Virgin Personal Pensions - Secure your future with an award-winning Virgin Pension

How does it work?

The Virgin Pension works by locking your savings in the early years into the long-term growth of the whole stock market, using an investment approach called ‘index tracking’.

Index tracking was pioneered by Virgin and has proved so successful it's now one of the most commonly used investment approaches in the UK.

But growing your pension ‘pot’ is only the first part. Having grown your fund, it is important to protect it as you near retirement.

That’s why the Virgin Pension has two key parts:

• Pension Growth Fund
• Pension Income Protector Fund

How it works

Step 1 - Pension Growth Fund

The money you save in your Virgin Pension is first invested in our Pension Growth Fund. We use the fund to buy shares in over 600 leading companies* on the London Stock Exchange, listed on the FTSE All-Share Index.

When companies are profitable their share prices tend to rise, so the value of your investment goes up. Index tracking means we automatically ‘keep track’ of the market, so when the market is growing, so is your fund. Plus regular dividend payments from the companies whose shares we invest in also help to grow your pension pot.

Although shares do go up and down on a daily basis, it’s the general upward trend of share prices over the years which has made the stock market the number one place for investors.

Please remember, past performance isn’t a guide to the future, and with all stock market investments the value of your savings and the income you get from them can fall as well as rise, so you may not get back the amount you invested.

*Your money is invested across a wide range of blue chip businesses and fast-growing smaller firms with greater opportunities for growth. You effectively benefit from investment in overseas markets too, because many of these companies are international.

Remember
The value of the units which make up your fund can go down as well as up, so the value of your fund is not guaranteed.

How it works

Step 2 - Pension Income Protector Fund

Having saved hard, the last thing you want is for your pension to be hit by a fall in share prices just before you retire. This is where the Virgin Pension really comes into its own.

As you near retirement we gradually move your savings from our Pension Growth Fund into our Pension Income Protector Fund.

This fund invests in UK government bonds (known as 'gilts') and a range of highly rated corporate bonds of leading UK and European companies.

Because bonds and gilts are low-risk investments, your savings are less exposed to any potential last minute fall in share prices.

Also, when you retire, you must use your pension savings to buy an annuity – these are linked to interest rates. Falling interest rates just before you retire would mean less income in retirement. But because bond prices tend to rise when interest rates fall, your Virgin Pension compensates for this.

The upshot is, your Virgin Pension is designed to try and help you maximise the income you get when you retire.