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TPT Retirement Solutions
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Risk & Reward

Whether you’ve been automatically enrolled into the Scheme, or you joined by choice, it’s important to review your investment options regularly.

Category: Insight

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Why do I need to review my investment options?

Our members join us at all stages of life. You might have recently started working, or you might be starting to make detailed plans for your retirement.

It’s possible that you’ll want slightly different things from your pension at each stage, and that your approach to risk, return and the way you’d like your money to be invested may change.

Every member’s savings are initially invested in one of our target date funds (TDF), which invest your money differently as you get older. This way, your money is more likely to grow in the early years – when you have time for it to go up and down in value - and hold its value as you get closer to taking your pension. This simple, flexible approach makes TDFs a suitable option for many members, but we have a range of alternative investment options that you might want to consider if your approach to risk and return changes at any point.

If you decide that you’d like your savings to grow faster, for example, we have funds that expose your money to slightly higher levels of risk for a potentially higher return. Or, there are ways to invest your pension savings in only ethical funds. You can review your options and tell us if you’d like us to make a change within your online account.

 

What's right for you

One of the most important factors when deciding what might be right for you is the level of risk linked with different investment funds.

Investments are all about trying to make the most of your savings and balancing the risk of investments going down with the potential reward of the investments doing well.

Different investment types have different levels of potential risk and reward. Usually, funds with more potential for growth carry more risk.

You may want to consider getting financial advice. Find out more here.


As personal circumstances change you may find that where your TPT savings are invested may no longer suit you. That’s why it’s a good idea to review the choices you’ve made and check that they’re still right for you.

Investment Risk

Your TPT savings are invested in funds and they all carry a risk. There are different risks and they’re broken down by different categories. The fund factsheets have been created to help you understand a bit more about the different options. Each one will highlight a number of different risks linked to the fund.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a fund factsheet?

Fund factsheets are detailed documents that provide technical information about the investment funds. Some people find them quite complicated and to help we have provided a summary of what it normally includes:

  • A description of what the fund is and how it works,
  • How it invests your TPT savings pot,
  • Where it invests your TPT savings pot,
  • How well it’s performed over a period of time and also a comparison of its performance to a benchmark, and
  • The risks connected to a fund.

To help you understand the different investment options available to you, we have created a cover sheet for each fund factsheet which will provide you with an simple overview of the detail provided as part of each fund factsheet.

 

Do I pay any investment charges?

There are two types of charge, which are displayed in your online account:

Investment fund management charges: These cover the cost of running the investment funds and are reflected in the daily unit price.

Administration charges: These cover the day-to-day costs of running the DC scheme, such as providing member support, maintaining members’ accounts, providing online services, and scheme governance. The administration charge is calculated daily and will show as units deducted monthly on their online account.

You can find further details of the charges that apply to you in the ‘Account’ area of your online account, under the ‘Pot details’ section.

Transaction charges may also be payable in specific circumstances, for example broker commission, stamp duty or the cost of buying and selling investments. These charges vary depending on a variety of factors including the amount of money being switched on any one day. These charges are not shown on the factsheet.

For more information and details of the charges, read the guide to fund factsheets that can be downloaded from here.  

For personal requests relating to charges deducted from your savings please contact us.

 

What should I consider when making investment choices?

To help you consider your options you could ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Do I feel uncomfortable making investment decisions?
  2. Am I happy to have investments chosen and managed for me?
  3. Do I find investments confusing and hard to understand?
  4. Am I uncomfortable managing my own investment risk? 
  5. Would I prefer someone else to take responsibility for moving my investments as I approach retirement?
  6. Do I want to keep my money invested when I retire and drawdown from my account as I need it rather than buying a guaranteed income (annuity) when I retire?

Your answers to these questions will guide you as to whether the Target Date Fund or choosing your own investments will suit you most. If your answers are mainly ‘Yes’ then you are likely to feel happier with the Target Date Fund.

 

How does TPT manage my money?

Successful investment requires a careful balance of risk and return. We want to make your membership worthwhile and keep your money working hard for you. To do this, we offer every member a number of investment options and have clear beliefs on how we manage risk, provide good value and, secure positive long-term outcomes.

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