What is a With-Profits fund
Our With-Profits Fund is a pooled investment where your payments are added together with those of other investors.
We aim to secure the highest total return for the fund over the long term (after any tax and investment expenses) while maintaining an acceptable level of risk and protecting our planholders. In addition, we use our bonus process to smooth some of the highs and lows of short-term investment performance for you.
The value of your investment can go down as well as up so you might not get back the amount you put in. For investments in the With-Profits Fund, the value of the plan depends on how much profit the fund makes and how it's distributed.
What is smoothing?
The With-Profits Fund aims to smooth some of the highs and lows of short-term investment performance in order to provide a more stable return. We do this by holding back some of the investment returns in good years with the aim of using this to support bonus rates in the years where the investment returns are lower.
Smoothing offers some protection against bad market conditions. However, bear in mind that smoothing will not stop the value of your plan reducing if investment returns have been low.
If you have a Unitised With-Profits Plan and take money out of the Prudential With-Profits Fund, we may adjust the value of your plan if the value of the underlying assets is less than the value of your plan including all bonuses. This adjustment is known as a Market Value Reduction (MVR). It is designed to protect investors who are not taking their money out and its application means that you get a return based on the earnings of the With-Profits Fund over the period your payments have been invested. For more information on MVR, please see the Market Value Reduction - a clear explanation guide.
What does the Prudential With-Profits Fund invest in?
Prudential's With-Profits Fund is invested across a broad mix of assets both in the UK and abroad. The assets include company shares, property, fixed interest securities, and deposits.
What are bonuses?
Bonuses are the way we allocate your share of the profits of the fund. There are two types of bonuses:
The company's bonus plan aims to give each planholder a return which reflects the earnings on the underlying investments over the period of their investment, whilst smoothing some of the highs and lows of short-term investment performance.
Please note we are not recommending one product option over another. We recommend you seek financial advice if you're unsure about what product could be right for you.
View the expected and historic growth rates of our range of PruFund funds for each of our investment products.
Funds that invest in a diverse range of assets such as shares, fixed interest and property.
These funds are a good way for smaller investors to enjoy the power of big institutional investors.
View our PPFMs that explain how we manage our With-Profits fund.