Individual investment choices

The aim of MAP is to assist you to achieve long-term financial security through regular savings. MAP gives you considerable choice and flexibility. You choose how your contributions are invested through a range of carefully designed strategies that can be tailored to your specific requirements.

The choice of investment options is one of the most important decisions that you will have to make as members of a Provident Fund. The potential of the fund to grow must be weighed against a level of risk acceptable to you. Everyone is different but it is likely that as you approach retirement your attitude to risk will become more conservative.

• When you join MAP you can choose one investment option or a mix of options
• You can make different choices for your current account balance or for your future contributions.

Below we provide some general guidance on what is risk and return and how to balance this based on your preferences.

• Risk: This is usually measured by how much the price of an investment option fluctuates. The more extreme the fluctuations, the higher the potential for gains or losses. Therefore, you should also consider that if you invest in an option with a lower risk, the potential for growth will be low.
• Time: If you are only investing for a short time (e.g. if you are close to retirement), you may not wish to take many risks with your choice since you may not have enough time to make up any losses. However, over a longer term it is possible to make up for any losses.
• Return: This is what you expect your investment choice to grow by over time. Usually, the greater the risk the greater the potential return. However, there is also the risk of too little return, which will erode the value of your investment over time, especially true in times of high inflation.

Primary investment objective for all Investment choices

To invest prudently so that the reasonable expectations of members can be met at the level of risk chosen by the member. The objectives set relate to the real value of the members benefits and thus risk and return objectives are linked to inflation.

To meet this objective, the Management Committee established Investment Strategy Options.