Irish Life manged Funds

G

galley

Guest
I took out the Irish Life "property fund" product back in Sept 2007 and gave notice to switch. the value of it is down by 65%. I can switch to that value to another fund and try and recoup some loses eg the Consensus Fund and the monthly contribution €200 ,can be switched to that fund. I got that advice in person and then when I put it in writing a got a letter back advising me to stay in the property fund for the long term.
I think I'm going to to switch but do I continue the monthly contibution or cease it altogther and start afresh with something else that might be competitive on mgt charges?
PS there was a loyality bonus after 7 and I'm 5 years in
 
Did you put in a lump sum at the outset also or is it just a regular monthly premium you are making?



GS
 
Hi,
its just a €200 per month contribution and I got mixed up in my dates. I started it in 2005. I think I'm going to switch and cease payments. I've asked for any other charges to be highlighted if I choose this ,so we will see.
 
I also put in a lump sum on the advice of the banks adviser and the fund is now half its value ,don't know if I should switch funds or just hold on and keep it for the children (when I'm long gone the way things look for property )
 
A report from Irish Life shows their property fund having lost 5.1% over the past 5 years (as of Jan 2010). Where are you seeing the figure of -65% (or where are they getting -5%) ?

On offer through my scheme

Consensus Fund
Property Fund
Global Equity Fund (Indexed as are all below)
Japanese Equity
Pacific Equity
Irish Equity
North American Equity
European Equity
UK Equity

Was thinking of moving 1/3 to US Equity and 1/4 to Pacific Equity (the last giving a 10% return pa. over the past 5 yrs.).

I'm currently in consensus / European Equity - 70%/30%

Any thoughts anyone ?
 
Rusty Cogs said:
Was thinking of moving 1/3 to US Equity and 1/4 to Pacific Equity (the last giving a 10% return pa. over the past 5 yrs.).

I'm currently in consensus / European Equity - 70%/30%

Any thoughts anyone ?
Click to expand...
The Irish Life funds reflect 3 asset classes (i.e. property (property fund); foreign developed market equities (i.e. Japanese equity, Pacific equity, North American equity and UK Equity); euro-denominated equities (i.e. Irish equity and European equity). The Global equity fund is about 60% foreign and 40% euro equities, so if you’re in this and also in the other equity funds you’re just doubling up your allocation to foreign and euro equities. The Consensus fund isn’t an asset class; it’s a bet on the performance of Irish fund managers.

Personally, I’ve always had some investment in euro equities as they, inter alia, have no currency risk. If it were me I’d think hard before I moved out of euro equities. If you put 1/3 and ¼ in US and Pacific funds in effect you are putting about a half of your fund into foreign currency denominated equities, which might not be a bad idea at this point in time as the euro is still relatively high against the dollar, so you are buying foreign assets (at least USD ones) cheaper than if the euro was trading at a lower rate. If you’ve got a long time to go before you need to cash in the fund you can probably afford the risk of having an exposure to foreign currency risk as well as to foreign market risk and (hopefully) can swap the gains over into euro equities at a later stage or cash them in. [Disclaimer: The above is comment / observation and is not a recommendation to follow any particular investment strategy or to buy / not buy any particular fund.]
 
Well, since yesterday, I now have over 30 years before I'll need to cash in. Thanks for your detailed response though. I too feel the euro has some way to fall (against USD anyway) and I think the US might rally more over the next five years rather than the euro region. The intention would be to revisit my allocation every 3-5 years. All input welcome.
 
Hi
You will need to wait 6 months to switch your existing holding. It's probably not a bad idea. It looks like the property fund stopped falling but it's a long time before it will hit dizzying heights. On the other hand there's some good short term opportunities in equities.

You might consider switching your future contributions to non-property immediately.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top