Pension investment fund factsheets
Learn more about pension funds and download our fund factsheets for better informed investment decisions.
What are pension funds and how do they work?
A pension fund is a very broad selection of investments managed by a team of professional investors designed to grow and protect savings over the long term. Each fund has a level of risk. More risky funds are expected – but not guaranteed – to grow faster but their value may rise and fall sharply. Less risky funds are expected – but not guaranteed – to grow more slowly, but their value move up and down less sharply.
Our funds invest in a diverse range of places globally to help spread the risk of having all your ‘eggs in one basket’. This includes investment in company shares, loans to governments and businesses – called bonds – and infrastructure and property.
Investment options at glance
If no investment choice is made when joining the scheme, savings are invested in the ‘balanced’ investment profile, designed to meet the needs of the majority of members.
The ‘balanced’ profile gradually and automatically switches investment from higher to lower-risk funds as retirement approaches – ideal if you don’t want to make your own investment decisions. Alternatively, we also offer two other investment profiles – ‘Adventurous’ and ‘Cautious’ – or eight pension funds.
Our profiles automatically shift investments to reduce risk as retirement approaches, but if members decide to choose their own funds, it’s up to them to decide when and how to make changes. Members can choose the percentage they want to invest in each fund – except for the Shariah Fund, which requires 100% of savings invested, if selected.
Fund aims and investments
Learn more about the aims of our pension funds, where they invest, and their past performance by clicking the factsheet links below. Remember, all our funds come with some level of risk, and their value can go up or down. Past performance isn’t a guarantee of future results.
Global Investments (up to 85% shares) Fund
Goal: Long-term growth with some security to protect savings. Invests: Mostly invests in company shares from around the world to target long-term growth, while also holding some lower-risk bonds for balance.
Pre-Retirement Fund
Goal: Moderate investment growth while reducing the risk of sharp swings in the value of savings as retirement approaches. Invests: Mainly invests in a combination of bonds and shares, with a smaller proportion in shares.
Global Investments (up to 100% shares) Fund
Goal: The long-term growth of savings. Invests: Primarily in the shares of companies worldwide, with the potential to include other assets that help spread investment risk or boost growth.
Global Investments (up to 60% shares) Fund
Goal: Moderate, long-term growth balanced with some security to protect savings. Invests: In a mix of shares and bonds, with more going into bonds. This means there’s less risk, but also slightly less potential for growth.
Annuity Fund
Goal: To help protect savings if annuity rates go down. It’s designed for people who plan to use their pension to buy an annuity — a regular income for life. Invests: In UK Government and corporate bonds.
Shariah Fund
Goal: The long-term growth of savings. Invests: In global company shares – through the HSBC Amanah Global Equity Index. It follows Islamic Shariah principles and, because it’s exclusively invested in shares, its risk is higher, but so is its growth potential. Please note: If you select the Shariah Fund, you’ll need to invest all your pension savings with us in this fund.
Fund in detail
An overview of the Shariah Fund and its investment approach.
Ethical Fund
Goal: Long-term growth while prohibiting investments in fossil fuel producers and other controversial industries. In global company shares, excluding businesses that produce fossil fuels or gain a substantial portion of their income from tobacco, alcohol, gambling, pornography, weapons, recreational cannabis, for-profit prisons, and non-sustainable palm oil.
Fund in detail
An overview of the Ethical Fund and its investment approach.
Cash Fund
Goal To maintain the value of savings over time by keeping up with inflation. Invests In short-term and easily accessible assets – things that can quickly be turned into cash. It is a low-risk fund intended to help protect the value of savings, but that also means there’s less potential for growth.
Quarterly investment report
Discover how our pension funds have performed and gain insights into global financial markets and economic trends in our latest quarterly investment report.
Please note: Remember, all our funds come with some level of risk, and their value can go up or down. Past performance isn’t a guarantee of future results.
Investing in our funds
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 financial market performance. You can review the daily and past unit prices of all our funds on our 'fund unit prices' page.
Investing your pension savings – here’s what matters
Pension investment funds, like any investment, are not risk free. They can go up and down depending on how well the things they invest in are performing.
We invest members’ money in many different companies, governments, countries and business sectors, and the global nature of those investments means they can move up and down in opposite directions. Some move sharply and can be unpredictable; others move less abruptly and remain relatively stable. In financial circles, this movement is called ‘volatility’, and some investments are more volatile than others.
Please note: Past performance of investments doesn’t guarantee or act as a guide to future performance.
