Friends Provident is enhancing its current pension lifestyle investment options which will allow employees to package a default fund together with a default lifestyle.
Alternatively the enhancements will offer a middle way for employees in defined contribution schemes who do not wish to use a default fund, but perhaps are not confident enough to select their own funds.
Friends Provident’s lifetime investment programmes offer employees the chance to choose a pre-determined investment programme throughout the life of their plan.
Lillian Goldthwaite, manager fund strategy and selection group at Friends Provident, said: “These enhancements reflect a growing demand for protection of assets and peace of mind for members. The right fund choices, along with increased online functionality, will help engage members with their pensions and improve their retirement provision.”
Both the lifetime and lifestyle investment programmes will benefit from enhanced online functionality. Employees will be able to:
- Switch on or off the investment programme they’re invested in.
- Change between the investment programmes available to them.
- Change their investment programme retirement date (IPRD).
There are also more options available when setting up a scheme. Employers and trustees can now:
- Choose a range of investment programmes; this can be a combination of standard lifestyle investment programmes and lifetime or lifestyle investment programmes they have created.
- Select up to nine investment programme funds at any one time, with more than nine funds being available throughout the term of a programme.
- Choose a ‘status’ for each investment programme thus providing greater flexibility for a scheme to review its investment strategy.
Read article on pension fund investment