Our investment Philosophy - Tontine Trust

Judicious use of investment capital is integral to us making good on our ambition to provide rising lifelong incomes for our clients.

For this reason, our investment process prioritises the preservation of the value of our clients’ contributions while at same time achieving a return that keeps pace with inflation.

We are confident in our ability to deliver upon our generous payout forecasts while running a highly conservative portfolio due to the fact that the majority of the income paid to members derives from 'tontine credits'.

This contrasts with other types of pensions which often need to generate higher income & capital growth and so are forced to take on substantially more risk in their portfolios.

We believe a depth and longevity of expertise is vital in delivering the best investment outcomes for our members.

To this end, our investment policy is overseen by a board of trustees with many decades of combined investment industry experience.

Their focus is to appoint and manage relationships with world-class asset managers who have proven ability to build well-diversified portfolios that both preserve capital and generate steady income across economic cycles.

In line with our commitment to absolute transparency, we will shortly start publishing full details of the asset management firms selected by the board of trustees.

Our trustees are required to act in a 'fiduciary' capacity.

This means that they must always act in the best interests of our members and adhere to the prudent person rule.

No conflicts of interest are permitted, such as the receipt of commissions or 'kickbacks' from fund managers or investment banks.

Any fee rebates etc. negotiated by the trustees must be credited to the portfolio for the benefit of the members.

Our members benefit from the peace of mind that the capital contributions they make will be managed in accordance with strict EU-wide regulation.

We adhere to the PEPP ‘prudent person’ rules which stipulate that, among other requirements, our portfolio must be broadly diversified, limited in its use of derivatives, not exposed to excessive leverage and invested predominantly in regulated markets.

The regulations we adhere to also stipulate that funds we invest on our members’ behalf should be invested according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.

While there is still a perception that investing sustainably means potentially sacrificing returns, studies have suggested that ESG compliant portfolios already tend to marginally outperform non-ESG portfolios with slightly less risk.

It should also be considered that investing sustainably will help create a better world for us to enjoy to the full our expected retirement benefits.

European long term investment funds or "ELTIFs" are an initiative of the European Commission to safely boost the level of non-bank investment in the 'real economy' across Europe.

ELTIFs are highly regulated funds which are designed to provide a steady income stream and produce attractive long term yields.

ELTIFs achieve these returns by channelling capital into a broad range of asset classes such as infrastructure projects, real estate as well as listed and unlisted SMEs which are suitable for long-term capital investment.