Old Defined Benefit Pension - What to do?

Hi there,

I'm looking for a bit of advice regarding an old employer pension.

I left my previous employer 8 years ago. I was a member of their Defined Benefit pension scheme.

When I left the company my salary was relatively low - €34,500 p.a. after my 13 years of service.
I started there in a junior role and worked my way up to a professional IT role, but the salary did not match the position, hence why I left.

I recently took a look at what I would be entitled to at retirement and was shocked at how little it was. I started looking into transferring into my current employer's DC scheme.

The DB pension is coordinated with state benefits, so after that is taken into account, the amount I would be entitled to would be €1600 per year at age 60.
I would also be entitled to a lump sum of €16k at age 60.

The DB scheme people have told me that taking into account market value adjustments, the transfer value is €19k.

Would I be better off leaving this where it is, or transferring it into my current DC scheme which is doing well at the moment and currently has a "growth indicator" of 33%.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thank you!

Hi,

Is the old DB scheme still open, with some of your former colleagues and your former employer still making contributions, into the same DB scheme ?

What did the DB fund's most recent Trustees Report say, with regards to the current overall level of funds contained within the DB scheme, compared to its future obligations to beneficiaries of the DB scheme ?

Also, how did the overall level of funds contained within the DB scheme compare, to the overall level of funds held in it a year earlier? Was there more or less money in it?