Standard Life HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index Pension Fund - what's your view on this fund?

GazzaBloom

In my Employer's DC pension I am limited to a range of mutual funds that Standard Life offer. What are the forum members view on the Standard Life HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index Pension Fund and what percentage of your portfolio would you recommend be invested in it for long term growth? My appetite is for 100% equity and higher risk/volatility and I don't like bonds or gold. This fund professes to track the Dow Jones Islamic Global Titans 100 Equity Index which is designed to measure the performance of the largest 100 stocks traded globally that pass rules-based screens for adherance to Shariah investment guidelines.

I'm not Islamic in any way but I like the fact that it it one of the few funds Standard Life offer that is an equity index tracker, is global and is relatively low fees compared to some other funds they offer. Also, it's portfolio of 100 companies, although heavily US-centric do offer some global spread.

I'm going soft on my allocation to UK Smaller Companies as I really cannot see the UK getting back on top of things with the latest put to 6 months social distancing or even tougher measures so I am considering increasing my loading in the HSBC Islamic Equity fund and reducing UK Smaller Companies.

Here's the Trustnet page with fund details:
https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/p/vy58/sl-hsbc-islamic-global-equity-index-pn

and the Index it tracks:
https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/dow-jones-islamic-market-titans-100-index/#overview

jamjar92

The Pru have one named very similar which I invest money via my LGPS AVC and its in profit after AMT charges, which is higher than the others available @ 0.85%. 

Notepad_Phil

It certainly has had a great run but all great runs usually come to an end at some point.

Having a current 25% of the funds money in its top 4 companies and 70% in the US would be the big worry for me if I was thinking of selecting the fund, I'd also be worried about the relatively small amount of companies that it invests in.

I realise that you may be short of index trackers to choose from and so I can see that depending on what other funds were available then it may offer a persuasive appeal, however personally I'd only invest in this once I'd thoroughly discounted all of the other options.

numpty_dumpty

I use this in my employers DC to add some diversification and increase American holdings, but as a satellite to a core fund. It's about 7% of my overall pension fund (15% of this particular DC pot). 
Been a historic performer but I have the same concerns as notepad Phil  above.
Fund choices in my employers DC via phoenix are also very limited  and the core funds poor performers.

GazzaBloom

numpty_dumpty said:

I use this in my employers DC to add some diversification and increase American holdings, but as a satellite to a core fund. It's about 7% of my overall pension fund (15% of this particular DC pot). 
Been a historic performer but I have the same concerns as notepad Phil  above.
Fund choices in my employers DC via phoenix are also very limited  and the core funds poor performers.

It's frustrating isn't it? My wife's work pension is with L&G and the choices of funds is worse than Standard Life's Group Pension funds.

I'm sure I know the answer to this is NO but its checking:
Can I request a transfer of my employers pension to another company such as AJ Bell or AN Other and have them still pay in their contribution and make mine by salary sacrifice?

NottinghamKnight

GazzaBloom said:

numpty_dumpty said:

I use this in my employers DC to add some diversification and increase American holdings, but as a satellite to a core fund. It's about 7% of my overall pension fund (15% of this particular DC pot). 
Been a historic performer but I have the same concerns as notepad Phil  above.
Fund choices in my employers DC via phoenix are also very limited  and the core funds poor performers.

It's frustrating isn't it? My wife's work pension is with L&G and the choices of funds is worse than Standard Life's Group Pension funds.

I'm sure I know the answer to this is NO but its checking:
Can I request a transfer of my employers pension to another company such as AJ Bell or AN Other and have them still pay in their contribution and make mine by salary sacrifice?

There's nothing legally to stop you doing that but the scheme rules may well not llow it, ask your employer/ provider.

Malthusian

GazzaBloom said:

I'm sure I know the answer to this is NO but its checking:
Can I request a transfer of my employers pension to another company such as AJ Bell or AN Other and have them still pay in their contribution and make mine by salary sacrifice?

If your employer won't go to the hassle of paying into another provider, ask if you can make a partial transfer of nearly all the funds to AX Whoever, while leaving enough of a rump fund to keep the plan open to receive further employer contributions. Then repeat the process whenever the employer pension gets large enough for it to be worth the bother.

GazzaBloom

Malthusian said:

GazzaBloom said:

I'm sure I know the answer to this is NO but its checking:
Can I request a transfer of my employers pension to another company such as AJ Bell or AN Other and have them still pay in their contribution and make mine by salary sacrifice?

If your employer won't go to the hassle of paying into another provider, ask if you can make a partial transfer of nearly all the funds to AX Whoever, while leaving enough of a rump fund to keep the plan open to receive further employer contributions. Then repeat the process whenever the employer pension gets large enough for it to be worth the bother.

Thanks  - I will look into it.

numpty_dumpty

It's frustrating isn't it? My wife's work pension is with L&G and the choices of funds is worse than Standard Life's Group Pension funds.

I'm sure I know the answer to this is NO but its checking:
Can I request a transfer of my employers pension to another company such as AJ Bell or AN Other and have them still pay in their contribution and make mine by salary sacrifice?

Definitely worth checking, unfortunately I was told I couldn't do partial transfers,  so grudgingly stuck with it, but convincing myself the lower fees and extra contrbutions from salary sacrifice NI make it worthwhile.