Investment Funds

The Security Plan Trustee has prepared a booklet about the available investment options for Money Purchase and Final Salary AVC investments. this can be downloaded using the following link:

Investment Options Booklet
The links below provide some more information about the three types of investment choice.

Pension Investment Linked Funds
Standard Life offers a range of investment funds, including some that are linked to the funds of external fund managers. The return on this type of investment is directly linked to the performance of the assets in which the fund is invested and therefore the value of the fund can go down as well as up.

The Pension Fund Investment Strategy (PFIS)
This fund invests in Investment-Linked Funds and enables investors to select an investment strategy from the outset that will automatically move funds into lower risk investments as retirement approaches.

The Pension Millennium With Profits Fund
The fund is invested in a wide spread of investments and bonuses are paid which partly reflect investment conditions and profits earned. A final (terminal) bonus may be paid when the investment is sold, although this may be altered or withdrawn at any time.  

Selecting Funds

You may if you wish invest in more than one investment fund. However, if you choose the Pension Fund Investment Strategy (PFIS) you may only select one profile i.e. Cautious, Balanced, or Opportunity. If you wish to split your investment between the PFIS and another fund, the only other fund available is the Pension Millennium With Profits Fund.

Changing Funds

It is important that you distinguish between moving your investments in respect of past contributions from one fund to another (commonly called a fund switch) and changing the allocation of your future contributions. Therefore, if you are a contributing member investing in a single fund and want to change all your investments to a different single fund, you have to give two instructions (one for past and one for future allocations).

You may change the funds in which your existing contributions are invested, once a year without incurring a charge. Any subsequent changes will be subject to a charge based on the value of the investment switched between funds.

There will not be a charge if you wish to change your funds for future contributions and this can be done at any time. If you would like to change your investment instructions, you may download the appropriate form by clicking on Change of Investment Instruction. Alternatively, you may obtain a form from your Personnel Department.

Investment Charges
Standard Life operates a competitive charging structure for managing your investments.

Investment Linked Funds (including PFIS)
There is a fund management charge, which is set as an annual percentage of the value of your funds. The current fund management charge is 1%, although allocating additional units to your fund on a monthly basis reduces the effect of this charge. The combined effect of this gives an effective fund management of 0.6% a year.

With Profits Funds
Costs are taken into account when deciding on the bonuses that apply to the funds.

Financial Advice

Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Trustee and its advisers cannot advise you what to do about your pension scheme investments. Therefore, if you are unsure about what action to take, we recommend that you seek independent financial advice from an authorised adviser.