Investment Pathways FAQs

This depends on the plan you belong to. Not all the plans we look after offer the Investment Pathways. If they are available through your plan, you will have access to them once you have a Pension Drawdown Account – typically, this will be after you have withdrawn tax-free cash.

Yes. The Investment Pathways are designed to meet an overall plan for your retirement income, but it is possible to hold them as part of a diversified portfolio, alongside other funds available through your plan, within a Pension Drawdown Account. You cannot hold an Investment Pathway within a Pension Savings Account.

The Investment Pathway does not mature or close after the five years. If your circumstances and retirement outlook are the same, you can keep the same Investment Pathway and you don’t need to do anything. It is a good idea to review your objectives on a regular basis to check that your investments are still suitable for them. Each time you review your investments, you should ensure they match your plans for the following five years.

The lowest amount you can move into an Investment Pathway is £10.

If your circumstances or your plans have changed since you chose your Investment Pathway, you can change your investments at any time on PlanViewer. Once you’ve logged in, go to ‘Manage my plan’ at the top of the page and select ‘Change investments’. There is no charge for moving money into or out of an Investment Pathway.

No, you can switch into or out of an Investment Pathway at any time.  Pathways 1 and 3 are designed with an investment timeframe of at least five year and will be subject to short term market fluctuations. In contrast, Investment pathways 2 and 4 are intended for investors who will be using some or all of their money within the next five years.  It’s a good idea to review your objectives on a regular basis to check that your investments  are still suitable for them. Each time you review your investments, you should ensure they match your plans for the following five years. If you’re unsure what the right approach for your pension savings might be, you should speak to an authorised financial adviser.

Yes. You can set up an annuity at any time with money you hold in an Investment Pathway or any of the other funds available through your plan. In fact, Investment Pathway 2 is specifically designed as an option for people who are planning to set up an annuity within the next five years.

You have the option of taking a drawdown income from your Pension Drawdown Account.  In other words, you can tell us how much you would like to receive and we will sell some of your investment so that we can make the payments to you.  This is possible with the Investment Pathways or any of the funds available through your plan.  For more information on setting up regular income payments, see our choosing income options page.

It is always possible to transfer your pension as a whole to another provider. However, you cannot keep the same investments when you do this. What happens is that we sell the investments in your pension and send the proceeds of the sale to the provider you have chosen. You can then choose new investments from the range they have available in their plan. It is possible that they will offer investments similar to our Investment Pathways, but we would recommend that you check this before you decide to transfer, and speak to an authorised financial adviser if you are unsure about what the right choice is for you.

We have more information on the things you need to consider before you transfer on our How to transfer out page.

Once your pension savings have been moved in your Pension Drawdown Account, you will be free to invest in any combination of Investment Pathways you choose. You can also have a combination of Investment Pathway and other funds available through your plan. However, it’s important to remember that each Investment Pathway is designed to meet a single, overall objective for generating a retirement income. It would be your responsibility to decide how an Investment Pathway might work alongside other investments, and we recommend that you speak to an authorised financial adviser if you are unsure what the right choice would be for you.

The charges are reflected in the price of the fund can be found on the fund factsheet in PlanViewer. There are no additional charges for moving money into or out of an Investment Pathway.