Choosing an investment strategy when you move into drawdown

If you move your funds into drawdown online, we’ll take you through choosing an investment strategy as part of the online journey. However, if you choose to use the paper or pdf forms to make your request, you’ll also need to fill in our drawdown investment strategy form.

Please fill in the form letting us know how you plan to invest the funds in your drawdown pot and return your completed form to us. 

The quickest and easiest way to return your forms is via secure message using your online account. 

Alternatively, you can return it by post to: Product Admin, interactive investor, 2nd floor, One Embankment, Neville Street, Leeds, LS1 4DW.

Choosing an investment strategy

When you move funds into a drawdown pot, you should consider how you plan to use your drawdown fund and what that might mean for how your SIPP is invested. Key points to think about are:

• How much income you need to take from your drawdown fund.
• How long you need your drawdown fund to last – does it need to provide you with an income for the rest of your life, or do you have other pensions or investments you can rely on in the future?
• How much risk you are willing to take with your pension investments. 

How long your drawdown fund can provide you with an income depends on how your investments perform, the charges for your SIPP and how much income you take. If your income and charges are more than your investment growth, then the value of your SIPP will fall over time until your drawdown fund is exhausted. The more that income and charges exceed growth, the sooner your drawdown fund could be exhausted.

Making a change to your investments could mean your drawdown fund lasts longer. However, different investments carry different risks. Increasing exposure to stocks and shares may offer more potential for investment growth than cash or gilts/bonds, but they also have a higher risk that the value of your investments could fall as well as rise.

When making any investment decision you should always think about how much risk you’re willing to take with your investments and whether you would be able to cope with any losses if the value of your investments fell.

What are my options?

There are three options for you to choose from.

• Use Investment Pathways
  Investment Pathways offer you four options to choose from based on how you plan to use your drawdown fund over the next five years.
  A single investment will be available for each Pathway, chosen by the pension provider as broadly suitable based on how the drawdown fund is likely to be used.
• Pick new investments without using Investment Pathways
  If you’re confident in making your own investment decisions for your SIPP, you can pick a new investment strategy without using Investment Pathways.
• Keep your current investments
  If your current investments will continue to meet your objectives, you don’t have to make any changes.