Standard Life Launches Active Money Personal Pension Online

LONDON, Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard Life has launched the Active Money Personal Pension (AMPP) online, available via the Standard Life website.  The AMPP combines an easy purchase process with total flexibility and a broad range of investment funds with the benefits of tax-relief, where for every 80 pounds Sterling the customer invests, the tax man tops up with a further 20 pounds.

Available from 80 pounds a month* or a single payment of 800 pounds, AMPP has been designed to attract new customers who have to date not used pensions as a way of planning for the future.

Mark Till, director, Standard Life Direct, commented: "We have developed the Active Money Personal Pension to directly address the preconception that people think a pension is inflexible and inaccessible. Customers are daunted not only by the amount of money they need to invest but also where to invest.  We have paid very careful attention in the development of our online application process to make it as easy as possible for customers to start investing for their futures.

"In user testing, simple steps like demonstrating the value of tax-relief,  ensuring customers select the right investment funds to meet their attitude to risk, and showing a pension can be flexible were very well received."

Standard Life found customers were daunted by the investment options available and in reply has made available the MyFolio** funds, which are a range of risk based portfolios which are monitored and rebalanced automatically.  MyFolio offers customers a simple choice of active and tracker based investment strategies across five risk levels; MyFolio Market Funds - a lower cost option investing mainly in tracker funds, Standard Life MyFolio Funds - an actively managed and competitively priced option that invests mainly in funds managed by Standard Life Investments and MyFolio Multi-Manager Funds - portfolios of carefully selected funds from some of the leading managers in the market.

The Standard Life MyFolio Funds are also available as a lifestyling profile which automatically moves the customer's investments into less volatile funds as they approach retirement, reducing volatility and uncertainty.

Standard Life has also developed its online systems to include CustomerZone, where customers can check the current value of their pension, switch funds, change the amount being invested, make additional payments and also get updated projections to show how much they may get in the future.

In conjunction with the launch of the AMPP, Standard Life has also launched an online Pension Planner tool, to help engage with a new generation of customers who have yet to take control of their long-term financial planning.  The Pension Planner tool takes customers through six simple steps to help show the benefits of saving for the long term while also calculating any potential shortfall.  Customers can include details of any previous pension plans and change retirement dates to see how this might affect their plans.

Notes to Editors:

* Figures quoted are before basic-rate tax relief, currently 20%.  For basic-rate tax payers, Standard Life will claim the 20% tax-relief on the customer's behalf. Higher-rate or additional rate taxpayers may qualify for extra tax relief.  If this is the case, the first 20% is claimed by Standard Life, and the customer claims the additional relief through their tax return.

** The MyFolio Funds are a family of carefully constructed risk-based portfolios, managed by Standard Life Investments.  A committee oversees the fund research process and includes independent experts from outside Standard Life group.

About Standard Life:

Standard Life is a leading long term savings and investments company headquartered in Edinburgh and operating internationally. Established in 1825, Standard Life provides life assurance, annuities, investment funds, tax efficiencies, pensions including self invested personal pensions (SIPP) company pensions and employer pensions, and investment management to over 6.5 million customers worldwide.

SOURCE Standard Life