Fund choices
This section of the website sets out the fund choices available (with their investing aims). For background information about individual asset classes (the investments that make up the funds) and the risks they carry, see More information about investing. You should refer to this section when you look at the information the investment provider supplies about the fund choices.
No-one can predict whether your fund choices or investment decisions will produce the results you hope for. You choose how you would like to invest your account from the range of funds available, and the decision you make (which includes making no decision) will directly affect the value of your account. If you make no choice, the default option will apply – but this may well not be suitable for you, so please consider your choices carefully.
No-one involved with running the Investing plan can give you advice about your personal finances. If you are uncertain about making investment decisions, please consider taking independent financial advice first.
There are five funds on offer through the Investing plan. The range has been carefully chosen to try to keep investing fairly simple for members while seeking to cover most of their likely investing aims and attitudes to risk.
You can spread the investment of your account across the funds in any proportion you want to. These are the fund choices.
Cash Fund
This fund aims to give investment returns while protecting the amount you originally invested. The returns are expected to be broadly in line with the returns that bank, building society or similar accounts might achieve. For more information, download the Cash fund fact sheet.
Income / Bond Fund
This fund aims to give returns broadly in line with the returns investing in Government and corporate bonds might achieve. The price of a pension is broadly linked to the value of bond funds – so, the value of the Income / Bond Fund is expected to rise and fall broadly reflecting changes in the cost of buying a pension (but please see Working out the cost of a pension). For more information, download the Income Bond fund fact sheet.
Cautious Growth Fund
This fund is made up of a range of investments. It aims to achieve (but does not guarantee) higher returns over the long term (five years or more) than the Cash Fund – with a moderate chance of going down in value over the same period. A significant part of this fund is likely to be invested in asset classes that do not aim primarily for growth. For more information, download the Cautious Growth fund fact sheet.
Moderate Growth Fund
This fund is made up of a range of investments. It aims to achieve (but does not guarantee) higher returns over the long term (five years or more) than the Cautious Growth Fund – with a higher chance of going down in value over the same period (compared to the Cautious Growth Fund). At least part of this fund is likely to be invested in asset classes that do not aim primarily for growth. For more information, download the Moderate Growth fund fact sheet.
Aggressive growth fund
This fund is made up of a range of investments. It aims to achieve (but does not guarantee) higher returns over the long term (five years or more) than the Moderate Growth Fund – with a higher chance than the Moderate Growth Fund of going down in value over the same period. Most or all of this fund is likely to be invested in asset classes that aim for growth. For more information, download the Aggressive growth fund fact sheet.
How the funds are made up
In setting up the Investing plan from 1 January 2008, Unilever took investment advice, and decided on the investments to make up the fund choices to satisfy these aims. From 1 January 2009, the Trustees took over the responsibility for deciding these investments.
After deciding on the asset classes and investment styles for each fund choice (see More information about investing for further details), Unilever appointed the plan's first investment provider, Fidelity.
Further details of the investments making up the funds are available on 'fund fact sheets', which you can also find on Plan Viewer, Fidelity's online investing service. See Practical information for more about investing your account.
It is your responsibility to check Plan Viewer from time to time and keep track of how the funds are doing. Although the Trustees will try to tell you about any changes to how the funds are made up and any changes to the automatic switching option, they cannot guarantee to do so – which means, they cannot accept any liability for you being unaware of any changes.
Automatic switching
As long as your whole account is in the High, Moderate or Cautious Growth Fund at the time, you can choose to have it moved automatically into either the Cash Fund or the Income / Bond Fund, depending on your aims when you retire:
- If you want to use most or all of your account for pension, you would switch to the Income / Bond Fund (see Working out the cost of a pension for more details about how pension costs are worked out).
- If you want to take most or all of your account as cash, you would switch to the Cash Fund.
The switch will happen gradually over the 10 years before you retire – so you need to tell us your 'target age' for retiring so the switch starts at the right time. You can change your target age once switching has started if you want to – the switch will either speed up or slow down accordingly.
If you decide, after starting automatic switching, that you want to switch between growth funds, you can do so. For example, if you are two years into switching and you have 80% of your account in the Aggressive growth fund and 20% in the Cash Fund, you can move the 80% part into, say, the Cautious Growth Fund. The automatic switching will then continue as before, gradually moving your account from the Cautious Growth Fund into the Cash Fund so that you have your whole account in the Cash Fund at your target age.
Please note:
- The investment provider carries out the automatic switching in line with the pattern agreed with the Trustees. If you want further details, please contact the Fidelity Pensions Service Centre or see Plan Viewer.
- The diagram aims to give a general idea of how automatic switching works. Switching takes place quarterly, and your account is not adjusted to match the pattern exactly between 'switches'.
- Once switching has started, your contributions are invested in line with the pattern in place at the time.
If you do nothing (the default option)
If you have an Investing plan account but make no decision about investing it, it will go into a 'default' option. At the date of printing, the default option is as follows.
To start with, your whole account will be invested in the Moderate Growth Fund, until 10 years before your retirement date, when it will start to switch automatically into the Cash Fund. (If you have not chosen a target retirement date, the switch will start at age 55 on the assumption that you will retire at 65.)
Please note that while this is the default option, you can choose to switch in this way whatever fund you start with. Equally, the default option may well not be suitable for you – so, please consider your investment choice carefully.
Charges
Taking part in the Investing plan means that you will have to pay some of the provider's charges. Each fund carries a management charge – this will vary depending on the fund or funds you choose. The fund fact sheets and Plan Viewer both contain details of the investment charges.
If you are no longer in pensionable service but you have left your account in the Investing plan, you will also have to pay some administration costs. You can ask to see further details of these costs.