Lifestyle switching

The Default strategy adjusts your exposure to investment risk as your career progresses.

FuturePlanner's blend funds are put together into a switching programme, known as ‘lifestyling’. The strategy allows you to have your Retirement Account invested in growth assets for most of your working life, but as your career progresses, more protection from market volatility is introduced.

As you get close to retirement, the assets are allocated to a Retirement focus fund, which provides a platform for the retirement options available to you.

You will have a target retirement age around which the lifestyling process works. Depending on how many years remain to that age, the money will be invested in the higher-risk funds and will be switched on a phased basis before being wholly invested in the platform funds at the intended age.

The switching and the direction of future contributions is changed quarterly. The phasing periods are shown in the chart below.