Your pension in your pocket
Our app makes it easy to keep an eye on your pension and plan for the future.
Investment choices
You have the flexibility to invest in a way that suits you. If your circumstances change, your investments can too.
Decide what's right for you
How to choose
Everybody’s different and your circumstances may well change over time, so there are no hard and fast rules for investing into a pension.
Put simply, the more risk you take the more your pension pot may grow – or fall – in value. You should expect investments to rise in value in the long term but they can also fall in value.
To help you decide how to invest your pension savings, think about:
When you want to retire
How you feel about risk
How you'd like to take your pension
1. When you want to retire
2. How you feel about risk
How much risk do you want to take?
With pension investments there are no guarantees, and there is a risk that the value of your pot could go down as well as up. Depending on how the investment fund performs, you may get back less than you paid in.
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Our Pension Portfolio Funds (PPF)
These are the funds a GIS (Governed Investment Strategy) invests in. Different GIS use different proportions of these funds depending on their risk profile and how close you are to retirement.
Fund PP1 PP2 PP3 PP4 OO Total equities
95.0% 82.0% 66.0% 35.0% OO Total Fixed Interest and Cash
2.0% 14.5% 31.0% 62.0% OO Total Property (REITs)
3.0% 3.5% 3.0% 3.0% Total
100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% Source: Scottish Widows, as at 30th September 2023
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How does a lifestyle strategy work?
A lifestyle strategy is a type of investment that automatically adjusts how your pension is invested over time, gradually moving into lower risk funds as you get closer to your selected retirement age.
Where your money is invested
Your money will be typically invested in bondsLoans made to companies which pay an agreed rate of interest until a set date. and shares (known as 'equitiesWhere the growth depends on several factors including how well those companies perform.'). These are shares within the UK, emerging markets and developed markets overseas.
Shares are considered riskier investments than bonds, so a portfolio investing in a large percentage of shares will carry more risk than one investing in a large percentage of bonds.
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Your investment near retirement
The GIS you've chosen adjust your investment depending on how you expect to take your pension when you retire.
When you’re fifteen years away from retirement, it gradually starts to move your money into lower risk investments, taking into account how you want to take your pension. Although this may lessen the potential for growth, it helps reduce the impact of potential market drops on the value of your pension as you get closer to retirement. Also, it reduces the likelihood of any sudden drops in its value. When you are five years away from retirement, we will start to move your investment into different funds depending on which option for retirement you have chosen.
Your investment in retirement
When you’re ready to take income from your plan, you’ll need to think about how best to invest your remaining pension to help achieve your retirement goals.
That’s why we we’ve created Investment Pathways for our Retirement Account to help simplify the decision.
You’ll be able to access one of our Investment Pathways as an option. They are designed to help you meet your retirement income needs, based on your broad aims over the next five years in retirement.
3. How you'd like to take your pension
Your options at retirement
When you're ready to start taking your pension savings, you'll have options. You'll normally also be able to take up to 25% of your pension savings as a tax-free cash lump sum.
You can take the rest of your pension as:
- a guaranteed regular income for life (an annuity)
- income withdrawals as and when you like (known as 'drawdown')
- all or some of it as cash (known as 'encashment').
Find out more about planning your retirement and how you'd like to take your pension - Taking your pension.
Still not sure?
Flexibility to suit you
START YOUR APPLICATION
If you’re transferring £10,000 or more and know how you want to invest your pension pot, then you’re ready. Have to hand the details of the pensions you want to transfer.