For the whole year, the returns from equities stood at 33.3 percent, beating fixed income which returned 12.7 percent and offshore investments at 25.9 percent.

The higher returns from the riskier stock market investments thus benefited aggressive schemes more than their moderate and conservative counterparts. Zamara rates aggressive schemes as those which allocate less than 65 percent of their assets to the risk-free fixed income class. Moderates schemes allocate between 65 and 80 percent of their assets to fixed income, while the conservative schemes put in more than 80 percent.

Zamara surveyed 419 schemes with a total of Sh885 billion of assets under management.