PensionBee Investment Philosophy

1. Our investment philosophy 
2. Who we are 
3. Our plans
4. Our fees
5. How we approach risk 
6. Our money managers
7. Value for money 
8. Voting and stewardship

Our investment philosophy

PensionBee's investment philosophy is built around the needs of UK pension savers in a changing geopolitical and economic environment. We offer six pension plans, charge one annual fee with no hidden charges, and partner exclusively with institutional asset managers BlackRock, State Street, and HSBC. 

Our investment philosophy rests on five principles: diversification, fee transparency, simplicity, maximum FSCS protection, and responsible investing.

Diversified by design 

PensionBee believes that diversified pension investments reduce volatility and support stable long-term returns. Across all PensionBee plans, investments are diversified to prevent sector and country concentration risk, where relevant. 

We use pooled institutional funds to deliver levels of diversification that individual savers cannot replicate cheaply, quickly and easily on their own. By pooling assets into institutional funds, PensionBee gives UK individual savers access to similar diversification as large workplace pension schemes.

Diversification also provides behavioural protection. Customers invested in a diversified plan are less likely to panic-switch during a market downturn. Studies consistently show that investors who switch funds during downturns, stop contributing when markets fall, or chase recent strong performance, significantly underperform those who stay invested through the cycle.

For customers approaching retirement, our actively-managed, multi-asset 4Plus Plan addresses sequencing risk, the danger that a sharp market fall in the years immediately before retirement causes irreversible damage to savings with no time to recover. PensionBee's UK plan range spans 100% equity plans for long-term accumulators, multi-asset plans for balanced growth, and a money market plan for capital preservation close to retirement. All plans maintain global diversification across multiple sectors and geographies.

One simple fee

PensionBee’s annual fee covers the complete management of your pension. We believe that the total fee should be shown in both percentage terms and pounds by pot size, where appropriate. This means customers can see exactly what they will pay without doing complex calculations themselves. This contrasts with providers that list fees separately, requiring customers to add up individual charges. 

PensionBee's all-in fee covers: platform fees, fund fees, withdrawal fees, contribution fees, FX / trading fees, pension consolidation service with transfer support for old pots, in-house pensions administration, access to an institutional fund range with 100% FSCS protection, and personalised UK-based customer service through a named BeeKeeper with dedicated email and live-chat support. 

Straightforward choices

The pensions industry has historically overcomplicated saving for retirement. Many savers trying to take control of their pensions have often been perplexed by thousands of fund options, complex layered fee structures and jargon-heavy documents. Savers are left to navigate this alone, sometimes making poor decisions as a result, or often making no decision at all.

PensionBee believes that for the majority of savers, a small range of well-designed, clearly explained plans, each built for a specific stage of life or set of values, will support good retirement outcomes. 

PensionBee plans are designed to benefit from the effects of long term retirement saving. Our service and plans are designed for ease of investing. Customers select one plan, contribute regularly, and benefit from the effects of long term retirement saving. Customers at the point of drawdown also benefit from volatility management on their behalf in the 4Plus Plan.

Maximum FSCS protection 

PensionBee structures its UK plan range as life-wrapped institutional funds. This is the same type of product used in workplace pension schemes, and it differs to retail funds or ETFs. This means all PensionBee UK plans benefit from 100% FSCS protection with no upper limit in the event of money manager failure.

This is materially different from a SIPP holding retail funds or ETFs, which carries an £85,000 FSCS limit per person. Many PensionBee customers consolidate old workplace pension pots when joining and PensionBee's life-wrapped structure ensures they do not lose FSCS protection in the transfer. PensionBee believes that for savers entrusting decades of accumulated retirement savings, strong FSCS protection is important. 

Further detail on how FSCS protection works is available on the PensionBee FSCS page.

Responsible investing is in our customers' long-term financial interest

PensionBee applies baseline ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) exclusionary screens to its UK plans where a plan's objectives and asset mix allow. These screens are customer-led. They remove companies whose core business activities cause significant harm and pose long-term financial risk to our customers. 

Companies that manufacture controversial weapons, produce thermal coal or tobacco, or are persistent violators of the UN Global Compact face mounting regulatory, reputational and financial risks that could impair long-term returns. View the full breakdown of exclusionary screening by plan. 

Since 2023, PensionBee has exercised independent voting rights on shareholder resolutions using the ISS Socially Responsible Investment proxy voting policy. ISS SRI was selected because it best reflects what PensionBee customers have said they care about. 

From 2025, this Voting Choice has been active across plans representing approximately 95% of PensionBee's assets under management. PensionBee surveys customers annually to ensure the policy continues to reflect their evolving views.

 Customer voting reports are available for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Who we are

PensionBee was founded in 2014 with the mission to make pensions simple, so that everyone can retire with confidence. PensionBee serves everyday UK savers, people who have been traditionally underserved by the pensions industry, to offer an alternative to the complexity, lack of clarity and barriers to engagement that prevent many people from taking control of their retirement savings.

PensionBee's service is unique in the UK pension market. We offer consolidation support on old pension pots, with an in-house team managing complex transfers through to completion and flagging safeguarded or other benefits as part of the process. Every PensionBee customer receives ongoing personalised, UK-based customer service through their named BeeKeeper, available via live chat, email or phone.

Our plans

PensionBee offers six pension plans. Each plan is designed for a specific customer need. Customers can switch between PensionBee plans at any time as their circumstances change. 

View further detail on the full PensionBee UK plan range. 

Default plans

Global Leaders Plan (our default for customers under 50) invests in approximately 1,000 of the world's largest public companies via a customised MSCI Large Cap Index. It's a 100% equity plan designed for savers in accumulation who want maximum exposure to global markets. The plan is managed by BlackRock. The all-in fee is 0.70% (0.35% on savings over £100k).

4Plus Plan (our default for customers over 50) an actively managed multi-asset plan targeting a return of 4% above the Bank of England base rate (SONIA) over a rolling five-year period. The plan is designed to protect accumulated savings while supporting sustainable withdrawals for savers in decumulation. The plan is managed by State Street. The all-in fee is 0.85% (0.43% on savings over £100k).

Investment pathways 

PensionBee offers four FCA Investment Pathways for customers at or approaching retirement. These represent the most common retirement journeys, matched with four ready-made investment options, each aligned to a five-year retirement horizon. 

• Pathway 1 - Tracker Plan - for customers who wish to stay invested for the next five years. 
• Pathway 2 - 4Plus Plan - for customers who wish to set up a guaranteed income (annuity) within the next five years. 
• Pathway 3 - 4Plus Plan - for customers who wish to start taking their money as a long term income within the next five years. ‍
• Pathway 4 - Preserve Plan - for customers who wish to withdraw all their money within the next five years. 

Specialist plans

• Climate Plan tracks a customised MSCI Paris-Aligned index, targeting a 10% annual reduction in portfolio greenhouse gas emissions and excluding fossil fuel producers and is managed by State Street. 
• Shariah Plan invests in the world's largest Shariah-compliant companies, governed by a Shariah Supervisory Committee of Islamic scholars and is managed by HSBC. 

Our fees

PensionBee charges one all-in annual fee. Our fee covers complete plan management, in-house pension administration, pension consolidation, and personalised UK-based customer support through a named BeeKeeper. There are no platform fees, fund fees, withdrawal fees, contribution fees, FX fees or plan switching fees. 

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By way of illustration, a customer with a £100,000 pot in our Tracker Plan pays £500 per year. A customer with a £250,000 pot in the Tracker Plan would pay 0.50% on the first £100,000 but for the amount over £100,000 the fee would be halved to 0.25%. This means the overall blended annual fee would be £875, equivalent to 0.35%. 

Transaction costs, the costs of buying and selling the underlying assets within each fund, are separate from our fee and are a standard part of investing across a variety of products in financial services. Because we work with the world’s largest money managers we are able to keep these transaction costs low. They are not something PensionBee profits from. We publish these costs transparently on our transaction costs page. 

How we approach risk

PensionBee categorises investment risk by a plan's exposure to equities and corporate bonds, as these are the asset classes most exposed to market volatility: 

• Higher risk plans (>90% equities/corporate bonds) include our Global Leaders, Climate, and Shariah Plans which are appropriate for savers with longer time horizons and higher tolerance for short-term volatility.
• Medium risk plans (50–90% equities/corporate bonds) include our Tracker and 4Plus Plans which use a multi-asset approach, balancing growth and stability. The 4Plus Plan is also actively managed, so its asset mix can change weekly within this risk exposure. 
• Lower risk plan (<50% equities/corporate bonds), the Preserve Plan focuses on capital preservation with minimal market exposure.

We help customers to understand that higher short-term volatility is associated with higher long-term growth, and that switching to lower-risk plans during market downturns typically locks in losses rather than protecting savings.

Our money managers

PensionBee does not manage investments itself. PensionBee partners exclusively with three institutional asset managers: BlackRock, State Street Investment Management, and HSBC. As of December 2025, these three managers collectively oversee more than $14 trillion in assets.

When selecting plans, PensionBee evaluates and reviews plans through a request for proposals process that evaluates cost-effectiveness, alignment with customer objectives, risk management, governance quality, and FSCS protection. 

PensionBee only uses money managers that offer institutional-grade, life-wrapped fund structures with 100% FSCS protection.

Value for money

PensionBee has conducted value for money assessments since 2019, now incorporated into our annual Consumer Duty report. PensionBee's value for money assessment evaluates the total value delivered to customers by comparing the price and performance of each plan against a peer comparator set of defaults, investment pathways and specialist products across the full range of personal pension providers. The assessment is overseen by the PensionBee Board.

For investment pathways, PensionBee commissions an independent fair value assessment annually as part of its Governance Advisory Arrangement, ZEDRA Trustees, comparing costs, performance and service levels against the wider market. PensionBee has received an Excellent rating from ZEDRA for four consecutive years. Reports are available on the PensionBee Governance Advisory Arrangement page.

PensionBee has been recognised as a Best Buy Pension by Boring Money for six consecutive years, and received the Value for Money Winner award for two consecutive years and Best Customer Service for 2026.

AgeWage annually benchmarks the actual returns delivered to PensionBee customers against the UK market average. In 2025, PensionBee's plan range maintained an average AgeWage score of 81 out of 100, where 50 represents the market median.

Voting and stewardship

As stewards of our customers' retirement savings, we believe we have a responsibility to influence corporate behaviour in all their long-term interests.  

Since 2023, we have exercised independent voting rights on shareholder resolutions across our major plans, separate from the default votes of our money managers. We do this using the ISS Socially Responsible Investment proxy voting policy, which prioritises strong governance, credible climate strategies, fair capital structures, and robust accountability. View the voting approach for each plan.

We engage annually through customer surveys to assess whether this policy continues to reflect most of our customers' actual views. Our voting guidelines and reports are available in our ESG page.

We believe that active ownership is essential in a complex financial system, where the voice and views of the savers can rarely be heard. This responsibility increases as our scale grows. 

You can read more about our approach to Stewardship in our Sustainability Report. 

Last edited: 01-06-2026