PRSA To Choose My Own Investments

I have a pension from a previous employer (large 5 digit amount) that has done virtually nothing with regard to performance in the last 5 years. After such a long period of very poor performance, I have decided to move it to a PRSA where I can choose the investments.

I want to purchase ETF's and individual shares and am looking for a provider with the lowest fees. I have lots of experience investing personally and I only need execution. I only trade a few times a year and am a buy and hold investor.

As far as I can tell, Davy Select is the best option for me. If I am right in understanding, I can transfer the full pension to their platform for no fee, and am subject to a 0.75% annual fee on the total amount.

Are my assumptions correct on the fees, is Davy the most cost effective option for me?

Also has anyone had any previous experience with doing this sort of thing before? How long could I expect a transfer to take place?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Update on this.

I reached out to Davy. They have told me I need to obtain a Certificate of Benefit Comparison to transfer the pension to them. The cost is 1% of the value of the pension + VAT.

Is this accurate?

I have a UK occupational pension that I transferred to the PRSA equivalent (it's called a SIPP in the UK). I was able to open a SIPP online and request the transfer. Everything was all done in 1.5 weeks. The cost to me was nothing. The provider also charges only 0.25% annual fee in comparison.

No wonder everyone in Ireland has such a dim view of saving into a pension.

Raskolnikov said:

No wonder everyone in Ireland has such a dim view of saving into a pension.

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I don't think that this matches the reality at all.
Lots of people know how beneficial it is to save via a pension.

Raskolnikov said:

Update on this.

I reached out to Davy. They have told me I need to obtain a Certificate of Benefit Comparison to transfer the pension to them. The cost is 1% of the value of the pension + VAT.

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Maybe that's what Davy charges. You can get them done for €1,000 plus VAT by an actuary. Haggle with them or get it done elsewhere.

Raskolnikov said:

I have a UK occupational pension that I transferred to the PRSA equivalent (it's called a SIPP in the UK). I was able to open a SIPP online and request the transfer. Everything was all done in 1.5 weeks. The cost to me was nothing. The provider also charges only 0.25% annual fee in comparison.

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Economies of scale. UK has 60 million people, Ireland has 5 million.


...and the benefits of comparison was required for transferring from occupational pension schemes to PRSA's because of the pension mis selling scandal in the UK which cost the UK taxpayer £13.5 billion!

You could also transfer your fund into a Buy-Out Bond / Personal Retirement Bond with a provider that offers self-directed functionality, e.g. Standard Life, Aviva, ITC, Quest etc. Lower than 0.75% AMC depending on what broker arranges it and no requirement for any Certificate of Benefits Comparison.

Regards,

Liam
www.FergA.com

Before you consider moving you need to answer these 3 questions
What fund(s) is the pension currently invested in?
What other fund options do you currently have?
What are the current annual fees?

I would also like to transfer my employer pension to a PRSA. Is there a possibility the certificate of benefit comparison requirement will be removed?

magsd57 said:

I would also like to transfer my employer pension to a PRSA. Is there a possibility the certificate of benefit comparison requirement will be removed?

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There's a possibility of transfering to a different pension type to avoid the cert.

magsd57 said:

I would also like to transfer my employer pension to a PRSA. Is there a possibility the certificate of benefit comparison requirement will be removed?

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As LD Ferguson said previously, why not transfer it into a PRB? No need for the cert then.

magsd57 said:

Is there a possibility the certificate of benefit comparison requirement will be removed?

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Yes. My understanding is that it was on the list of changes for 2023 but didn't happen.

It's additional revenue for Pensions Authority via the 0.05% pa charge so I'd say it won't be long.


Gerard

www.prsa.ie

GSheehy said:

Yes. My understanding is that it was on the list of changes for 2023 but didn't happen.

It's additional revenue for Pensions Authority via the 0.05% pa charge so I'd say it won't be long.


Gerard

www.prsa.ie

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I know of someone saying the PRSA 0.05% fee will reduce because the Pensions Authority are getting so much more from it since the move away from EPPs. Poor guy, he'll become cynical like the rest of us soon enough.