Which Legal & General pension fund suits you depends on your plan and retirement date; L&G's own documents show the default and the choices.
The first question is which L&G pension you hold: a workplace plan your employer chose, or a Personal Pension you set up yourself, because each has its own fund range and default. Setting those choices against your own pot and plans is best done in conversation with an FCA-authorised adviser. Ask for that ring-back, free, in the form on this page.
Which Legal & General pension fund is best?
No fund is best for everyone, because the right one turns on how long you have until you take the money, how much of a fall you could stomach, and which L&G pension you hold. L&G's Personal Pension key features (April 2026) say the pot's value depends on, among other things, how well your fund performs and how much is taken out in charges. They add that the value "can go down as well as up, so you may get back less than you put in."
The same document says the default option was designed to be appropriate for most people, but "may not align with your personal circumstances or financial goals". A default is a starting point, not a verdict on your case.
The default fund in an L&G workplace pension
L&G says each of its workplace plans has its own range of investment options, so the list that applies is the one for the plan your employer chose (the joining letter says which). A WorkSave Pension Plan key features document says that if you make no choice you are placed in the option your employer chose for members who have not picked their own.
That document's worked examples use the Lifetime Advantage Funds, described as the default funds for the example company scheme. It describes them as a type of target date fund: you are matched to a fund by the date you plan to retire, in five-year ranges starting in July, and the investment mix is altered as that date nears. Holdings "may include company shares, bonds, cash and a range of private market or listed alternative asset classes". Your own employer's default may differ.
| Lifetime Advantage Fund (example scheme, key features Q0052996, April 2026) | Fund management charge as of 1 April 2026 |
|---|---|
| L&G PMC 2025–2030 and 2030–2035 Lifetime Advantage Fund 3 | 0.15% |
| L&G PMC 2035–2040 Lifetime Advantage Fund 3 | 0.23% |
| L&G PMC 2040–2045 to 2075–2080 Lifetime Advantage Fund 3 | 0.28% |
These are fund charges only; the plan charge is separate and agreed with the employer. The fees page covers both in Legal & General pension fees, and how the L&G workplace pension works covers contributions.
Personal Pension: default option, five funds or one fund
On its Personal Pension page L&G offers three routes: Simple Fund Choice, "five diversified funds based on your risk appetite"; the Default Investment Option, where "We’ll choose your funds and make your investment choices for you"; and the Self-Select Fund, where you "Choose a single fund from our wider range".
The key features add that the default option is a lifestyle profile: savings are moved into different funds as you approach your pension access age, the age you plan to start taking benefits, which you chose or L&G set. They say that age should be reviewed regularly. On charges, the fund management charge differs from fund to fund; their worked example uses the Multi-Index 3 Fund at 0.31% "(as at May 2024)". See what an L&G personal pension is.
Where L&G prints risk ratings and factsheets
L&G's workplace funds page lists a guide called Your investment options for each plan type. It "lists the funds and Lifestyle profiles that are available to you, providing information on charges and risk ratings as well as links to factsheets". A separate guide, Your guide to risk and reward, says "All types of investment involve a degree of risk". The Personal Pension key features say ongoing charges figures and other expenses sit in the fund factsheets on L&G's website.
Ratings and charges are listed fund by fund in the guide for your plan type, so check the ones for the funds you actually hold. Ask the call-back adviser how to read a rating against your timescale and your nerves, and they can do it free.
Best-performing L&G pension fund and growth rates
Which L&G fund has done best depends on the period you look at and the range in your plan, and past returns are no guide to future ones. To look a fund up, L&G points to its fund centre, an online tool for searching its funds, and to each fund's factsheet.
L&G's nearest figure to a growth rate is an assumption, not a past return: the WorkSave examples use a mid growth rate of 2.9% for 2026 for each Lifetime Advantage Fund, before inflation and charges, a rate L&G says will change every year. They also assume 2% inflation and reduce the growth rate to allow for it. They also warn that your own charges may be higher or lower than those used.
Checking and changing your L&G fund
The WorkSave document says: "You should regularly check that you’re invested in the right place, in line with your future plans." It adds that checking matters more as you get closer to accessing your pension savings. Funds can be changed "at any time" through your online account or by phone. L&G says it does not charge for changing funds now but that may change.
If you alter your retirement age, L&G says it will generally not automatically change your Lifetime Advantage Fund, so you may need to do it yourself. Fund choice also depends on your own timescale, so a free phone conversation, booked through the enquiry form here, lets an adviser look at the whole picture, including what L&G itself offers in advice.
Choosing a Legal & General fund: common queries
What is the Legal & General default pension fund?
In a workplace plan it is the option your employer chose; in the Personal Pension it is a lifestyle profile that moves savings between funds as your pension access age nears. Either may not suit your circumstances.
Why is my Legal & General pension losing money?
Pension values are not guaranteed. L&G's key features say a pot can "go down as well as up", and that charges also reduce it. Whether L&G is a good provider is a separate question.
What is an L&G target date fund?
It is a fund that matches a five-year range of retirement dates, and L&G says it changes the investments in it as the date nears. In the WorkSave example you are placed automatically in the fund for the retirement date your employer set, and can move to another; L&G's funds page notes that a 2050 retirement could fit either the 2045–2050 or 2050–2055 fund.
Can I choose funds outside L&G's standard range?
In a WorkSave plan your employer will tell you if you have that option, called self investment, which has its own Key Facts document. In the Personal Pension, the Self-Select route lets you pick a single fund from L&G's wider range.
How do I find the fund I am in now?
Log in to your online account, which L&G says shows "the funds you are invested in".
A second view on your fund choice
Choosing between funds is easier talked through; request a call-back from an adviser through the quote form here; it costs nothing. Other pensions and providers are compared in pension charges and fees and workplace pension providers.