Whilst many pension plans from various countries differ from each other in some ways, there are several features of this pension plan which make it notably different from most other pension plans in general.
The first major difference is the guaranteed minimum return, which uses the mechanisms more commonly used by private banks to fix a minimum future value, and through the use of technology makes it available at a much lower entry level than would be offered by a private bank. The vast majority of pension plans available today do not offer a guaranteed minimum future value.
The second major difference is that each individual pension plan is held in its own, legally separated, segregated portfolio. This means that the assets of your pension plan are completely separated from the assets of other pension plan owners and company assets, eliminating any risk of your pension value being affected by the actions or inactions of any other person or entity. Most pension plans combine the assets and future liabilities of all pension plans and their owners, which often works just fine, but in many cases has led to serious problems and a reduction in the pension values – sometimes a complete wipe-out – for affected pension plan owners when something somewhere goes wrong. Being fully segregated prevents a low-probability/high-impact event of this type from even being a possibility for your pension plan.
Thirdly, unlike the vast majority of pension plans worldwide, this one is multi-jurisdictional and fully globally portable – you do not have to be a resident of any specific country to have this pension plan, and you are not forced to stop paying into it if and when you move countries. Since inception, Investors Trust have been 100% focussed on providing market-leading financial products to international expatriates (originally) and digital nomads (Investors Trust have been around since long before being a “digital nomad” was a thing).
A less important, but still highly valuable difference for digital nomads is that the full end-to-end process is 100% online, without any physical paperwork required. No “wet ink” signatures, no documents to get stamped and couriered somewhere – everything is done digitally, unlike the vast majority of pension-related insurance companies worldwide – even the ones which say they are focussed on international expatriates, somewhat incredibly. In addition to the obvious cost savings, environmental benefits, and ease of setting up and operating your pension plan, we think that the track record of Investors Trust - which has consistently demonstrated a desire to build fantastic innovative products, backed by world-class technology with regular upgrades as new technology emerges, AND always delivered in a (digital) way which makes it easy for both their customers and the financial professionals helping them – is a very good endorsement of their commitment to the global nomadic expatriate community and a good indicator of how they will continue to operate in future, which is a very important thing to consider when choosing a company to do business with for your medium-to-long term financial planning. Some of the PensionsForNomads team have been recommending this pension plan and other products from Investors Trust to their private clients (and colleagues!) for nearly a decade, and have this pension plan for their own retirement planning.
So yeah, we think it’s different from the others – and better :-)