Balancing risk and returns

Bonds can play a key part in building an investment portfolio.

UK government bonds, also known as gilts, are debt securities issued by the UK government. They are used to finance the government’s borrowing requirements and are often seen as a safe haven asset by investors.

Gilts are traded on the London Stock Exchange and the payments on gilts are fixed, meaning that they provide a predictable income stream for investors.

Fixed income portfolio

Investors who place large portions of their portfolio in fixed income investments are usually looking for a regular, secure income stream. They are often retired and reliant on their investments or pension to provide a monthly income.

Gilts are typically issued with maturities of between one month and 30 years. During that lifetime, they usually pay a set amount of annual income – the ‘coupon’. They can be held to maturity or sold prior to maturity if the investor needs access to the funds.

Significant growth

The UK government bond market is one of the deepest and most liquid markets in the world. It is also one of the most important financial markets. The size of the UK government bond market has grown significantly in recent years.

The main factors affecting the price of bonds are: Interest rate risk – the direction interest rates are moving; Credit risk – the perceived risk associated with the issuer; Duration risk – the amount of time left before the issuer has to repay the bond holder.

Heightened volatility

Shorter-dated bonds – those that will redeem within five years – are less price sensitive to interest rate movements than longer-dated bonds. This means prices tend to move up or down less when interest rates rise or fall.

Following the Mini-Budget and the government’s fiscal plan announcements on September 23, the UK government bond market experienced heightened volatility, with the market posting some of its largest daily swings on record.

Interest rate hikes

As a result, gilt yields rose steeply as investors assimilated the expected £62.4bn increase in gilt sales over 2022/23, and substantially increased their expectations of interest rate hikes from the Bank of England. On the day of the announcement, the ten-year UK government bond yield rose from 3.45% before the Chancellor’s statement to end the day at 3.83%, marking its largest one-day move for more than 30 years.

As a result, gilt indices fell 2.6% on the day. The yield subsequently rose above 4.5% before falling back to around 4% by the morning of Friday 30 September. This followed the Bank of England announcing on Wednesday 28 September a large-scale purchase.

Emergency intervention

The Bank launched its emergency intervention after an unprecedented sell-off in long-dated UK government bonds that threatened to collapse multiple liability driven investment (LDI) funds, widely held by UK pension schemes. On the day the Bank of England stepped up its bond-buying support, the International Monetary Fund stated that a ‘change in fiscal policy’ would help calm bond markets.

There are some mitigating factors that provide greater context to the market reaction, such as the fact that the Mini-Budget came at a time when global markets were looking fragile, with US bond yields and the US dollar both moving higher for much of September. Still, the relative moves compared to US and European equivalents suggest that there were clearly UK-specific factors at play following the Mini-Budget.

THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENTS CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP AND YOU MAY GET BACK LESS THAN YOU INVESTED.

Unretirement

More over-50s returning to work amid cost-of-living crisis.

Older workers have been leaving the jobs market in their droves over the past two years, partly due to many re-evaluating what they want from their lives and careers during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and also due to the devastating impact the pandemic had on the prospects for many older jobseekers, who felt they had no choice but to leave the workforce.

But the cost-of-living crisis is now affecting some pensioners drastically, with more older people starting to return to work amid the ongoing crisis, new research has highlighted[1]. The findings identified economic activity levels among the over-50s are now at their highest since the pandemic began.

Impacting pensions

Analysis of official statistics appears to show the first signs of a return to the long-term trend of more economically active people over the age of 50 – a decades-long trend which, it said, was reversed by the pandemic.

Spiralling inflation and turbulent financial markets impacting pension funds are causing some people to unretire and find work again. There has been an increase in economic activity (those in work or looking for work) of 116,000 among the over-50s in the past year. More than half of the increase is being driven by men over the age of 65.

Retiring comfortably

In some ways, the pandemic forced the hands of many and gave them an opportunity to trial retirement. An early retirement can often seem like a dream when you’re stuck in the thick of the daily grind but, for many, giving up work abruptly can also result in a loss of structure, social connections and purpose, which can leave people feeling lost at times.

The current economic climate means that some people who thought they could retire comfortably during the pandemic are now having to unretire and find work again to bring in some extra income and top up their pensions while they still can.

Source data:

[1] Analysis by www.restless.co.uk – Economic activity levels amongst people over the age of 50 hit their peak of just over 11 million just before the pandemic in the three-month period from December 2019 – February 2020. Since then, we have seen a decades-long trend reverse, with economic activity levels of workers aged over 50 falling by as much as 223,000 during the pandemic.

Bridging the gender pensions gap

Women left with half the pension pot, no matter the job.

We’ve all heard about the gender pay gap, but very few discuss the gender pensions gap, despite the fact so many women experience it. Women’s pensions at retirement are half the size of men’s, regardless of the sector they work in, new research has highlighted[1].

The gender pension gap is the percentage difference in income between men’s and women’s pensions and it begins at the very start of a woman’s career.

Long-term financial impact

The research found that every single industry in the UK has a gender pensions gap, even those dominated by female workers. Considering women are likely to live four years[2] longer than men, this issue deepens as they need to have saved around 5% to 7% more at retirement age.

Worryingly, more than a third (38%) of women who have taken a career break were not aware of the long-term financial impact it would have on their pension.

Three key industries

According to the research, the gender pensions gap exists regardless of average pay across different sectors, and ranges from a gap of 59% in the healthcare industry, to 13% in courier services.

The healthcare (59%), construction (51%), real estate/property development (48%), pharmaceutical (46%), aerospace, defence and government services (46%), and senior care (45%) sectors were found to have the largest gender pensions gaps. Of these six sectors, three are key industries for female employment – healthcare, pharmaceuticals and senior care[3].

Lower pensions contributions

There are many reasons for the gender pensions gap, ranging from women holding fewer senior positions and being paid less, resulting in lower pensions contributions, to the fact they are more likely to take career breaks due to caring responsibilities.

Of those that have taken a career break, 38% did not know the financial impact it had on their pension contributions[4].

Gender confidence gap

Another potential driver is a significant gender confidence gap when it comes to managing pension pots. More than a quarter (28%) of women said they had confidence in their ability to make decisions about their pension, compared to almost half (48%) of men[5].

This lack of confidence extends further to other financial decisions, with women less likely than men to feel confident managing their investments (22% of women versus 41% of men), and their savings (56% of women versus 67% of men).

While many factors behind the gender pension gap are out of most people’s control, there are some actions you can take to help reduce it:

Contribute as much as you can to your pension – and start early.
Compound interest remains hugely underrated and poorly understood by both some men and women.
Check the charges on your historic pension pots. If appropriate, see if consolidating your pots will bring them down.
Check how much your State Pension will be and when you’ll get it. If it’s not going to support your ideal lifestyle, plan how you’ll cover any shortfall.
Put a bit more into your pension whenever you get a pay rise.
Talk through your pension planning with your partner.
Make sure you know about each other’s saving plans, contribution limits and that you are both on the same page.
Keep a regular eye on your pension to make sure you’re in full control of it and saving for your ideal future.

Source data:

[1] The analysis is based on LGIM’s proprietary data on c.4.5 million defined contribution members as at 1 April 2022 but does not take into account any other pension provision the customers may have elsewhere.
[2] ONS: Life expectancy at birth in the UK: 82.9 years for women vs 79 years for men; Office for National Statistics, 2018 – 2020. Average four years.
[3] According to the ratio of female members across the Legal & General book of business.
[4] Legal & General Insight Lab survey of 2,135 workplace members was conducted between 4–26 July 2022.
[5] Opinium survey of 2,001 UK adults was conducted between 4–8 February 2022.

A PENSION IS A LONG-TERM INVESTMENT NOT NORMALLY ACCESSIBLE UNTIL AGE 55 (57 FROM APRIL 2028 UNLESS PLAN HAS A PROTECTED PENSION AGE).

THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENTS (AND ANY INCOME FROM THEM) CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP WHICH WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE LEVEL OF PENSION BENEFITS AVAILABLE.

YOUR PENSION INCOME COULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BY THE INTEREST RATES AT THE TIME YOU TAKE YOUR BENEFITS.

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Month: November 2022