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Thursday 24 January 2019

VitalityInvest Launches New Fund Range For Healthier Investment And Retirement Planning

  • VitalityInvest has launched two new Protector Funds – both invested in structured products – for investors with medium-low risk appetite*
  • VitalityInvest is offering a limited time special offer on Vitality’s Healthy Living Discount that can reduce product charges to 0%

VitalityInvest has today launched two new funds in partnership with Investec Bank plc in their new Protector Fund range that will offer advisers more diverse opportunities for growth and returns for their clients, while helping to protect their capital invested. These complement the Vitality Performer and Risk Optimiser funds launched in June 2018 and offer clients new targeted ways to invest. Both funds have been created for clients with medium-low risk appetite in mind and invest in structured products. The funds invest in structured products issued by Investec Bank plc.

  • VitalityInvest Protector Growth Fund is designed for clients that want upside equity exposure, while safeguarding against the risk of falls in the equity market. After five years, if markets go up, clients get back their investment plus 150% of the growth in the FTSE 100 Index. If the index goes down, they get their investment back.
  • VitalityInvest Protector 3-4-5-6 Defensive Fund is designed for clients looking for alternatives to cash funds or fixed rate deposits and who are willing to take a limited amount of risk.

Investments in the Protector Funds (as with the existing Performer and Risk Optimiser funds) are eligible to receive Vitality’s Investment Booster, which may increase the return on investments by up to 15% over 25 years. In addition, clients may earn discounts on their product charges and boosts on their assets in drawdown if they have a qualifying life or health policies and take steps to look after their health**.

Both funds are available from the 8 February to 5 April 2019 as part of the VitalityInvest Retirement Plan, VitalityInvest ISA and VitalityInvest Junior ISA.

Healthy Living Discount special offer

VitalityInvest’s Healthy Living Discount rewards savers who hold qualifying life or health policies by offering a discount on their monthly product charge to members who look after their long-term health. Until now, the Healthy Living Discount has applied to assets invested in Vitality funds. For a limited period, clients who take out a VitalityInvest policy will have the Healthy Living Discount applied across all their assets for the lifetime of their investment, provided they hold at least 40% of their portfolio in Vitality funds. As before, clients will need to hold a qualifying VitalityHealth or VitalityLife policy in order to benefit from the Healthy Living Discount***.

The Healthy Living Discount monitors healthy living - the healthier their habits, the more clients can increase their Vitality status. And the higher their status, the more they save on their product charge. If they achieve Platinum status****, the highest tier, Vitality will reduce their product charge to £0.

VitalityInvest existing funds

Vitality also offers an existing selection of funds that launched in June 2018. In light of current market conditions and the demands for appropriate long-term solutions, VitalityInvest is drawing advisers’ attention to the following components of their fund range.

Vitality Investec Multi-asset Income Fund

A defensive return fund aiming to generate an attractive income yield with the opportunity for capital growth over the long term. It targets a sustainable income yield of 4%-6%p.a. which is reinvested in the fund to generate long term growth. It aims to do this with less than half the level of volatility of UK equities and is based on the underlying fund strategy of the Investec Diversified Income Fund launched in 2012.

Unlike traditional multi-asset funds, the portfolio is built from the bottom-up. Individual investments are actively selected with a focus on resilient assets and limiting downside risks. The portfolio is structurally diversified and invests across geographies in bonds, equities and related derivatives. The ongoing charge is 0.89%pa.

VitalityInvest Risk Optimiser Fund Range

The VitalityInvest Risk Optimiser funds are a range of multi-asset risk targeted funds. The range comprises five funds, each carefully managed to optimise long-term returns while remaining within their set target risk profile. The funds invest in a portfolio of index-tracking funds providing exposure across asset classes and geographies at lower cost.

The funds have been risk profiled by major independent research agencies including Dynamic Planner, Defaqto and Synaptic. This allows the fund range to fit seamlessly into existing advice processes. Asset allocation is provided by Dynamic Planner and ongoing charges are 0.4%pa.

Herschel Mayers, CEO of VitalityInvest and VitalityLife, said: “The new additions to our Invest proposition will give advisers a range of solutions to help support clients through uncertain times.

“Our unique approach to reducing the savings and retirement gap means when people save for longer and manage their income in drawdown, we boost their savings and investments and when they look after their health, we’ll charge them less.

“Vitality’s unique approach encouraging positive behaviour change has helped our members reach later life in better health. As a result, we want to continue to innovate and evolve our products to create an investment culture where people save more for longer to fund healthier lives and are rewarded for doing so.”

Chris Meyer, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking UK at Investec, commented: “This partnership gives Vitality’s customers access to our award-winning Structured Deposits. Vitality shares our commitment to delivering real value to customers, and we're proud to be partnering with them as we work together to develop innovative solutions to help our clients meet their investment and wealth goals.”

Tom Conner, Director at advisers Drewberry Wealth, said: “VitalityInvest was well received when it launched last June with an innovative approach to investing for retirement. This new Protector Fund range could give a better choice of investment strategies for clients looking for a lower risk approach that can still offer returns.”


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