To all you pension experts out there i need to decide what to do.
I'm a 28 year old professional, my current salary after tax is about €3200 per month, i own a house with a friend which we rent-rent covers the mortgage. I owe about 3k on my credit card but will have that cleared with next 2 pay cheques. so this leaves me in the position where i've no other outgoings as i'm living at home. I realise the need to set up a pension and my employer offers a PRSA only (with eagle star). I'm planning on buying a house with my partner in about 6 months time so was thinking maybe paying about €100pm into a prsa, is this advisable?
One final question on AVC's- are these just a lump sum contribution?
One reason why i've been holding off on pension was to get my house and mortgage under control but i will also be inheriting about 150k in the next few years and had kinda decided i'd need to put some of that into a pension to boost it....
When you get this inheritance you could drip feed into the pension fund each year subject to [broken link removed] You can make lump sum payments to AVC's in relation to the previous tax year and get tax back provided you make payments by 31/10 of the current year e.g.
Make a lump sum prior to 31/10/07 - tax back in relation tax year 2006
Put the rest in a good deposit earning account or pay some off your mortgage
Thanks ASDFG,
Yes all rental income being declared. I guess my main issue is, is it worth setting up a prsa now even if i only put in €100-150 per month, like, in the long run the sooner you set up your pension the better?
PS: given the choice of knocking a lump sum off my mortgage or putting it on deposit, i'd reduce mortgage
Yes, the sooner you start a pension the better. 150 pm month is approx 2 % of you take home pay. It is Ok for now provided you increase the payments to the max allowed later especially if your employer is not contributing
See the pensions board calculator to see how much you need to contribute Read the assumption made Remember you should allow for salary increases greater than those assumed. What if you get a promotion?
given the choice of knocking a lump sum off my mortgage or putting it on deposit
The reason I mentioned the deposit account was to drip feed the money into the pension. You get approx half the money back from revenue. This money also can be lodged to this deposit account plus you get interest on the account.