How to be a smart investor

Investing in the DC Plan is not like other types of investing. To be good at it, you don’t have to constantly watch the markets or be an expert day trader. Instead, take advantage of the time you have and focus on you...

Tips to investing in the DC Plan:

Think years (not days and weeks)

Remembering that you’re invested for decades makes it easier to avoid getting side-tracked by short-term market ups and downs, even the high-profile, news-catastrophising ones.

When you’ve got time on your side, you should have time for markets to rise again (which history shows they usually do – eventually). The trick is to stay invested and ride out the lows so that you have a chance to benefit when values go back up.

Be the early bird

Time is your secret weapon. Save what you can as early as you can – even the smallest of returns on that money will generate future returns, which generate more future returns, and so on…that’s the magic of compound returns.

Want an example? Our quick read – Turn 1p into £1 million in 28 days – shows compounding in action.

There's no need to tinker

Making your investment choices isn’t a once-only decision – you need to keep an eye on things and make sure your choices still match your circumstances over time.

But this doesn’t mean you need to tinker or make changes frequently – especially if you don’t need to.

While you can make changes as often as you want, keep in mind that there are charges built in when you move between funds and you might need to pay administration charges if you make more than 2 changes in a year. Here’s a summary of the DC Plan’s annual fund charges.

The upside of downturns

During market dips, you’ll probably see the value of your savings go down. But if you have time on your side and are still contributing into the DC Plan each month, the occasional downturn could be a great opportunity. That’s because you’ll be buying investments when prices are low, and you’ll get more for your money.

Set a date

We (and you) need an ‘end date’ to aim for. Having the ‘right*’ target retirement date means the support we give you – and your Guided investments if you choose that approach – all line up at the right time.

*Tip! If you don’t know an exact date, just give us a date to work with and remember to tweak it as the date draws closer.

Know your options

You can invest your DC Plan savings in two ways:

Guided is a pre-packaged approach where your savings are automatically moved over time.
Customised is a pick-your-own approach that lets you choose which funds to invest in (from a range of 16 funds) and if and when to change those choices.

Check out the investing section for all the details.