Recommendations for redundancy lump sum

[Warren]

Hi guys,

A relative of mine will soon be taking up a redundancy offer and will be getting a sum of just over 100k. He is 3 years short of retirement and will be getting a very average pension at that point so he will be hoping to use this lump sum to contibute to his living expenses during retirement (either through return on the lump sum or direct withdrawls from the capital sum). The following are what I see as the options open to him

• Keep the lump sum on deposit, either on demand or in a term deposit account. Even at some of the best deposit rates this isnt going to add a very big sum to his pension each year
• Purchase some high yielding Irish shares (perhaps in combination with keeping some of the sum on deposit) - this has regularly been mentioned in other threads
• Invest in some of the many funds/bonds offered by the various financial instutions. A lot of these include some form of capital guarantee (which would be attractive to my relative as he is pretty risk averse) but from what I understand these arent a great option and it should be possible to achieve a return similar to those hoped for by these product by purchasing your own combination of equities, bonds and deposits.
• I dont see property as an option for various reasons

What I am wondering is if there are other possible options. Is it possible for him to use this lump sum to purchase an ARF or an annuity? If so what would the benefits of these be?

I do intend to ask my relative to go see a professional regarding this issue as Im sure there may be tax issues etc which may impact his overall decision.

Thanks in advance for any advice offered,
Warren

 

[Gautama]

Your relative should seek independent professional advice.

However, here are my amateur views:

He is 3 years short of retirement ...

The general wisdom is the closer your are to the retirement age, you should go for low risk/low return investments.

• Keep the lump sum on deposit, either on demand or in a term deposit account. Even at some of the best deposit rates this isnt going to add a very big sum to his pension each year

This is low risk/low return and is ideal. Put most in term deposit, some in demand.

• Purchase some high yielding Irish shares (perhaps in combination with keeping some of the sum on deposit) - this has regularly been mentioned in other threads

Can't discuss individual shares on this website, but consult the Sunday Business Post for the ISEQ tables. You can figure out the high yield shares from this. I don't know if the yield will be greater than deposit account.
Also, market have been going south of late. I don't see them picking up too soon.

• Invest in some of the many funds/bonds offered by the various financial instutions. A lot of these include some form of capital guarantee (which would be attractive to my relative as he is pretty risk averse) but from what I understand these arent a great option and it should be possible to achieve a return similar to those hoped for by these product by purchasing your own combination of equities, bonds and deposits.

Bonds sound good but I don't know much about them and cannot comment.

What I am wondering is if there are other possible options. Is it possible for him to use this lump sum to purchase an ARF or an annuity? If so what would the benefits of these be?

Again, I don't know much about them and cannot comment.

I do intend to ask my relative to go see a professional regarding this issue as Im sure there may be tax issues etc which may impact his overall decision.

Thanks in advance for any advice offered,
Warren

Just beware of the potential pitfalls of the advice on this site, and
your relative should seek independent professional advice.