# Moving personal pension into company pension



## tosullivan (4 Jan 2011)

I've been working for a company for about 10yrs and up until now I have just been putting my pension payments into a personal pension as they had none set up.

Now they are setting up a pension scheme for employees so I'd like to transfer my personal pension fund balance into this scheme if possible without incurring any penalties.  Is this possible?

I also have a company pension from the previous company I worked for just sitting idle for the last 10yrs and would also like to transfer this balance in if possible.


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## LDFerguson (6 Jan 2011)

The question of whether or not a transfer will incur penalties is always one for the product provider, e.g. Irish Life, Canada Life etc.  Some pension products charge penalties for transferring out before retirement; some don't.  It would be written into your policy conditions, or you can just ask the broker, sales person or pension company you started your pension with.  

What type of pension scheme is your current employer setting up?  If it's an Occupational Pension Scheme, you cannot transfer a Personal Pension fund into it.  If it's a scheme of PRSAs you can.  

The type of pension scheme your current employer is setting up will also determine whether or not the earlier fund can be transferred in.

Having said all the above, just because one fund can be amalgamated into another, it doesn't automatically follow that it should.  This is something you should always take advice on.  Obviously, having all your funds in one place is neat, tidy and easy to track.  But before making a decision on whether or not to transfer one fund into another, the current home and the prospective new home should be compared using the following criteria: - 


Choice of funds and their suitability for your requirements
Charges
Options at retirement
Any implications for the vesting period in the new scheme if it accepts a transfer in from another scheme
Hope this helps.  

Liam D. Ferguson


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## tosullivan (7 Jan 2011)

Thanks LD for the detailed info.

Been onto the company who holds my 2 pensions and the first executive pension can be transferred but the personal pension can't.

SO now onto my new pension and the options proposed for investing

They are

Consensus Fund
Indexed Global Equity
Pension Protection Fund
Cash Fund
Any advice as to how I shoudl typically spread the investment?

I was thinking 75% towards the indexed and 25% to the consensus...


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## boaber (7 Jan 2011)

LDFerguson said:


> If it's an Occupational Pension Scheme, you cannot transfer a Personal Pension fund into it.



There are ways around this:  

Personal Pension --> PRSA --> Occupational Pension Scheme


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## LDFerguson (7 Jan 2011)

boaber said:


> There are ways around this:
> 
> Personal Pension --> PRSA --> Occupational Pension Scheme


 
Yes but there would need to be a very good reason to justify the hassle involved with doing this.  May be worth tosullivan's while talking to the current employer's broker to see if they'd be interested in taking this job on.


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## LDFerguson (7 Jan 2011)

tosullivan said:


> SO now onto my new pension and the options proposed for investing
> 
> 
> They are
> ...


 
The choice will largely be determined by your attitude to risk.  In very broad terms, the higher-risk funds (Indexed Global Equity) would be expected to offer a higher potential return over the long term, while the lower risk Cash Fund would have a much lower potential return.  The other two would be somewhere in between.  

Your current employer's broker should go through your options with you, explain the differences between the funds to you, establish your own personal "risk tolerance" level and make a recommendation.


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## tosullivan (12 Jan 2011)

my attitude to risk changed over the last 10yrs when I lost a few quid on shares & property so I stuck the full 100% into the Consensus fund for the time being.

Thanks for advice


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