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Retirement

Available funds

Fund Choices

We provide a wide range of investment funds to choose from which include active, passive and externally managed funds. The annual management charge is the same regardless of the funds chosen. Clients can invest in up to 10 funds at any one time. We may change the selection of funds that we make available. There may be restrictions on the amount that can be invested in certain funds. Please contact us for details of any restrictions that may apply.

For Group Stakeholder we also offer three Pension Investment Approaches. For further information on our Group Stakeholder Pension, please see our Corporate Pensions Website.


Default Fund

Your clients do not have to make an investment decision if they do not want to - there is a default investment option that will be used in these circumstances.

The Scottish Widows default fund for individual Stakeholder is the Consensus Fund. We may change the selection of funds that we make available. For further information on our Group Stakeholder Pension default fund, the Balanced Pension Approach, please see the Corporate Pensions website.

The Consensus Fund aims to achieve long-term growth by investing in a balanced portfolio of UK and overseas company shares, fixed-interest stocks, index-linked stocks, and cash deposits. Investment in these assets is made through a range of index tracking funds, or where appropriate through direct investment, again on an index tracking basis. The percentage of the fund invested in each asset class will be based on the average amount invested in each class in accordance with a benchmark of UK balanced funds.

The value of an investment is not guaranteed and can go up and down depending on investment performance (and currency exchange rates where a fund invests overseas). We may change the selection of funds that we make available. Full terms and conditions are available on request. Charges, limits and terms may change but only to the extent, if any, allowed for Stakeholder Pension Plans.

Lifestyle Switching

Your clients can choose to invest in one of our three preset Lifestyle Switching options: Cautious Lifestyle, Balanced Lifestyle and Opportunity Lifestyle. This must be chosen at the outset.

Cautious Lifestyle

There are three stages.

  1. Initially 100% of each payment will be invested into the Consensus Fund.
  2. From the date 10 years before the intended retirement date until the date 5 years before the intended retirement date we will
    • invest 50% of each new payment into the Consensus Fund and 50% into the Pension Protector Fund, and
    • switch a proportion each month out of the Consensus Fund so that by the end of that 5 year period the plan is approximately invested 50% in the Consensus Fund and 50% in the Pension Protector Fund.
  3. From the date 5 years before the intended retirement date until the intended retirement date we will
    • invest 75% of each new payment into the Pension Protector Fund and 25% into the Cash Fund, and
    • switch a proportion each month out of the Consensus Fund so that by the intended retirement date the plan is approximately invested 75% in the Pension Protector Fund and 25% in the Cash Fund.

Balanced Lifestyle

There are two stages.

  1. Initially 100% of each payment will be invested into the Mixed Fund.
  2. From the date 5 years before the intended retirement date until the intended retirement date we will
    • invest 75% of each new payment into the Pension Protector Fund and 25% into the Cash Fund, and
    • switch a proportion each month out of the Mixed Fund so that by the intended retirement date the plan is approximately invested 75% in the Pension Protector Fund and 25% in the Cash Fund.

Opportunity Lifestyle

There are two stages.

  1. Initially 70% of each payment will be invested into the UK Equity Fund and 30% into the Global Equity Fund.
  2. From the date 3 years before the intended retirement date until the intended retirement date we will
    • invest 75% of each new payment into the Pension Protector Fund and 25% into the Cash Fund, and
    • switch a proportion each month out of the UK Equity and Global Equity Funds so that by the intended retirement date the plan is approximately invested 75% in the Pension Protector Fund and 25% in the Cash Fund.

Automatic Switching

So long as your client does not choose one of our three Lifestyle Switching Options, their investments will be automatically switched approximately 75% into the Pension Protector Fund and 25% into the Cash Fund over the five years before their intended retirement date.

This is a standard option, which clients can opt out of if they wish.

Due to fluctuations in stockmarkets, there's no guarantee that the percentage splits between the funds shown in each of the Lifestyle Switching options and the Automatic Switching option will be achieved.

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