Your default investment option
When you join your employer’s pension scheme your contributions are invested in a default investment option, so you don’t have to think about investments straight away.
Your employer has chosen our target date funds as the default investment option for your pension scheme.
The advantage of Target Date Funds is that you don’t have to manage your investments, the investment manager makes investment decisions on your behalf. Our Guide to the Target Date Funds (PDF 1207KB) explains how they work and the advantages and disadvantages of investing in one of these.
There are several Target Date Funds available, with each one targeting a different five-year period in the future called the fund’s target date range.
Your contributions will be invested in the Target Date Fund with the target date range that matches your current scheme retirement date.
However, you don’t have to remain invested in this fund, if you don't want to.
You can choose to invest in a different Target Date Fund at any time and you can change funds as often as you want. You can also invest in more than one target date fund - or any of the other funds available to you - at the same time.
Please note that the five-year target date range for each fund begins and ends at the start of July. This means, for example, that if you are thinking of retiring in 2050 you will need to consider whether the 2045-2050 Target Date Fund or the 2050-2055 Target Date Fund is more likely to fit your plans.
If you choose a different Target Date Fund, you may want to consider changing your selected retirement date. To change your selected retirement date please call us on 0345 070 8686. Call charges will vary. We may record and monitor calls. Please remember that if you decide to access your pension pot sooner than originally planned, you will have less time to grow your pension savings and this could have a significant effect on the amount of pension income you receive.
We’ve created a short video that explains how the Target Date Funds work: