan, Level 4: Volatility Range 10-15%
- Standard plan, Level 3: Volatility Range 8-11%
- Standard plan, Level 2: Volatility Range 6-9%
- Standard plan, Level 1: Volatility Range 3-6%
BlackRock aims to achieve a target volatility by changing how much it invests in different markets and adjusting how much is held in the various index tracking funds that make up each MyMap fund.
Unleash your pension power
A portion of your 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 you see which companies you're invested in - to us, that doesn’t seem right.
Our view is that you should know where your money is invested. That's why our Explore Your Pension feature gives you complete visibility into your investments - including a breakdown of each individual company you have a stake in.
Explore Your Pension also provides a platform for voting on issues raised at company AGMs. You can also see your vote history, how the majority of Penfold savers voted, and the vote result. Even better, it's completely anonymous.
FAQs
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