Your pension pot
When you put money into your pension, we invest it in company shares (among other places) with the aim of helping your savings grow.
There’s a lot to think about when it comes to investing your money into a pension. And it can all seem a bit daunting if you’re new to investing or haven’t had a pension plan before.
What happens to the money I pay in?
When you first joined the ABC Pension Plan, the contributions you and MyBenefits made were invested in a Legal & General Target Date Fund.
This is called the default investment option and was chosen by the trustees and your employer. Unless you decide to put your savings in a different fund or funds, this is where your contributions will continue to go.
The Legal & General Target Date Funds allow you to match your investment strategy to a range of 'target dates'. This will normally include the date at which you currently plan to retire. Each Target Date Fund adjusts the way your savings are invested as you move closer to and then into retirement, giving you the flexibility to decide when and how you want to use your pension pot.
The idea is that you save in a single fund along with other people who have a similar target retirement date in mind. Each Target Date Fund invests in a wide range of assets such as company shares, government and corporate bonds, property, infrastructure and other investments. This means that you aren’t reliant on the performance of any one type of asset.
To find out more about this fund, please see your Guide to the Target Date Funds or watch the Target Date Funds video.
The Target Date Funds are a good starting point, but they may not suit your personal needs. Even if you’re choosing your own investments, think about whether your pension savings are invested in the best way for you.
To help you with this, there’s lots of information on this website, where we also provide links to other guides and resources. Below, we explain the importance of understanding investment risk, how to make your own investment choices and responsible investing.
We’re proud that our Target Date Funds incorporate responsible investing elements. This means we consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in our investment process and seek to drive positive change in the companies and assets invested in.
You don’t have to stay invested in a Target Date Fund and you can choose from other investment options. For more detail on these funds please see Your guide to investing.