Hi All,
I haven't posted many financial queries in the past so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction regarding this pensions query. I have a Personal Pension plan from New Ireland which I started about 9 years ago. I stopped paying into this policy two years ago when my employer started a defined contribution scheme in the company. I am not contributing to this scheme (employer contributes 7.5% of gross salary), although I was offered the option of setting up an AVC. I was unsure about this at the time and was anxious to seek independant advice. I couldn't consider the additional expense at the time in any case. I now want to look at the options available to me, the most logical would appear to be to set up an AVC with a low cost provider like Quinn Life. This would give me the option of purchasing an annuity or ARF at retirement. My wife and I are already seriously considering investing directly in the stockmarket anyway with an SSIA lump sum, based on much of the advice I've read on AAM. That said I know I should still be looking at the AVC as this is a very tax effective method of saving money for the future. My wife works in the public service so her pension provision is quite good. Any thoughts please??
I haven't posted many financial queries in the past so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction regarding this pensions query. I have a Personal Pension plan from New Ireland which I started about 9 years ago. I stopped paying into this policy two years ago when my employer started a defined contribution scheme in the company. I am not contributing to this scheme (employer contributes 7.5% of gross salary), although I was offered the option of setting up an AVC. I was unsure about this at the time and was anxious to seek independant advice. I couldn't consider the additional expense at the time in any case. I now want to look at the options available to me, the most logical would appear to be to set up an AVC with a low cost provider like Quinn Life. This would give me the option of purchasing an annuity or ARF at retirement. My wife and I are already seriously considering investing directly in the stockmarket anyway with an SSIA lump sum, based on much of the advice I've read on AAM. That said I know I should still be looking at the AVC as this is a very tax effective method of saving money for the future. My wife works in the public service so her pension provision is quite good. Any thoughts please??