Vitality launches new investment solutions to prepare people for the retirement of tomorrow
- Too many current investment products aren’t designed for today’s realities where people are living far longer but not saving enough
- Through its Investment Booster, Retirement Booster and Healthy Living Discount VitalityInvest will incentivise simple behaviour changes to encourage people to live healthier lives while saving more
- VitalityInvest aims to answer the question: if we are all going to live longer, how do we ensure those years are healthy and we can afford to pay for them?
- Herschel Mayers, CEO of VitalityInvest and VitalityLife said: “Solutions currently available in the investment market are not fit to prepare us for the retirement of tomorrow. VitalityInvest provides the solution.”
Monday 11 June, London: To address the challenges of an ageing population in poorer health and concerns around the ability to fund retirement, Vitality today enters the long-term savings market with the launch of VitalityInvest.
This proposition is based on the concept of shared value - which generates economic value for all stakeholders through positive, long-term behaviour change – and aims to close the UK ‘savings gap’ through solutions that bring together investments and wellness.
The principles of shared value are embedded in the three products* VitalityInvest is launching: a stocks and shares ISA, a junior ISA and a retirement plan – all available exclusively through financial advisers.
Herschel Mayers, CEO of VitalityInvest and VitalityLife, said: “Solutions currently available in the investment market are not fit to adequately prepare us for the retirement of tomorrow.
“People are living longer and want more from later life, yet many don’t start saving soon enough to fund those extra years or take steps to ensure they arrive there in good health. We believe VitalityInvest is the solution. It is a unique approach founded on positive behavioural change that brings together saving and wellness. By changing behaviour, we produce economic and health benefits that are good for our members, good for advisers, good for us and good for society. We call this shared value.
“So when people save for longer, we’ll boost their savings; when they look after their health, we’ll charge them less to invest; and when they manage their income in drawdown, we’ll add to their retirement savings.
“At Vitality, our approach is to only ever enter a market if we are confident that we can make a positive difference to our members’ lives. With this positively different range of savings products, I sincerely believe we can.”
Life expectancy is increasing, but an ageing population in poor health leads to additional healthcare costs for retirees and an inability for pensioners to live later life to the full. VitalityInvest’s Healthy Living Discount aims to address this by encouraging savers to take steps to look after their long-term health. The discount can reduce the customer’s monthly product charge to as low as £0 for healthy living. Customers with a qualifying VitalityLife or VitalityHealth policy pay discounted charges if they engage in Vitality’s Healthy Living programme and invest in Vitality funds.
Additionally, behavioural biases lead people to value immediate reward over longer term benefit meaning they are not saving enough for their retirement at an earlier age. Through VitalityInvest’s Investment Booster customers are encouraged to save sooner and for longer. A boost of up to 15% to savings over 25 years, including growth, is awarded at no additional cost. The boost will be applied every five years to a customer’s savings in Vitality funds, over and above any investment returns. The more they invest in Vitality funds, the bigger their boosts could be.
Many retirees also struggle to manage their pensions in later life, spending too much too quickly leaving their final years financially challenging. VitalityInvest’s Retirement Booster addresses this. It helps customers manage their income and health in retirement, by awarding annual boosts to their retirement drawdown pot of up to 50% of income drawn. The higher their Vitality status**, the lower the income drawn and the more invested in Vitality funds, the higher the boost.
In partnership with Investec Asset Management and Vanguard, two of the world’s leading asset managers, VitalityInvest will offer two fund ranges***: a range of active funds and a range of multi-asset risk-targeted funds using index-tracking components. The funds allow customers to prioritise income or growth at different levels of risk.
VitalityInvest is also launching cutting edge tools that combine cash flow modelling with personalised life expectancy calculations. These allow advisers to show their customers how their state of health and lifestyle influence their life expectancy and their financial plans, and how changes to lifestyle and the Vitality boosters and discounts can improve their outcomes.
The proposition is delivered through a state-of-the-art online Adviser Hub that allows seamless onboarding and straight-through processing.
Tom Conner, Director at financial advisers Drewberry Wealth, said: “VitalityInvest looks like an intriguing approach to trying to solve the UK’s retirement savings problem. For many people there is a significant shortfall in retirement provisions that currently exists, and the longer people live, the more that shortfall is likely to be exposed. Any new ideas to help people save more for longer should be welcomed. Those that live a healthy lifestyle are likely to live longer and therefore the healthy living discount and income drawdown booster could be highly valued features of this offering."
-ENDS-
Notes to editors
Further detail on VitalityInvest
*Three products:
- VitalityInvest Stocks & Shares ISA
- VitalityInvest Junior ISA
- VitalityInvest Retirement Plan (a Personal Pension for saving towards retirement as well as drawing down savings in retirement)
**The Vitality Healthy Living programme: Available through a qualifying life or health policy, or to those in drawdown through Vitality Plus. Customers start on Bronze status and depending on the steps they take to look after their health, they can move up the status tiers to Silver, Gold and Platinum. For more information, visit https://www.vitality.co.uk/rewards/
***Two fund ranges:
1. Performer fund range
- Made up of high-conviction funds, actively managed by Investec Asset Management, and designed to outperform their benchmarks. The range offers:
- Seven growth-focused funds, including multi-asset risk profiled funds, and UK and global equity funds
- Three income-focused funds, including multi-asset income, and UK and global equity income funds
2. Risk Optimiser fund range
Five multi-asset risk-targeted funds, using Vanguard index-tracking funds to gain exposure to each asset class. Each fund is carefully designed with a mix of assets that aims to optimise returns based on each fund’s level of investment risk.
The funds’ asset mix is designed with input from Dynamic Planner, also known as Distribution Technology.
For further information, please contact:
Dan McMillan, Head of PR at Vitality
07824 604 926
PRESS_OFFICE@vitality.co.uk
Teneo Blue Rubicon
020 7420 3192
vitalitypressoffice@teneobluerubicon.com
Kevin Carr
Carr Consulting & Communications
kevin@carrcandc.co.uk
07887 838 811
About Vitality – positively different health insurance, life insurance and investments
Vitality is part of Discovery Limited, a worldwide insurer and investment manager protecting more than eight million members in 18 countries worldwide, across Europe, the United States, Australia, South Africa, Canada and China. Vitality helps people understand how they can improve their own personal health, and makes it cheaper and easier for its members to get healthy through a range of discounts and incentives that reward healthy behaviours. In the UK, the company operates as VitalityHealth, VitalityLife and VitalityInvest.
Vitality pioneered the ‘shared-value’ insurance model, a unique approach based on the scientifically proven principles of behavioural economics. It helps members take a more active role in managing their own wellness, encouraging them to develop healthy long-term habits that create value for members, the company and society.
VitalityInvest is a new investment proposition designed to prepare customers for the retirement of tomorrow. It brings the shared value insurance model to the long-term savings market. The proposition consists of three products - a stocks and shares ISA, a junior ISA and a retirement plan – which incorporate features aimed at generating economic value for all stakeholders through positive, long-term behaviour change.
To find out more, visit vitality.co.uk