Pensions Where to Start

Scrooge said:
Yes correct I am a director of the umbrella
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Perfect. Just to be clear, from a pension perspective that's very different to being self employed.

Now, is the '80k wage' the gross amount that your company invoices the client?

There are 2 main benefits of going the executive pension route Vs say a Personal pension plan:
1. There is scope for much higher funding. However, you need to be realistic about how much you can afford to put in. Great benefit if you're trying to 'catch up' on pension funding.
2. The pension contributions are made by the company, not you. So in effect there's 52% tax relief, rather than 40%.

On the flip side, fees can be high for some products. They're not standardised like with a PRSA.

If you get a different job in future, you can leave the pension separate, or transfer into a company pension or PRSA. So don't put it off just because you might leave the contracting approach.

There are other contributors much better versed in pensions than I am, so I'll leave it to them now that we understand your circumstances.
 
OK apologies misunderstanding on my end on the whole Umbrella & self employed bit;

So my setup is as follows

I work for Engineering Company A Monday to Friday
I submit timesheets with my hours to Contracting Plus every two weeks (Accountant)
Contracting Plus then invoice a Recruitment Agency A.
Recruitment Agency A then invoice Engineering Company A
I then get a payslip from Contracting Plus and funds get transferred into my acccount.


A bit long winded but thats my setup.


If I did go Full Ltd is there any benefit froma pension perspective?
 
Scrooge said:
If I did go Full Ltd is there any benefit froma pension perspective?
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Not really. Sorry I wasn't clear in earlier post - once you're a director of the company it gives you the option of an executive pension. That's why the companies that provide the umbrella structures give the director option.
 
Right folks so I have been in contact with a few companies and brokers and looking for some advice vetting them

Irish Life - Fund Risk rating IL5 of 7
Contribution Charge= 3.5% Reduces to (3% after 5 years)
1% Annual Fund Charge

Zurich
Premium Allocation: 98%
Annual Management Charge: 1%
Policy Fee: €3 per month
Early Transfer Fees in Years 1-5 @ 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%

Broker – (Using Zurich Prisma 4 / 5 Fund)
Investment Allocation 100%
1.25% Annual Fund Charge (0.25% to the broker)
Policy Fee: €3 per month
Early Transfer Fees in Years 1-5 @ 5%, 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%


I suppose my first question is;

Upfront Charges
Are the Contribution Charge (96.5% of contributions go to the fund), Premium Allocation (98% of contributions go to the fund) & Investment Allocation essentially the same thing.

Broker
Also how can the broker offer me 100%when the company he is using are only offering 98%.

Is there some kicker on the other end I should be looking for i.e like a high commissionin on withdrawals etc.

Other Questions
Are there any other fees that I should be looking at that are not listed above

Outside of fees what should else should I be looking at ?




Sorry if someof this is very basic butstating at the bottom here
 
I have a similar thread running. By contacting Zurich direct and talking to their tied agent, they offered 0.75% AMC and 100% allocation. I’m possibly looking to put more funds in per month and this may have reduced the AMC. It’s all very opaque. But if you went via broker, maybe worth contacting them direct to see if you can get a better deal. Or if you did contact them directly, asking for a better deal.
 
Ok, I'm presuming that you're looking at an exec pension scenario.
Also look at offerings from Standard Life and Aviva probably through tied agents...
100% allocation would be good..
Less than 1% AMC ( including brokers % and trail fees ) would be good..
I'm not sure a flat charge of €3 per month is significant...( Make sure it's not a % and/or doesn't have an upward review after X amount of years..)
At this stage, I think penalties on transfer values could be ignored ( others may disagree) as you're unlikely to be tinkering with it for 5 years.... HOWEVER, watch out that there are NO further penalties carrying on to effect transfer values in the future. As ( hopefully) your pot grows, you might have some leverage in re-negotiating more favourable AMC in the future or a switch to a different provider. This was my experience and I , most likely, could have re-negotiated sooner.
That's my 10 cents worth... You're making the start and that's a very positive thing , so best of luck..
 

It's a fallacy to think that you can buy a pension/investment product, with lower costs, than you can from a .

Especially when you know exactly what you're looking for.

Gerard

www.prsa.ie
 
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