Typically, the longer the period you have to invest, the more time you have to compensate for fluctuations in the market.
Bonds are debts issued by either government or companies. Whilst the expected returns from bonds tend to be lower than equities, they do an important job of diversifying risk. In the case of government bonds they quite often move in the opposite direction to equities in times of stress and so can help portfolios to weather those periods. You will have more bonds than equities in the lower return and lower risk portfolios for this reason.
If you can be a cautious investor and still achieve your goal, is there any need to take more risk?
Passive investments closely track the performance of major indices such as the UK 100 index and our portfolios have exposure to many leading companies around the world. Passive investments help to keep costs low.
If you have had previous investment experience, remember how you felt at the time. It may be relevant to apply those feelings when selecting your current risk category.
No – the TPO Investment Team do that bit. They make sure that the portfolios are well designed and achieve the growth targets they set out.
Yes. You may find it easier to manage all your pensions if they are in one place. However, if you are a member of a defined benefit (final salary) pension scheme, we recommend speaking to a financial adviser before proceeding.
Sustainable portfolios are made up of funds that adhere to Environmental, Social and good Corporate Governance (ESG) principles whilst Traditional portfolios can include all fund types.
You may be able to claim more tax relief through your self-assessment return or an adjustment to your tax code.
Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors are key to the assessment of the sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or business. The sort of issues that may be taken account of in each area are: Environmental (greenhouse gas emissions, water & renewable energy), Social (Human rights, community relations, labour relations, modern slavery) and Governance (Board and management quality, financial reporting, bribery and remuneration).
The earliest you can withdraw any money from your pension is age 55 and there are proposals currently being considered to increase this to age 57 from April 2028. Please bear this in mind before investing in a pension.
Yes. You can transfer your existing Cash and/or Stocks & Shares ISA held with other providers into our ISA. When you apply, you will have the opportunity to instruct us to transfer your account. Upon this instruction, we will request for your existing holdings to be sold and the proceeds of the sale transferred as cash. The cash will then be invested into your choice of portfolio(s). There is no loss of tax benefits when doing this but you will not have access to your Investment Champion ISA until the transfer is complete. Investment Champion does not charge you for transferring your ISA across however your existing plan manager may apply exit charges.
Under the current rules, you can take a tax-free lump sum of up to 25% of the total value of your Under the current rules you can usually take the lower of up to 25% of the total value of your pension plan or £268,275 as a tax-free lump sum. Some people may be eligible to receive a higher amount of tax free cash.
You could buy an annuity which provides you with a guaranteed income for the rest of your life.
You could choose to keep your pension fund invested and draw an income directly from your pension - this is called a drawdown arrangement.
Now that there are more options available at retirement, you may wish to speak to a financial adviser to help work out what's best for you and your personal circumstances.
Yes, providing you do not make payments of more than the annual limit in total to a Cash ISA, a Stocks & Shares ISA, an Innovative Finance ISA, and a Lifetime ISA in the same tax year.
Under the current rules you can usually take the lower of up to 25% of the total value of your pension plan or £268,275 as a tax-free lump sum. Some people may be eligible to receive a higher amount of tax free cash.
Yes. You can transfer an account held with other providers into our GIA. When you apply, you will have the opportunity to instruct us to transfer your account from an existing provider. Upon this instruction, we will request for your existing holding to be sold and the proceeds of the sale transferred as cash. This cash will then be invested in your chosen portfolio(s). You will not have access to your Investment Champion GIA until the cash transfer is complete. Investment Champion does not charge you for transferring your account across however your existing plan manager may apply exit charges. Any transfer of an existing Account will need to be made in cash only.
Unfortunately, not at the moment. We are only able to provide a pension for those saving for retirement. You may be better speaking to a financial adviser.
You can close or transfer your account at any time. If you are closing your account, we can sell all your investments and pay the full amount, minus any charges, directly into your nominated bank account within five business days of when we receive the sale proceeds. Typically, the whole process may take up to ten days from the time we receive your instruction. If further income distributions are received after the account has closed, these amounts will be paid to you once all distributions have been received.
No-one wants to be up all night worrying about short-term losses. Investing is for the longer term so ensure that you are happy with the level of risk you are taking on your investment.
Investment Champion uses a range of fund providers and your money is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £85,000 per provider.
Remember that markets can go down as well as up. The risk that you could get back less than you invest increases the shorter the time period.
An equity is a share in the ownership of a company and whilst it can deliver higher returns than bonds, equities also bear higher risks and so can move up or down more in value.
