Irish Life Indexed World Equity Fund

The Indexed World Equities Fund invests in equities and is designed to perform in line with the world stock market. It tracks the MSCI World Index rather than trying to pick individual winners. This means it aims to give broad exposure to shares across developed markets, with holdings that include large global companies such as NVIDIA, Apple and Microsoft.

Yes, the Indexed World Equities Fund is described as suitable for someone looking for global diversification when investing in shares. It spreads exposure across regions including the US, Eurozone, Japan, the UK and Asia Pacific ex Japan. That diversification can reduce reliance on any one country or market, although it does not remove market risk.

The Indexed World Equities Fund follows a passive investment style, so Irish Life Investment Managers seeks to track the MSCI World Index rather than make active stock-selection decisions. The fund is designed to be an efficient and cost-effective way to access world equities. For investors, this means the fund aims to mirror the market’s return profile instead of trying to outperform it.

The main risk highlighted for the Indexed World Equities Fund is currency exchange rates. Because the fund invests globally, changes in exchange rates can affect returns when foreign holdings are converted back into the investor’s base currency. In simple terms, even if the shares perform well, a weaker foreign currency can reduce the value received by the investor.

Yes, the Indexed World Equities Fund may use securities lending to earn an additional return for the fund. This can add extra income, but it also increases the level of risk in the fund. Securities lending means the fund temporarily lends out some of its holdings to other market participants in exchange for a fee.