Irish Life Indexed Commodities

The Indexed Commodities Fund does not buy physical commodities such as oil or metals directly. Instead, it invests in financial instruments linked to commodity prices and aims to track the Goldman Sachs Light Energy Total Return Index. The fund is exposed across commodity areas including energy, agriculture, industrial metals, livestock and precious metals.

The Indexed Commodities Fund follows a passive approach, meaning it is designed to perform in line with the Goldman Sachs Light Energy Total Return Index rather than trying to beat it. Its objective is to track that index as closely as possible. The fund is managed by Irish Life Investment Managers.

The Indexed Commodities Fund is designed to give exposure to commodities, which often behave differently from shares and bonds. That difference can help spread risk across a wider portfolio and may reduce overall long-term risk. The fund’s factsheet says commodities have historically delivered similar long-term returns to shares, but with different behaviour over time.

The Indexed Commodities Fund has counterparty risk and currency exchange risk. Counterparty risk means the other party to the linked financial contracts may fail to pay what they owe, which could leave the investor with less than expected. Currency exchange risk means movements in exchange rates can affect returns if the underlying exposure is in a different currency.