Investing your pension
When saving for the long term, like you do with your pension, we invest your money as this gives it a better chance of being worth more in the long run
Pension investment choices
1. Leave your money as it is
Unless you tell us otherwise, we’ll automatically invest your money in our ‘balanced’ investment profile.
2. Choose how your money is invested
You can choose other investment options through your Online Account if you want to.
There’s 3 investment profiles to pick from (‘balanced’, ‘cautious’ or ‘adventurous’). Or, for those who are more confident with investment decisions, you can self-select from our range of investment funds.
Understanding investment and your pension
Rather than have your money sitting in a bank account, The People’s Pension invests it on your behalf. This means your money is used to buy shares in companies all over the world as well as bonds and gilts, so that your savings can grow and look after you once you retire.
You don’t need to do anything, we’ll automatically invest your money in our ‘balanced’ investment profile. But it’s important to activate your Online Account so you can keep your personal details up to date, select a beneficiary, and let us know at what age you plan to retire. And you can select from other investment options, such as our ‘adventurous’ or ‘cautious’ profiles, if you choose to.
Watch our video to hear Jon Cunliffe and Gareth Dee from our Investments team explain how your money is invested with The People’s Pension.
Where we invest your money
The People’s Pension has a range of investment funds, which are typically a mixture of shares from around the world and bonds and gilts.
We invest our members’ money across the different funds – depending on what options you choose and how close you are to retirement.
Investment options with The People’s Pension
If you decide to change from the default, it’s worth reviewing your options on a regular basis to check they meet your requirements. To make your investment choice, or to change how your pension savings are invested, log in to your Online Account.
Option 1 – stick with the default
We automatically invest our members’ money in our ‘balanced’ investment profile (we also call this our default investment profile), unless they tell us otherwise.
So our members don’t have to do anything, they can leave it to us if that’s what they prefer.
Option 2 – choose an investment profile
Investment profiles bring together groups of investments with different levels of risk. There are 3 to choose from with The People’s Pension:
- balanced
- cautious
- adventurous
Option 3 – self-select from our investment funds
Or members can decide for themselves where their pension savings are invested by choosing from our investment funds.
Each fund has a different level of risk and members can decide how much of their money they want to put in each fund.
Our investment profiles
Members of The People’s Pension have a choice of how we invest their pension savings.
We’ve got 3 simple profiles to pick from:
- balanced
- cautious
- adventurous.
And members can change their investment profile through their Online Account.
About our investment profiles…
Our ‘balanced’ (default) investment profile
For members who are prepared to accept some risk but would also like some of their investments to be secure.
If members don’t choose an investment profile (or they’d rather leave it to us), we’ll automatically invest their money in our ‘balanced’ investment profile.
The ‘balanced’ investment profile:
- is our default investment profile
- has potential for long-term growth with some security
- moves to lower-risk investments as members approach retirement.
The fund that makes our ‘balanced’ investment profile is our Global Investments (up to 85% shares) Fund which means members’ money is invested in:
- UK ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (5.04%)
- North America ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (5.04%)
- Europe ex UK ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (5.04%)
- Japan ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (2.52%)
- Asia Pacific ex Japan Equity Index Sub-Fund (2.52%)
- Emerging Markets ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (5.00%)
- World Adaptive Capping ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (24.00%)
- Multi Factor Low Carbon ESG Sub-Fund (16.80%)
- Global Real Estate Index Sub‐Fund (7.00%)
- Multi-Asset Global Infrastructure Sub-Fund (7.00%)
- Sterling Liquidity Sub-Fund (0.04%)
- UK Conventional Gilts All Stocks Index Sub-Fund (3.00%)
- Sterling Corporate Bond All Stocks ESG Screened Index Sub-Fund (3.00%)
- US Treasury (100% Hedged) Bond Index Sub-Fund (4.00%)
- Global Aggregate Bond Index(Hedged to GBP) Sub-Fund (10.00%)
Please note that these are target weights as of 31 March 2023. The actual amounts invested in each sub-fund may differ due to market movements or at the discretion of the Trustee.
See our Global Investments (up to 85% shares) Fund factsheet
Our ‘cautious’ investment profile
For members who are prepared to accept some degree of risk but look for investments which won’t go up and down a lot.
The ‘cautious’ investment profile:
- has potential for moderate growth over the long term
- moves to lower-risk investments as members approach retirement.
The fund that makes our ‘cautious’ investment profile is our Global Investments (up to 60% shares) Fund which means members’ money is invested in:
- UK ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (3.78%)
- North America ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (3.78%)
- Europe ex UK ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (3.78%)
- Japan ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (1.89%)
- Asia Pacific ex Japan ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (1.89%)
- Emerging Markets ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (3.75%)
- World Adaptive Capping ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (18.00%)
- Multi Factor Low Carbon ESG Sub-Fund (12.6%)
- Global Real Estate Index Sub‐Fund (5.25%)
- Multi-Asset Global Infrastructure Sub-Fund (5.25%)
- Sterling Liquidity Sub-Fund (0.03%)
- UK Conventional Gilts All Stocks Index Sub-Fund (6.00%)
- Sterling Corporate Bond All Stocks ESG Screened Index Sub-Fund (6.00%)
- US Treasury (100% Hedged) Bond Index Sub-Fund (8.00%)
- Global Aggregate Bond Index (Hedged to GBP) Sub-Fund (20.00%)
Please note that these are target weights as of 31 March 2023. The actual amounts invested in each sub-fund may differ due to market movements or at the discretion of the Trustee.
See our Global Investments (up to 60% shares) Fund factsheet
Our ‘adventurous’ investment profile
For members who are prepared to accept more risk for the potential of increased growth and look for investments with more risk and volatility.
The ‘adventurous’ investment profile:
- aims to maximise growth in the long term
- moves to lower-risk investments as members approach retirement.
The fund that makes our ‘adventurous’ investment profile is our Global Investments (up to 100% shares) Fund which means members’ money is invested in:
- UK ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (6.30%)
- North America ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (6.30%)
- Europe ex UK ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (6.30%)
- Japan ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (3.15%)
- Asia Pacific ex Japan ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (3.15%)
- Emerging Markets ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (6.25%)
- World Adaptive Capping ESG Screened Index Equity Sub-Fund (30.00%)
- Multi Factor Low Carbon ESG Sub-Fund (21.00%)
- Global Real Estate Index Sub‐Fund (8.75%)
- Multi-Asset Global Infrastructure Sub-Fund (8.75%)
- Sterling Liquidity Sub-Fund (0.05%)
Please note that these are target weights as of 31 March 2023. The actual amounts invested in each sub-fund may differ due to market movements or at the discretion of the Trustee.
See our Global Investments (up to 100% shares) Fund factsheet
How to change your investment profile
Are you ready to choose the investment profile you feel suits you best?
Members, you can change your investment profile through your Online Account.
Trying to decide which investment option suits you best?
If you’re a member of The People’s Pension and you’re trying to decide which investment option will suit you best, it’s important to know that Investment risk and investment return tend to be linked.
Usually the higher the potential investment return, the greater the investment risks.
The greater the risk, the more likely the investment is to go up and down in value over a short space of time – this is called volatility.
Remember also, the past performance of investments doesn’t guarantee or act as a guide to future performance. If you don’t make a choice, we’ll automatically invest your money in our ‘balanced’ investment profile (we also call this our default investment profile).
If you don’t make a choice, we’ll automatically invest your money in our ‘balanced’ investment profile (we also call this our default investment profile).
Investment changes approaching retirement
Each of our investment profiles gradually and automatically moves pension savings into lower-risk investments as members get closer to retirement.
We call this a 15-year glidepath, because it normally begins 15 years before a member’s selected retirement age.
How the glidepath works
Our 15-year glidepath is designed to safeguard members’ pension savings as they approach retirement.
Each of our investment profiles gradually and automatically moves members’ money into lower-risk investments as they get closer to retirement. This means their savings are less likely to suffer a large fall in value just when they want to use them.
The glidepath should result in a more predictable return, but could also mean that the fund grows less.
The glidepath normally begins 15 years before a member’s selected retirement age (SRA). So, if someone plans to retire at 65, we’ll start switching their investments when they’re 50.
How we move pension savings on the glidepath
As a member approaches retirement, we move their pension savings from one fund to the other on the following basis:
| Years from SRA | Global Investments Fund | Pre-Retirement Fund | Years from SRA | Global Investments Fund | Pre-Retirement Fund |
| -15 | 93.75% | 6.25% | -7 | 43.75% | 56.25% |
| -14 | 87.50% | 12.50% | -6 | 37.50% | 62.50% |
| -13 | 81.25% | 18.75% | -5 | 31.25% | 68.75% |
| -12 | 75% | 25% | -4 | 25% | 75% |
| -11 | 68.75% | 31.25% | -3 | 16.67% | 83.33% |
| -10 | 62.50% | 37.50% | -2 | 8.34% | 91.66% |
| -9 | 56.25% | 43.75% | -1 | 0.00% | 100% |
| -8 | 50% | 50% | 0 | 0.00% | 100% |
Your retirement age
We will use our default (the member’s State Pension age) or an age selected by the member.
In line with the government changes to the minimum pension age, the earliest date you can take your benefits is:
- from age 55 if you joined the scheme on or prior to 3 November 2021,
- or from age 57 if you joined the scheme from 4 November 2021.
You can find out your State Pension age on gov.uk
How to change your selected retirement age
You can review and change your selected retirement age (SRA) through your Online Account…
But it’s important you know that changing your SRA could affect where your pension savings are invested, by moving them back or forward on the glidepath and into higher or lower-risk investments
If you’re a member of The People’s Pension and you’re trying to decide which investment option will suit you best, it’s important to know that the glidepath only applies to our 3 investment profiles.
If you choose your investment funds yourself, your money won’t automatically move into lower-risk investments as you approach retirement. That means you’ll need to make sure you regularly review the funds you’ve selected (and your attitude to investment risk) as you near retirement.
Our investment funds
Read about our investment funds and compare their past performances.
Responsible investment
We aim to be responsible investors of our members’ assets.
Investment downloads
Download our fund factsheets, Statement of Investment Principles and more.