Pension Trustee, Pension Consultant & Fiduciary
The role of the trustee is becoming increasingly complex, with additional governance requirements demanding more time and greater skill. This is particularly pertinent in the area of investment performance and monitoring, where it is vital trustees have access to high quality external investment advice to ensure the funds in the scheme, their performance and risk profiles are appropriate for their members.
DFM has over 20 years’ experience in helping pension funds and pensions consultants with:
- Scheme membership modelling
- Bespoke default fund design/optimisation
- Pension value projections
Products
Scheme membership modelling
DFM has worked with a number of FTSE 250 pension schemes and a top 3 charity to model their membership base. The aim of this modelling work is to ensure a good ‘fit’ between the fund performance, the risk profile and the characteristics of the membership base. This can validate whether the funds on offer are suitable for the members or not – a key regulatory requirement. DFM’s scheme membership modelling also extends to members as they transition from accumulating assets to decumulating assets, highlighting which funds are most suitable for the decumulation phase.
Bespoke default fund design/optimisation
DFM have designed a number of bespoke default funds for pension clients, based on an analysis of their members, which includes their socio-economic, demographic and risk profile. These funds are designed to give a smoother investment journey for members, and are fully aligned to the risk/reward profile of the membership base. For larger pension schemes, it is possible to break the membership down into a number of smaller cohorts, each with their own risk/reward profile in order to determine the most suitable investment for each segment. Again, this ensures the scheme members are offered the most suitable investments, that are most likely to deliver returns in line with their expectations.
DFM can also analyse the mix of funds available to scheme members to ensure that they are optimised – and deliver risk adjusted returns in line with the profile of the members.
Actuarial transfer valuation
Saving for retirement is becoming an increasing priority for individuals, given the difficulty in relying on state pension benefits alone. As a result, individuals are topping up savings and/or private pension plans to ensure economic comfort during their retirement. To reflect this, there is an ever-growing market place in retirement services providers and pensions advice. Transferring of benefits is often irreversible, so it is vital that individuals are fully informed before making a transfer decision.
DFM can provide projected valuations for pension pots, and has worked for a number of pension trustees and individuals based in Guernsey to provide valuations for scheme members looking to transfer out of their DB scheme into a Retirement Annuity trust (RAT). This is especially helpful in assessing the individual merits of transferring occupational DB schemes into a RAT scheme.
Please contact us to discuss your actuarial transfer valuation requirements in more detail.