Page 13 - Group Insurance and Retirement Benefit IC 83 E- Book

investment manager to invest in stocks, shares and other assets that are owned directly by

the trustees.
Even these schemes, however, may not hold direct property investments, but purchase

property fund units instead. Because a scheme is investing directly, it may follow an
investment strategy that is closely designed for its particular needs. Without going into

too much detail, it should be clear that a scheme that has a lot of pensioners, for example,
and therefore needs cash to pay benefits, may invest differently from one whose members

are far from retirement age – and there are many variations in between those extremes.

Information on Scheme Investments

The annual report of the trustees of each pension scheme will contain information on how

the assets are invested, the name of the investment manager and how he/she is paid. It
will also include information on the investment policies followed by the trustees during

the scheme year and on any changes made to those policies. The report should give
details of any significant financial developments (such as large movements of money in

or out of the scheme) and comment on the performance of the investments during the
year.

Other information that must be given, if it applies, is whether there is what is called a
concentration of investment – that is, whether more than 5% of the assets – are invested

in a particular asset or asset type. If there is significant ―self investment‖ (this means
investment in employer-related assets or property) it must also be reported.

ABOUT YOUR BENEFITS
The main purpose is to address the questions most often asked by members about their

pension benefits. Obviously, answers will be of a general nature and cannot possibly
cover every scheme as the rules of all schemes are different. It is essential that you get

specific information before you decide on any course of action or on any option which

you may be entitled to exercise. In particular, you should not take any action, defer any
action, agree to exercise any option, or fail to exercise it, solely on the basis of

information contained.