The money you invest is pooled with that of other investors and
buys units in the stakeholder pension fund. At any time, the value
of your personal fund is the number of units you hold multiplied by
the unit price.
The value of your plan depends on the value of
the investments we’ve made and can go up and down.
Five years before the date you’ve chosen to
start receiving your PMAS Stakeholder Pension, we’ll start
lifestyling it. This means we gradually move your contributions and
existing funds into a lower-risk (but lower reward) fund, which
means what you’ve earned so far in the fund is more secure. There
are no guarantees, however, with any investment. You can choose to
opt out of lifestyling. We will contact you six months before
lifestyling is due to start to check if you would like your plan
lifestyled.
When you take your benefits, you can take up
to a quarter of your fund as a lump sum. The rest is then used to
buy an annuity – a regular income – the amount of which will depend
on how old you are, among other factors.
You can claim your pension at any time between
55 and 75. You don’t need to retire from work to start claiming.
The earlier you choose to take your pension, the lower the regular
income payments are likely to be.