Smart Investing

What is Smart Investing? 

In your pension scheme money is put aside for you for the moment you stop working. You use this money to buy a pension benefit at your retirement age from an insurer of your choice.  

The money of your Zwitserleven Pensioen is invested until you retire. If you make no other choices, your pension capital will be invested by default via the Smart Standard. Zwitserleven uses the Smart Standard to ensure that your investments match your age, your salary and your retirement age.  

In the Smart Standard we invest for you in the following funds:  

  • The Rendement Fund 
    • This fund invests in a basket of different investment funds with the aim of achieving a good return at an acceptable risk. Investments are made in stocks, real estate, emerging market debts and credits. 
  • The Matching funds: Long and Short 
    • As you get older and closer to your retirement age, you will invest more and more in the Matching funds. In these funds you invest in government bonds. The purpose of these funds is to minimize the risk of setbacks so that you can purchase the pension you expect.  
       
      Setbacks can arise if interest rates fall or prices rise (inflation) in the period before your retirement date. In case of a lower interest rate, insurers ask more capital for the same pension benefit. The purchase of a pension benefit is more expensive in case of a lower interest rate. And with increasing inflation, you can buy less with the same pension benefit, because everything becomes more expensive.  
       
      The Matching Funds offer you protection, because the return is linked as much as possible to the rate that insurers use to convert your capital into a monthly payment. We also ensure that your capital moves with the development of prices. If prices rise, your capital will increase and you can purchase a higher pension benefit from an insurer.  

It is possible to invest differently than based on the Smart Standard. One of the possible choices is Smart Investing. If you choose for Smart Investing, you no longer invest on the basis of the Smart Standard. But even with Smart Investing you do not have to choose the investment funds yourself.  

With Smart Investing you choose for a desired pension income after your retirement. Under the guidance of Zwitserleven, an investment mix is ​​chosen with the greatest possible chance of this income.  

We will continue to reduce the risks for you as you get older and your retirement date approaches. You invest in the same Matching and Rendement funds, only with a different distribution than in the Smart Standard. 

Who is Smart Investing intended for? 

Smart Investing can be suitable if you want to influence your expected pension income, but do not want to choose the investment funds yourself. This can be useful if the expected total income you will receive after retirement does not match the income you expect to need after retirement. To assess this you need to examine the following: 

A. The total income you will receive after retirement.

This income can consist of: 

  • AOW, everyone who lives or works in the Netherlands receives a benefit from the government. For more information, go to the SVB website.
  • Pension that you accrue with Zwitserleven through your current employer. 
  • Pension that you have accrued with any previous employers. 
  • Annuities or bank savings. 
  • Savings or investments. 
  • Work, if you choose to continue working after retirement. 

On the participant portal you can enter the pension you’ve accrued with previous employers in the Inventory section. It is also possible to enter your own resources such as savings.  

Also check on mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl how much pension income you expect and how much your partner, if any, will receive. 

B. The income you will need after retirement.

For example expenses for your home (rent or mortgage), household expenses, transportation (car or public transportation), energy, insurance, leisure and vacation. 

On the participant portal you can enter your own expenses in the Inventory section. It is also possible to start from sample amounts from the Nibud

If you examine both parts (A: income you receive and B: income you need), you will get a good estimate of your own situation. And you can assess whether Smart Investing can be useful for adjusting your expected pension income. 

More useful information can be found on the website: Rondkomen na pensionering | Nibud 

When is Smart Investing suitable? 

There are advantages and disadvantages to choosing Smart Investing. Whether it suits you depends on what you find important. And your financial situation, now and in the future.  

Pros

  • You can adjust your expected pension income yourself without having to choose the investment funds yourself. 

  • You may be able to achieve a higher return than with the Smart Standard. 

  • You can match the risk of your investments with your personal situation (risk profile) better than on the basis of the Smart Standard. 

  • As your retirement date approaches, we will still ensure that you invest less risky, just like in the Smart Standard.  

  • You can combine Smart Investing with other choices that affect your investments, such as choosing for a different retirement age (adjusting the retirement age) or choosing for a fixed or variable benefit. For these choices, see the information on this website. 

  • You are free at any time to adjust your expected income within Smart Investing (with other investments as a result). 

Cons

  • You can possibly achieve a lower return than with the Smart Standard. Zwitserleven is not responsible for the return on investments and whether this yields the expected pension.

  • You cannot go back from Smart Investing to the Smart Standard. 

  • You cannot combine Smart Investing with Self Investing or the Pension Stabiliser. For these choices, see the information on this website. 

  • You are responsible for ensuring that the risk of your investments matches your personal situation (risk profile). When choosing for or changing within Smart Investing, Zwitserleven determines whether the risk you can and want to take fits the chosen investment mix. If this is not the case, we will suggest an alternative. 

Suitable:

  • If your expected pension income does not match what you need and you want to make adjustments accordingly.  

  • If you want to influence the risk of your investments yourself, but you do not want to select the investment funds yourself. 

  • If you want to invest more or less risky than on the basis of the Smart Standard. 

Not suitable:

  • If you want to continue to invest based on the Smart Standard, with which Zwitserleven ensures that your investments match your age, your salary and your retirement age. 

  • If you want to choose which investment funds to invest in. In this case Self Investing may be interesting. 

  • If you want more certainty about the amount of your pension than is possible through Smart Investments because you do not want to invest in the Rendement fund. In that case, investing in the Pension Stabiliser may be interesting. 

    What other options are there for your investments? 

    If you want to increase your expected pension income, or if you want to choose for more certainty by accepting a lower expected pension income, you can also adjust the investment risk in other ways.  

    • By choosing pre-sorting on a variable benefit. We then phase out the investments in the Rendement fund later and more slowly. This increases the chance of a higher return.  
    • By choosing a different retirement age. We then phase out the investments in the Rendement fund from a different time and at a different speed than on the basis of the standard retirement age. The risks will be reduced automatically as your chosen retirement date approaches. 
    • By choosing Self Investing and deciding for yourself in which investment funds to invest for you. In contrast to Smart Investing, the risk of your chosen mix is ​​then no longer automatically reduced as you get older and approach your retirement age.  
    • By choosing the Pension Stabiliser. You then no longer invest in the Rendement fund. And then take even less risk than within Smart Investing. 

    How do you choose Smart Investing? 

    If you do not make a choice, we will invest for you on the basis of the Smart Standard. 

    On the Dashboard of your participant portal you can adjust your investments via the arrow “Adjust investments” in the tile “Your pension investments”. Via the button “What choices do you have?” you can then open the selection menu for Smart Investing.  

    In this menu you can adjust your expected pension income yourself. An investment mix is ​​determined for you with the greatest possible chance of achieving this expected pension income. In this menu you can also see your income if things are going well (optimistic income) or if things are against you (pessimistic income). We also show your investments before and after your choice before you confirm your choice. 

    Subsequently, a questionnaire is used to test whether the selected investment allocation based on Smart Investing is suitable for you based on your risk profile.   

    If you submit the choice for a change to Smart Investing at least a few working days before the end of the month, this change will be processed in the following month. If you wish, you can switch at any time later to a different option within Smart Investing, Self Investing or the Pension Stabiliser via the menu described above. 

    When does your choice for Smart Investing end automatically? 

    If you have chosen for Smart Investing, you will continue to invest on the basis of the selected investment allocation until you retire. This is the investment allocation determined by the expected income at the time of your choice.  

    Due to changed circumstances, with this investment allocation you may now be heading for a different expected pension income than you would like. However, your investment allocation will not be adjusted by us. Even if you leave your employer before your retirement date, you will continue to invest in the same investment allocation.  

    The Smart Investing option is only automatically stopped when you retire. At that point, all your investments will be sold. 

    How do you stop Smart Investing? 

    You cannot go back from Smart Investing to the Smart Standard. You can, however, adjust your expected income at any time or, if your employer offers this, switch to Self Investing or to the Pension Stabiliser. 

    On the Dashboard of your participant portal you can adjust your investments via the arrow “Adjust investments” in the tile “Your pension investments”. Via the button “What choices do you have?” can you submit the change. 

    Need advice?

    We are pleased to assist you with your retirement choices. Those choices can have major financial implications. Our guidance is only about your Zwitserleven Pensioen. Whether a choice is right for you naturally depends on your entire personal situation. Now and in the future. Have you thought about asking an advisor? They can give you an overview of all your financial affairs. And help you make the most appropriate choices.