20% of new pensions money goes into bonds, says Mercer

That has helped shift the average fund holding of equities down another 4% to 64% in the past year alone - a trend Mercer does not see changing. Bonds on average account for 34% of portfolios, and alternative assets such as property, hedge funds and private equity accounting for 2%. A major driver of the shift is the “maturing” of pension funds as expressed by the average proportion of members currently retired. Mercer says this figure gained another percentage point last year, meaning 36% of scheme members are now retired on average across the 360 schemes surveyed. Mercer expects ...