I am moving employer and my new employer does not provide pension until after a certain period of service. I know I can keep my exisitng funds invested with the pension company my present employer uses but can I still contribute to this and have these payments tax free as naturally enough I don't want to lose a years pension payments
You generally can't contribute to an occupational scheme except while employed by the relevant employer. Obviously you can "park" (make paid up) the existing scheme and transfer it into the new employer's scheme when you are allowed. However you should only ever transfer or merge funds when you understand the consequences and ideally only when doing so would mean lower charges, more flexibility and/or less administrative hassle. If transferring in would mean higher charges than leaving the old occupational fund paid up and invested in the ex-employer's scheme then it might be better leaving it alone or possibly transferring it to a suitable buy out/retirement bond. On the other hand transferring in also has the effect of transferring in membership/vesting time which is something worth understanding.
If you would be otherwise without pension cover for a years or so after moving job then you might want to consider opening a PRSA for at least that period and which you can reuse again later if/when you are not in pensionable employment. Standard PRSAs charge a max of 5% on each contribution and 1% annual management fee but you may be able to get an even better deal on charges by opening one through a broker on a nil-commission agreed fee paying basis (a few hundred € I think). Another possibility might be a standard personal pension plan.
thanks for the reply - think I will look at the prsa option - can it be done with anyoen or does the employer nominate the various different PRSA's that you can go to or have I totally misunderstood PRSA's
You can open a PRSA with anybody (and through any intermediary or direct depending on which gives you the better deal on charges for example) but if you want to join an employer PRSA scheme then you will have to transfer to one of their nominated PRSA providers for the duration of that employment or else keep your PRSA "standalone", stick with your original provider and chase up tax and PRSI/health levy relief yourself rather than getting it at source through payroll remittance of contributions. This topic might be of interest even if I was a bit confused about the portability issue early on!
OK, thanks for that. Is their a best buys or something for PRSA's. My current fund is with Friends First and jsut wondering is it easier to set it up with them than go elsewhere and whether or not they would be considered good value
I'm not aware of any best buys list. Don't bother with past performance ones as they are of no real use. Better to concentrate on charges and the range of funds available. Make sure that the funds available are suitable to your needs. Charges on standard PRSAs are capped at 5% of each contribution and 1% annual management charge on the gross value of the fund. However it may be possible to get a better deal through negotiation or via an intermediary. 0%/1% rather than 5%/1% is one deal that some brokers offer for a once off fixed fee. If you can get the annual management charge lower than 1% then that would be good but given that the margins on PRSAs are pretty much cut to the bone it's hard to see further savings being available. See this topic for more information: