Investment funds
Learn about the funds your money is invested in and how they’re performing.
Investment funds basics
How do funds work?
A fund is a group of investments with a particular strategy or goal.
Our funds invest globally in company shares as well as loans to governments and companies called bonds. While some funds just provide shares or bonds, others offer a combination of the two.
Our funds
If you’re confident making investment decisions, you can choose where your money is invested by selecting from our investment funds.
We offer 8 funds to choose from, each of which provides its own unique strategy for preserving or growing the value of your money. As well as our funds, you also have the choice to invest in our 3 investment profiles.
We group our investment funds according to risk so you can discover which ones have the best potential of generating high returns and which ones have the most likely potential of holding their value over time. Review our risk ratings here.
You can specify what percentage you want to put in each fund (except the Shariah Fund, which, if selected, must be 100% of your savings).
To review the past performance of our funds, click on the fund factsheet links below.
Global Investments (up to 100% shares) Fund
High risk
Aim
Long-term growth.
Invests
Predominately the shares of companies around the world, may hold additional diversifying asset classes.
Global Investments (up to 85% shares) Fund
High/medium risk
Aim
Long-term growth with some security.
Invests
Mainly in company shares around the world, offering the potential for long-term growth. This is balanced against some investments in typically less risky bonds.
Global Investments (up to 60% shares) Fund
Medium risk
Aim
Moderate growth over the long term, balanced with an investment in lower-risk assets that aim to provide some security.
Invests
A combination of shares and bonds, with a lower proportion in shares, which means the potential for growth is reduced, but so is the level of risk.
Pre-Retirement Fund
Medium/low risk
Aim
To reduce rapid swings in the value of your pension savings as you approach retirement while targeting moderate investment growth.
Invests
A combination of bonds, cash and shares, with a smaller proportion in shares. This lowers the fund’s growth potential but also ought to lower the fund’s risk.
Annuity Fund
Medium/low risk
Aim
To protect your money against the effects of falls in the level of annuity rates. The fund is specifically designed for those looking to use their pension savings to buy an annuity (ie, a regular income, usually for life).
Invests
100% in UK government and corporate bonds.
Ethical Fund
High risk
Aim
Long-term growth with some security.
Invests
Mainly in company shares around the world, offering the potential for long-term growth. This is balanced against some investments in typically less risky bonds.
More about our Ethical Fund
The People’s Pension Ethical Fund is weighted towards companies that demonstrate a strong track record of managing environmental, social, and governance (‘ESG’) risks and opportunities.
The fund does this in 2 ways:
1. It excludes any investments in companies involved in controversial weapons or in a recent very severe ESG controversy (eg, detrimental behaviour towards human rights, labour rights, or the environment).
2. It uses research by a market-leading firm in ESG research, MSCI, to rate each company it invests in based on a wide range of criteria, covering everything from how much a company pollutes to its record on human rights.
Companies will then be compared against other similar companies, for example, supermarkets against other supermarkets. We then decide to invest less in businesses with low ESG ratings and more in those with a higher ESG rating.
You can find out more about this fund here.
Shariah Fund
High risk
Aim
Long-term growth.
Invests
100% in the shares of global companies – it invests all of its assets in the HSBC Amanah Global Equity Index.
This is a higher-risk fund that invests in company shares from around the world and is compliant with Islamic Shariah principles.
If you select the Shariah Fund, you’ll need to invest all your pension savings with us in this fund.
More about our Shariah Fund
The Shariah Fund is intended for members who are comfortable investing in a higher risk fund, compared to our default investment option and want their pension pot invested in accordance with Islamic law. The fund excludes investments in companies providing goods and services such as alcohol, tobacco, and gambling that are deemed inconsistent with Shariah law.
The Shariah Fund is a higher-risk fund that invests in a smaller number of companies compared to our other funds. This concentration makes the fund and the value of your pension pot more likely to swing up and down more often, especially over the short term.
You can find out more about this fund here.
Cash Fund
Low risk
Aim
To maintain the value of your pension savings.
Invests
As a result of the lower-risk nature of the fund, the potential for investment growth is reduced. In short-term money market investments and fixed investments that are liquid – ie, things that can be converted to cash on short notice.
When you invest in our funds, you purchase what’s called a ‘unit’ in the fund. A unit’s price is calculated daily and can go up and down depending on market conditions. You can review the daily and past unit prices of all our funds on our employer investment page.
What you need to consider
It’s important to know that the value of investment funds will move up and down depending on how well they’re performing.
Investments of different kinds fluctuate (move up and down) in different ways. Some move sharply and can be unpredictable; others move less abruptly and remain relatively stable. This movement is called volatility, and some investments are more volatile than others.
Past performance of investments doesn’t guarantee or act as a guide to future performance.
Learn more
Investment options
Review and select where your money is invested.
Responsible investment
Learn how we invest your money responsibly.