About your DC benefits
Your defined contribution or DC benefits build up based on contributions (from you and Credit Suisse) and investment returns.
You choose investments from a range made available by the trustees, including a “default” option that you automatically go into if you don’t make another choice. You will find details of the investment options available in the investment choices guide, available to download from the Library.
If you stop contributing to your DC benefits (this would generally be because you leave Credit Suisse and go to work elsewhere) their value continues to change in line with the performance of your chosen investments. (The value of your benefits may increase or decrease, depending on investment performance, and is not guaranteed. You could get back less than the amount you paid in.)
You can change your investment choices at any time on the Fidelity PlanViewer website, even if you have left Credit Suisse. Visit the Do it online page.
Options when you retire from the Fund
Provide a pension for yourself by buying an annuity (a policy that pays an income for the rest of your life) from an insurance company. You would have access to a wide choice of providers and a range of different kinds of pension.
These can include:
- a “single life” pension – just for you;
- a level pension that starts with a higher amount than an increasing pension, but does not increase in the future
- a “joint life” pension that pays a pension to a dependant if you die before them; or
- a pension with increases – these can be fixed at a certain level (such as 3% a year) or linked to inflation, with or without an upper limit (such as in line with the rise in the Retail Prices Index, up to a limit of 3% a year).
Take up to a quarter of your savings as tax-free cash and buy a smaller pension with the rest.
If you are no longer working for Credit Suisse, you can take your DC benefits from the Fund at any time after your minimum retirement age (55 for most people). Different sections of the Fund may have different upper age limits for when you can take your benefits. Contact Fidelity for more information. Visit Help and contacts for their contact details.
How to retire
If you are still working for Credit Suisse, you may need to leave Credit Suisse’s employment before you can draw your retirement benefits. You will need to take this into account in the timing of your retirement.
You need to think about when you want to stop work and start taking your retirement benefits (ideally, at least five to ten years before you plan to retire). Please tell Fidelity your planned retirement date at least six months before you plan to retire, and preferably earlier. This is known as your Selected Retirement Date. If you have not chosen a Selected Retirement Date, Fidelity will assume you want to retire at your Normal Retirement Age. If you don’t know your Normal Retirement Age, or are not sure whether you have chosen a Selected Retirement Date, you can check this by going to Do it online or contacting Fidelity. Visit Help and contacts for their contact details.
Five years before your Selected Retirement Date, or your Normal Retirement Age if you have not chosen another retirement date, Fidelity will write to remind you to consider your retirement options and provide details of the tools available to help you. Two years before your Selected Retirement Date, or your Normal Retirement Age if you have not chosen another retirement date, you will receive a letter introducing you to the Fidelity Retirement Service Centre, which offers help and support with understanding your retirement options.
Six months before your Selected Retirement Date, or your Normal Retirement Age if you have not chosen another retirement date, Fidelity will send a “wake-up” pack which will include details of your retirement options You will then need to contact the Fidelity Retirement Service Centre, using the contact details in your wake-up pack, to discuss the retirement options that are available to you. Fidelity will also send you the forms you need to make your retirement choices.
You will need to decide how to take your benefits - for example, whether you want increases or a dependant’s pension, and whether you want to take any tax-free cash. The Trustee recommends that you take financial advice when considering the options available to you.
Once you have made your decisions, fill in the forms provided and return them to Fidelity two months before your planned retirement date.
Your DC benefits will be disinvested and used to buy your pension.
Any lifetime allowance tax charges due will usually be taken off before your benefits are paid. Visit Pensions and tax for more information about the lifetime allowance.
Transferring out
Before you retire, you may be able to take your savings out of the Fund completely and put them into another registered pension arrangement. You will need to check the receiving pension arrangement can accept the transfer. Beware of pension scams – see Pension scams for more information.
You can transfer your Fund benefits to the Credit Suisse Master Trust if you already have benefits in it. This option is not available if you don’t have existing benefits in the Master Trust.
Transferring out could give you access to more flexible retirement options that are not available from the Fund. Go to the Retirement options outside the Fund page for more information. Go to Do it online for details of the online modellers available to help you explore your options.
Let's look at an example
Check out the story below.
Jo has built up DC benefits of £100,000 in the Fund.
Once she reaches her minimum retirement age:
- she can take £25,000 of this as tax-free cash from the Fund
- she can use the rest to buy an annuity to suit her – for example, with increases or without, or
- she could transfer all her benefits out of the Fund to take advantage of the flexible retirement options available outside the Fund. She would be wise to consider taking financial advice.
Options outside the Fund
Outside the Fund she could invest her benefits and use them for drawdown now or in the future. She could take tax-free cash before using her benefits for drawdown. She would still have the option of buying an annuity in the future. She could also take all her benefits as cash and pay tax on three-quarters of the amount.