What is Lifestyle?

The Lifestyle strategies

There are 3 Lifestyle strategies you can choose from. All three strategies invest in exactly the same way until 10 years before your Target Retirement Age

Each Lifestyle strategy then uses a different mix of investments as you approach your Target Retirement Age based on how you plan to access your individual account at retirement – your ABC options (Annuity, Bit by bit/drawdown or Cash).

The Lifestyle strategies were updated to new options from April 2021. If you are still invested in a previous Lifestyle strategy, you can find out more about those under the “Closed Strategies” section below.

Find out more about how the lifestyle strategies are invested

Accessing my individual account at retirement: My ABC options

Annuity	Bit by bit (Drawdown)	Cash (The default option)
Use the money built up in your individual account to buy a regular, guaranteed income for a period of time or the rest of your life.	Take the money built up in your individual account bit by bit, while remaining invested. (You need to transfer out of the Sky Pension Plan to choose this option.)	Take all the money built up in your individual account in one go, as a taxable cash lump sum.

You could also choose a mixture of the above and use some of the pension savings in your individual account to buy an annuity, to give you the security of a guaranteed income, and take the rest bit-by-bit, as lump sums or income payments to top up your income as and when you need it. (To do this you would need to transfer your individual account from the Sky Pension Plan.)

Closed Strategies

Cash Lifestyle (pre-2021), Drawdown Lifestyle (pre-2021), Annuity Lifestyle (pre-2021).

These strategies were closed to new entrants from April 2021. If you were already invested in any of these options before then and you haven’t made any updates to your investment choices, your individual account remains invested in your chosen option.

These options are similar to the new strategies introduced in 2021, but they invest in a 50/50 mix of equities and diversified funds throughout the “growth phase” (up to 10 years before retirement).

If you’re invested in any of these strategies, you might want to think about whether any of the new Lifestyle strategies may be more suitable for you, based on the level of risk you are willing to take, and the charges for each underlying fund.

See the latest factsheets for the pre-2021 lifestyle strategies.

Annuity Lifestyle - 5 year

This strategy was closed to new entrants from 20 October 2016. If you were already invested in this option before 20 October 2016 and you haven’t made any updates to your investment choices, your individual account remains invested in this option.

This option was designed for those who were planning to buy an annuity - a regular, guaranteed income for a period of time or over the rest of their life. It invests in the same assets as the growth phase of the closed Lifestyle strategies until you are 5 years from your Target Retirement Age. It then uses a mix of investments designed to be most suitable for those wishing to buy an annuity - staying invested in growth investments for as long as possible to take advantage of potentially higher returns before switching to lower-risk assets, as you can see in the graph.

If you’re invested in this strategy, you might want to think about whether any of the new Lifestyle strategies work better for how you plan to take your individual account at retirement, now that you have more freedom and choice and don’t have to buy an annuity.

See the latest factsheet for the Annuity Lifestyle 5 year strategy