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Consumer  >  Investment for Consumers  >  Our Proposition  >  Managed Strategies  >  The Fund Matrix

The Fund Matrix

At Scottish Life, we believe that the choice of investment fund in your pension plan, whether in isolation, as part of a portfolio of funds or even as part of a Retirement Investment Strategy is one of the most important decisions that you will ever make. Due to the risk associated with investments it is always recommended that you speak to a financial adviser who is qualified to advise funds which are most suited to your objectives and in line with the risk you are prepared to take.

Once you have decided which funds are best suited to your needs it is important that the funds continue to behave as you first expected them too. This doesn't mean that if your "attitude to risk" changes then the fund moves with your risk preferences. Instead it means that if you pick a fund because it takes certain risks, then it should consistently take the risks that you expect of it. This is what we mean by ongoing suitability. At Scottish Life, we have developed an innovative fund range that ensure exactly that. Its called the Managed Strategies Fund Matrix and here's how it works:

Defining risk

When it comes to risk, we are all different.  Everybody has their own limit to the amount of risk they like to take.  Some of us like to take as little risk as possible, others like to throw caution to the wind and take a bit more of a gamble.  When it comes to fund choice it's no different. 

That's why the Matrix has been designed with three clearly defined risk categories.  These categories are based on the tracking error of a fund against a set benchmark which, in turn, is based on the investment style and geographical area of the particular fund.  The three risk categories within the Matrix are defined as follows, so you know exactly how much risk you are taking:

• Core - where the fund's annualised performance will be expected to track the benchmark index within 1% over 36 monthly rolling periods.
  
  
• Core Plus - where the fund's annualised performance will be expected to broadly track the benchmark index within a range of 1-5% over 36 monthly rolling periods.
  
  
• Specialist - where the fund's annualised performance will have a looser relationship with the benchmark and track with a range of greater than 5% over 36 monthly rolling periods.

Ongoing suitability

At Scottish Life we have taken steps to ensure that any fund selected from our Matrix fund range will continue to behave the same way in the future as it did on day one. As a result, all of the funds within the Matrix are continuously monitored by our Investment Advisory Committee (IAC).  The committee will monitor all of the funds within the Matrix to ensure they do not consistently deviate from their set risk profiles. One of the most important outcomes from this monitoring is that the committee may decide to replace an underlying fund within the range.  If the committee did call for the replacement of an underlying fund within the Matrix, a strict procedure is followed. For information on this procedure and the committee's monitoring process please visit our What does the committee do? page. 

If you would like to find out about the procedures and the processes surrounding the Matrix please view our Matrix Investor Guide.  Further information on any of the individual funds that populate the Matrix can be found by selecting the fund of your choice in the grid below.

Important Information

Prices can go down as well as up.  Investment returns may fluctuate and are not guaranteed.