Standard Life Smoothed Return Pension Fund

It’s broadly diversified to help spread risk

• We spread your clients' investment across a diversified range of asset classes from different locations. These include global equities, bonds, property securities and money market instruments - including cash.

It aims to deliver a steady, predictable level of return

• At the end of each working day, we increase units in the Fund by our EGR and any smoothing adjustments, less the fund charge. We review the EGR at least once a quarter. This rate reflects our long-term growth expectations for the Fund.
• The value of your clients' investment can go down as well as up and they may get back less than they invested.

You can blend it with other funds

• The Fund can be used alongside other funds to help you create a more balanced investment portfolio.

All funds are initially invested in our Feeder Fund

• They remain here for up to 10 working days plus settlement period.
• They are expected to grow in line with our Estimated Growth Rate and any smoothing adjustments, less the fund charges.

We apply our Estimated Growth Rate (EGR)

• Our experts review the EGR at least every quarter and use this when determining any unit price increases at the end of each working day

We monitor changes regularly and make adjustments if necessary

• If we see more than a 10% difference in the unit price of the underlying fund on any day, we’ll adjust the smoothed price to bring it back within 2.5% of the underlying fund price. 
• We also apply twice-monthly monitoring – and if there’s more than a 5% difference with the underlying fund, we make a unit price adjustment to the smoothed price in order to halve the difference.

You can find more detail on how the smoothing process works, in our adviser guide.

Defaqto have produced a useful guide to smoothed funds, that counts towards CPD.

The Fund is potentially suitable for your clients if they:

• Are looking to grow their pension pot, but don’t want to expose their savings to undue risk.
• Are looking for a fund that seeks to smooth out the short-term ups and downs of investment performance.
• Have a UK-based pension account on the Fidelity Adviser Solutions platform.
• Want to invest in a range of different assets, managed by Fidelity International.
• Are looking to consolidate.
• Are approaching or are in retirement.
• Want to take a future income from their pension pot.

The Fund is unlikely to be suitable for your clients if they:

• Are looking to achieve returns more closely associated with a high-risk appetite.
• Don’t want any risk with their pension savings and need a capital guarantee.
• Don’t want to leave their pension savings invested for at least five years.