Income share classes and what they quietly change

Accumulation units reinvest inside the fund. Income units pay out. Neither is morally superior; each changes the homework. Income units can fund living costs without forced sales, yet dividends that land in cash and stay there become an accidental overweight to liquidity.

In allocation reviews we ask where distributions go. If they fund spending, we count that in the income plan. If they were meant to compound, we either switch share class where available or schedule a standing investment back into the underweight sleeve.

Check your last twelve months of distributions. If a meaningful sum sat in the broker cash line, your effective allocation already drifted — even if you never placed a discretionary trade.