Investment Update

Investment performance can be one of the biggest factors influencing the size of your pension at retirement. You don’t need to become an investment expert, but it’s worth keeping an eye on how your pension investments are performing.

In recent times, we have seen a number of major events having a big impact on investment markets and our members’ fund values. This includes the raising of interest rates by central banks around the world to fight inflation, the increasing concerns around the cost-of-living crisis weakening consumer spending and the continued war in Ukraine affecting energy prices and commodities such as wheat. As such, the investment funds in which your savings are invested have seen a period of volatile performance, which has included periods of poor returns. While this is understandably disappointing, it is important to remember that your retirement savings are being invested for the long-term. As such, we do expect to see market fluctuations from time to time because this is a feature of all investment markets. 

The Trustee regularly reviews the suitability of the investment strategy available to members in the Scheme and will make changes if it believes it is appropriate to do so. 

Please note: The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Here’s a summary of how the HIPS DC investment funds have done over the last year and three years. Remember, you can log in to the member portal to view specific information about the funds you’re invested in.

You can find out more information about the individual funds in the HIPS investment guide. If you’re thinking about changing investment funds, we recommend that you seek independent financial advice. You can visit the Financial Conduct Authority’s website at www.fca.org.uk/consumers/finding-adviser if you need help finding an adviser.