Login .a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px} Home Employers Learn about workplace pensions Our investment strategy Our investment strategy When it comes to an investment strategy for your workplace pension scheme, we keep it simple. We have one robust, carefully-thought-out, investment strategy which aims to give positive outcomes over the long term. This enables you to offer your employees an investment solution that is well designed, good value and managed by experienced professionals. How we've designed our strategy .a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px} Simple – and reassuring We’ve designed our investment strategy to be simple and reassuring to explain to your employees. The main message is: ‘Your money will be looked after by professionals. You don’t need to make difficult choices’. .a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px} Choice isn't popular Our one-solution approach is supported by evidence that shows that most people in workplace pension schemes don’t make investment choices. When we looked at other auto enrolment pension providers, we found over 99% of their pension scheme members were in the default investment option and had never made another choice. We believe most people saving for retirement are happy to know professionals are investing their money and taking responsibility for making investment choices. .a{fill:none;stroke:currentColor;stroke-linecap:round;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-width:1.5px} Strategy design The investment strategy is designed to: • grow your employees’ pension savings steadily over the long term, despite the ups and downs in investment markets, and • protect the value of their pension savings from sudden falls in value as they approach retirement. We use two investment funds to achieve this. Our investment funds We use two investment funds to achieve our objectives. Diversified Growth Fund (DGF) This fund is designed to provide stable growth over the long term. To achieve this it spreads money across four investment areas that tend to perform differently in different economic conditions – an approach known as diversification. The DGF allocates the investments between the four areas, each of which has different risk and return characteristics. Our investment manager decides on the balance across the different areas and is based on its long-term risk/return assessment of different asset classes, expected levels of diversification and impact of changing economic conditions. The four areas are: equities (shares) interest rates inflation other investments. Retirement Countdown Fund (RCF) An employee’s pension savings start to be switched into this fund ten years before they plan to retire. It aims to protect the value of the money built up, reducing the risk of falls in value before it is used for retirement benefits. To achieve this it uses cash and investments that behave in a similar way to cash. We call this timed switch from one fund to another the retirement glidepath. Investment management Our independent board of trustees is responsible for deciding how to invest members’ pension savings. They take advice from professional investment advisers and they delegate day-to-day management decisions to investment managers. The trustee board regularly reviews the investment objectives and decides how best to achieve them. The trustee board has appointed Redington as our investment advisers and Cardano Risk Management Limited (CRML) as our investment manager. Protection and safeguarding We employ a custodian to protect the Scheme funds by holding them in a ring-fenced account, separate from both NOW: Pensions and the custodian’s own money. Our custodian is BNY Mellon, one of the world’s largest custodians. It looks after over US$30 trillion on behalf of pension schemes and other investors. It has strong credit ratings: for example, the credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s rates it AA (low) for long-term deposits. Investment information in detail Statement of Investment Principles Investment proposition Diversified Growth Fund – factsheet December 2020 Browse Members Employers Payroll bureaus Financial advisers Support Help and support Resources Contact us Events Read News and insights Press Serving our members Legal information Learn About us Our mission Our investment strategy Careers Connect NOW: Pensions is registered in England and Wales as NOW Pensions Limited (No. 07766398), 6 Bevis Marks, London, EC3A 7BA. We are regulated by The Pensions Regulator and identifiable under the Pension Schemes Registry (PSR) under registration number 12005124 and HMRC reference number 00776316RJ. By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies