5. PruFund: supporting confident retirement planning
For many clients approaching retirement, emotional security can feel just as important as market performance. The journey from saving to spending is rarely linear, and clients need support not just at the destination, but throughout the transition.
PruFund is designed to support that journey, aiming to protect clients from some of the short-term ups and downs of direct stock market investments by using an established smoothing mechanism and globally diversified multi-asset portfolios.
“Retirement isn’t just a financial milestone – it’s an emotional shift. With PruFund, we help clients feel confident not just about what they’ve saved, but how they’ll use it. Through a unique combination of Scale, Structure and Smoothing we aim to mitigate against the risk of market volatility and support structured income drawdown. This enables advisers to guide clients from cautious savers to purposeful spenders. And with the proposed inheritance tax changes, helping clients make timely decisions about their pension wealth has never been more important.” Kirsty Wright, M&G Director of PruFund Proposition
PruFund helps supports this behavioural shift seeking to grow investors’ money over the medium to long term (at least 5-10 years), helping investors stay on track especially during periods of market uncertainty that could derail their long-term plans.
With over £65 billion under management, PruFund combines multi-asset diversification, access to private markets and a smoothing mechanism that helps reduce the impact of short-term market volatility.
How PruFund supports the saver-to-spender transition:
- Dampens volatility and sequencing risk, helping protect capital during early retirement income drawdown.
- Improves investor composure, making it easier for clients to stay invested and spend steadily through market ups and downs.
- Adds diversification and balance, complementing traditional multi-asset strategies and reducing hidden risks like unduly high market-weighted index concentration in certain areas like the US.
As part of this journey, advisers can also help clients distinguish between different types of spending in retirement. Essential spending, such as household bills and everyday living costs, can be covered by the Prudential Guaranteed Income Plan, offering predictable income and peace of mind.
Meanwhile, discretionary spending, for example for holidays, hobbies, or later-life healthcare, can be supported by PruFund, which offers growth potential and flexibility. This layered approach helps clients feel more secure and purposeful in how they use their wealth.
For advisers, PruFund can offer a practical way to bridge the emotional and financial gap many clients face, supporting not just the outcome, but the journey from cautious saver to confident spender.
It’s important to remember, that while funds remain invested, their value can go down as well as up, so clients might not get back the amount they put in.
