Fidelity Freedom funds in the UK?

older_and_no_wiser

I've just been listening to an interesting podcast about investing. It's called Investing Insights and published by Morningstar. In the latest episode, they were discussing targeted retirement funds and mentioned the Vanguard Target Retirement range but also an equivalent one from Fidelity called Freedom which Morningstar seemed to like. This is a US based podcast and I don't think the Freedom funds are available in the UK (I couldn't find them on their UK website anyway).

Does anyone here know about these funds? I'm just curious on opinions about this and other retirement targeted funds. I don't invest in them but they seem like a safe option if you're the sort of person who doesn't want to take the more DIY approach into retirement.

dunstonh

Does anyone here know about these funds? 

Lifestyling funds are pretty common.  What varies is the degree of the risk reduction and over what timescale.

Some can target annuity purchase.  Some target 25% tax free cash payment.  Some target flexible drawdown. Some target a date and just gradually move down.

 I don't invest in them but they seem like a safe option if you're the sort of person who doesn't want to take the more DIY approach into retirement.

Depends on what you mean by safe and to what degree the risk is reduced.

Statistically, it is something like around 15% of timescales shows risk reduction resulting in the best returns.    However, risk reduction is not about maximising returns but minimising loss as your timescale for investing is now much shorter.

There is also the risk that the so-called low-risk assets used to reduce volatility could end up being at a greater risk of a loss than the equities (albeit to a lower level).  Especially when we enter a period of rising interest rates and inflation.