EU staff pension - need investment advice

[Green in Wien]

I worked for an EU institution abroad for about seven years and returned home last year. I didn't stay the ten years to get a DB pension so have to "transfer out" my pension with a value of €300k. The rules are that I can find a fund but can't touch the capital until I am 60 (I am 42). At any age from 60 to 66 I can choose to draw down "a monthly income" for life, so basically some kind of annuity product then.

There are about a dozen providers on an approved list sent to me by the European Commission who they will transfer out my fund too. None are in Ireland and none seem to be household names at least directly.

I've had back and forth with one broker and his package is something like:

1. Broker gets a 2.5% entry fee (I could negotiate on this though)
2. I get to choose from about 25 different funds with a household name insurer. These funds have fees in the region of 0.5%-1% and the broker gets a "trailing fee" or something like 0.5% from the insurer, although this is vague
3. When I hit 60 I can convert all funds to an annuity with a 3.3% annual fee on the annuity itself

Another provider seems to have low fees (0.5% AUM), a low entry fee (€1,500) and a much more flexible investment strategy but insists I hire an independent financial advisor.

In terms of what I want, here is the picture: most of my other retirement income will be Irish and UK state and occupational pensions. So for the €300k above I am happy to take risk and want to tilt toward equities outside Europe. I would like to allocate carefully at the start and then just leave it alone for 20 years.

I'm a big believer in equities over a multi-decade horizon. Also that small differences in fees make a big difference to growth over long periods.


I don't think I've found what I want so far. Does anyone have good advice? Over the next few weeks I will get in touch with a few more providers on the list but don't want to waste my own time.

 

[Green in Wien]

I've talked to a few more providers.

The best one is offering:

1. Zero percent entry fee
2. Can construct own fund from about 20 options. Most appealing is a Vanguard US 500 Stock Index Fund. It tracks the S&P500 and has a 0.1% fee. Most other funds are in the 0.5%-1.0% space
3. 0.9% AMC from the provider
4. When it comes to pension drawdown time I can pick a kind of annuity that updates annually depending on bond performance. The lower the initial rate of payment the more likely it will increase with age and vice versa

4 isn't something I had come across before and seems to be a continental thing.

Does this sound reasonable?