Best value Self-Directed AVC PRSA for a 10-15K lump sum?

Zenith63 said:
FWIW in my case, 1.25% AMC via a broker, 0.75% AMC direct to Zurich for the same product. Maybe there are cheaper brokers that would have also done it at 0.75% but I could not find one. Worth the call I think.
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Was this a PRSA or AVC PRSA?
 
Zenith63 said:
Executive Pension. Slightly different I know, just making the point that these companies do seem willing to undercut their brokers and the saving can be significant.
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Thanks. If I thought that they had offered a customer a 0.75% AMC PRSA I would have been a bit miffed.

That said, 0.9% AMC (or 0.65% AMC for >€100,000) for PRSAs and AVC PRSAs is Standard Life's lowest offering for brokers. So even if Standard Life can accept business directly from the public, I can't see how they could undercut their lowest charge. Whatever broker you went to for your EPP didn't offer you Zurich Life's lowest AMC contract and Zurich Life do have a direct sales team. I can understand how one of Zurich's direct sales reps would be able to beat your broker - you could have got 0.75% from a broker, so they weren't undercutting brokers in general.
 
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LDFerguson said:
Not a big job. Application form for the Standard Life AVC PRSA, which would be similar to the one you completed previously. Written instruction to Zurich Life. Zurich Life will require confirmation from Standard Life that you have an AVC PRSA.

I'm not 100% sure what Standard Life will do if you contact them directly. As far as I know, they don't have a direct sales unit. They might refer you to a broker or they might just set up the product for you themselves. Either way, you won't benefit by going direct as they won't undercut their main source of business - brokers. In the interests of full disclosure I am a broker so my opinions on this could be perceived as biased but anything I've said can be verified easily.
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Thanks Liam - appreciated

And just to be clear this is to transfer into Standard Life, the non-Standard PRSA AVC referenced at the top of this thread - the one where you get access to Stocktrade and much wider pool of investments?
 
letitroll said:
Thanks Liam - appreciated

And just to be clear this is to transfer into Standard Life, the non-Standard PRSA AVC referenced at the top of this thread - the one where you get access to Stocktrade and much wider pool of investments?
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That's correct.

Just to be clear also, Standard Life have an agreement with Vanguard whereby Standard Life resell a choice of six Vanguard funds alongside their own Standard Life funds. These are fund choices and therefore the 0.9% or 0.65% AMC is the annual cost of both the PRSA / AVC PRSA product and the funds.

If you choose Stocktrade, the AMC is 1% or 0.75% and that's just the cost of the PRSA / AVC PRSA. If you then go via Stocktrade into an ETF or other investment with its own AMC, then the investment's own AMC will be on top of the Standard Life AMC. Hope that makes sense.
 
LDFerguson said:
That's correct.

Just to be clear also, Standard Life have an agreement with Vanguard whereby Standard Life resell a choice of six Vanguard funds alongside their own Standard Life funds. These are fund choices and therefore the 0.9% or 0.65% AMC is the annual cost of both the PRSA / AVC PRSA product and the funds.

If you choose Stocktrade, the AMC is 1% or 0.75% and that's just the cost of the PRSA / AVC PRSA. If you then go via Stocktrade into an ETF or other investment with its own AMC, then the investment's own AMC will be on top of the Standard Life AMC. Hope that makes sense.
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Makes perfect sense - and something I think I'll tackle in 2021with your help. Thanks again.
 
Sorry to dig up an old thread. I'm having some issues with Stocktrade, no Crypto of any kind even ETF, etc and very slow to add newly IPO'd equities. A case in point is UIPath. Was speaking to a lovely gentleman today who told me it could be 2/3 weeks, maybe more before their third-party provider added this equity as it was yet to have a CREST number.

Any other viable alternatives in the Pension trading market?
 
Could you help me with two basic questions regarding self-directed PRSA? As far as I understand, I may decrease my taxation by making retirement contributions to PRSA. However, I would like to invest myself and partially to small cap stocks on US markets. Are there any PRSA providers who allow such self-directed investments?

Also at what age can I start to take back my investments tax-free (my occupation is firmware engineer if it matters)?
 
I had forgotten about this old thread, and just wanted to summarise the information in it. I think this is still the cheapest for self directed prsa?

Cheapest self directed PRSA or AVC PRSA
Davy .75% AMC + charges of any etf/fund you buy.
Standard life min 100k transfer, .75% AMC + charges of any etf/fund you buy., or .65% for 6 inhouse vanguard funds with 0 additional fund fees.

edit: From @Steven Barrett here it seems the .65% in vanguard funds option is only good for a single large transfer. Additional contributions have 5% monthly/2.5% one off contribution charge.

edit2: In other theads commentators have said a personal pension would have lower costs. And you can't transfer from a PRSA to a personal pension.
 
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SPC100 said:
Davy .75% AMC + charges of any etf/fund you buy
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In their fees I see:
Minimum Fee per trade for each instrument listed outside Ireland and UK - 0.06%
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Foreign Transaction Settlement Charge per trade for each instrument listed outside Ireland and UK - €25.00
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For example, I want to buy US stock (one ticker) for an equivalent of 1000€. How much comission will I pay in such case? As far as I understand, (1000 * 0.75%) + (1000 * 0.06%) + 25€ = 7.5€ + 0.6€ + 25€ = 32.56€. Am I right? If not, how to calculate comission correctly for US stocks?
 
Zmicier said:
Thanks. As far as I understand, if I my portfolio value is 100k€ then I will be charged 750€ as AMC in this year. Am I right?
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Yes.
Although they actually charge .75%/2 every 6 months. So you would be charged 750/2 and 6 months later charged .75%/2 on the value of your account on that day.
 
Bumping this to see if there is any progress on the Ireland based self-directed PRSA front out there.....

I have circa. €100k....in a historical Zurich PRSA product.

I'd like to move to a self-directed option where I would look to hold a small portfolio of individual equities in developed markets - USA, UK, Ireland, Euronext Europe type stuff.....not interested in ETF products as such.

Davy is the one that keeps coming up - 0.75% AMC I can live with....its below my current 1% AMC with Zurich.....but the €25 + 0.06% to buy non-UK/IRL stocks is hilariously high.

Remember seeing some other options out there that use perhaps Interactive brokers or other more establish brokers as the back-end. Curious what others have found as want to make the move this year.
 
letitroll said:
Bumping this to see if there is any progress on the Ireland based self-directed PRSA front out there.....

I have circa. €100k....in a historical Zurich PRSA product.

I'd like to move to a self-directed option where I would look to hold a small portfolio of individual equities in developed markets - USA, UK, Ireland, Euronext Europe type stuff.....not interested in ETF products as such.

Davy is the one that keeps coming up - 0.75% AMC I can live with....its below my current 1% AMC with Zurich.....but the €25 + 0.06% to buy non-UK/IRL stocks is hilariously high.

Remember seeing some other options out there that use perhaps Interactive brokers or other more establish brokers as the back-end. Curious what others have found as want to make the move this year.
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Bumping just to see if anyone has any other avenues I've missed.....looks like Davy is gonna get to take me to the wood shed on stock trading!

Standard Life PRSA + Vanguard ETF's is defo the right light touch index way to escape the Zurich Complex cheaply

Guess I fancy myself outperforming the indexes.......so having individual stock execution is important...lets see
 
letitroll said:
Guess I fancy myself outperforming the indexes.......so having individual stock execution is important...lets see
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Why do you think that?
It seems like a very foolhardy belief.
And acting on it could well cause you to lose money.
Not just on excessive transaction costs.
Lots of people think that they can consistently time/beat the market but end up doing worse than the indices.
 
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ClubMan said:
Why do you think that?
It seems like a very foolhardy belief.
And acting on it could well cause you to lose money.
Not just on excessive transaction costs.
Lots of people think that they can consistently time/beat the market but end up doing worse than the indices.
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I agree with what you say as a high level & broad piece of advise for the majority of people.

ClubMan said:
Why do you think that?
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Because I've been outperforming the indexes in my brokerage account for the last decade.....not enough time to be absolutely statistically certain its skill rather than luck.....but long enough that I'm willing to bet my PRSA.....and some possible underperformance relative to index performance.
 
letitroll said:
Bumping just to see if anyone has any other avenues I've missed.....looks like Davy is gonna get to take me to the wood shed on stock trading!

Standard Life PRSA + Vanguard ETF's is defo the right light touch index way to escape the Zurich Complex cheaply

Guess I fancy myself outperforming the indexes.......so having individual stock execution is important...lets see
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Couldn't you get stock trading and vanguard in the same PRSA with standard life?
 
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