Looking forward, the variety of products that can be purchased in personal retirement accounts has increased.
On December 12, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and other five departments jointly issued a notice on the comprehensive implementation of the personal retirement pension system, which will be implemented nationwide on December 15.
In this expansion of the investment scope, Index Funds have been included in the investment scope.
As of press time, A-shares in Hk are all rising, with Hang Seng Index (800000.HK) up 1.67%, Hang Seng TECH Index (800700.HK) up 2.39%.
The person in charge of the personal Retirement business at GF Fund expressed that from the perspective of product expansion, on one hand, index funds in recent years are being increasingly recognized by more investors for their clear style, low fees, etc., and including index funds in the scope of personal Retirement can provide more diversified choices for individual investors, making it easier for investors to reasonably arrange Retirement assets from the perspective of Retirement asset allocation, with the ultimate goal of increasing the Retirement replacement rate; on the other hand, from the perspective of nurturing and guiding more medium and long-term funds into the market, Retirement funds are truly long-term funds. Opening up the path for personal Retirement funds to invest in index funds can also bring more incremental funds to the market, thereby enhancing market stability.
E Fund believes that the inclusion of index funds in personal retirement funds is due to the fact that index funds, with their low fees, transparency, and risk diversification, have become an important tool for global pension investments. For example, nearly 50% of assets in US pension funds are invested in index funds, which to some extent proves that there is a strong alignment between index funds and long-term pension investment needs. To promote the improvement of the personal pension system, it is necessary to provide investors with more diverse and transparent, lower-cost investment tools, and including index funds in personal retirement funds can better meet the individual retirement allocation needs of residents.
Including index funds in personal retirement funds can, on one hand, provide more diverse investment options for personal pension accounts, meeting the investment needs of different risk preferences and life stages. On the other hand, the simplicity and transparency of index funds also help reduce the decision-making difficulties for ordinary investors, enhance investors' participation in personal pension accounts, thereby promoting the expansion of the scale and market penetration rate of personal pension business, further improving the pension system in China.
E Fund further stated that the newly included broad-based and dividend two types of products are well aligned with the long-term stable value-added investment objectives of pension funds. Broad-based indexes reflect the overall performance of a certain market type, covering a wide range of industries, with a large number of constituent stocks, and risks are more diversified. Pension investments often last for more than ten years or even decades, and in an economy with healthy and sustainable development prospects and an upward market trend, investing in broad-based indexes can help pension investors share the benefits of economic growth and achieve long-term stable returns. Dividend strategy indexes focus on long-term consistently high dividend-paying listed companies, many of which have stable operations, strong profitability, and ample cash flow. In a volatile market environment, investing in dividend indexes can help pension investors obtain stable dividends and share the long-term performance growth returns of listed companies.
Fuguo Fund's fund manager Wang Lele stated that the third pillar is mainly to meet the individual retirement needs of residents, and since residents have very different ages, risk preferences, and occupational differences, this determines the diversity in individual clients' retirement product choices. To give a simple example, for young people, they can choose products with a relatively higher proportion of equity assets; for investors with high risk preferences, they can appropriately choose more flexible index products; for employees in a single industry, they can consider allocating pension funds to index funds in other industries to reduce personal retirement exposure in a single area.
He further mentioned that index enhancement and ETF linked funds are both index series products, with benchmark indices that clearly and transparently demonstrate the investment direction and scope of the products. Investors who understand the reasons behind their investment choices can select sectors they are bullish on, which is beneficial for incorporating their own professional preferences and factors such as personal retirement planning.
Currently, the market's index series products are diverse, providing more choices for personal retirement. Looking at the indices, there are core broad-based indices such as the Csi 300 Index, CSI 500 Index, CSI A500 Index, Chinext Price Index, as well as strategy indices like the SSE Dividend Index. Each type of index has significantly different risk-return characteristics, allowing for the construction of more diverse personal retirement investment strategies.