Hello all.
I am have been employed since August 2020 by a company that does not have an occupational pension scheme, but does provide the option of doing salary deductions for a PRSA. The company provide access to a financial adviser and they in turn recommend a PRSA from Irish Life. However I have decided not to go with that PRSA as I feel the charges are too high. Instead I have talked to a different financial adviser and they are able to get me a PRSA with better charges (a contribution charge of 2% vs 4.25% offered by the PRSA recommended by the company appointed financial adviser). However my adviser is also recommending that I don't use a PRSA and instead setup a personal pension in order to avoid any contribution charge at all. I need to check what annual management fees would be but I assume it is probably around the 1% that the PRSA recommended by the company's financial adviser charged. On the face of it my adviser's advice seems sensible. When I setup the pension (whether PRSA or personal) I plan to make a lump sum contribution for 2020 up to the max tax relief I can claim for last year and also pay in to the max for this year (2021) based on my eventual income for this year from my current employer.
A factor in my consideration on PRSA vs personal pension is that there is a good chance that I will change employer sometime this year, and the employer I am thinking of moving to does have DC scheme which I would join. So, if I do change employer, what I am wondering is what would be the best thing to do about any pension I setup that is tied to income from my current employment. By the time I change employment I would have at least one years employment with my current employer and would have contributed 25-30% of my income to the pension. In order to keep my pension arrangements simple and in order to not have a "small" pension to mange I thought I would most likely move the pension from my current employer to my new employer's occupational scheme. My understanding is that I can do that with a PRSA but not with a personal pension - is that correct? But am I also being too negative about the idea of keeping a small personal pension i.e. is there really any reason not to do this and would it be better to go with the personal pension route for the reduced charges and not worry about the fact that it may leave me with an additional small pension to be aware of and keep an eye on? Am I correct that I could not fold a personal pension into a occupational pension?
Are there other considerations I should be taking into account when trying to decide between a personal pension and a PRSA?
In case it is a consideration, I am 56, and would plan to work for at least another 4-5 years. I do have a DC pension from previous employment.
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
I am have been employed since August 2020 by a company that does not have an occupational pension scheme, but does provide the option of doing salary deductions for a PRSA. The company provide access to a financial adviser and they in turn recommend a PRSA from Irish Life. However I have decided not to go with that PRSA as I feel the charges are too high. Instead I have talked to a different financial adviser and they are able to get me a PRSA with better charges (a contribution charge of 2% vs 4.25% offered by the PRSA recommended by the company appointed financial adviser). However my adviser is also recommending that I don't use a PRSA and instead setup a personal pension in order to avoid any contribution charge at all. I need to check what annual management fees would be but I assume it is probably around the 1% that the PRSA recommended by the company's financial adviser charged. On the face of it my adviser's advice seems sensible. When I setup the pension (whether PRSA or personal) I plan to make a lump sum contribution for 2020 up to the max tax relief I can claim for last year and also pay in to the max for this year (2021) based on my eventual income for this year from my current employer.
A factor in my consideration on PRSA vs personal pension is that there is a good chance that I will change employer sometime this year, and the employer I am thinking of moving to does have DC scheme which I would join. So, if I do change employer, what I am wondering is what would be the best thing to do about any pension I setup that is tied to income from my current employment. By the time I change employment I would have at least one years employment with my current employer and would have contributed 25-30% of my income to the pension. In order to keep my pension arrangements simple and in order to not have a "small" pension to mange I thought I would most likely move the pension from my current employer to my new employer's occupational scheme. My understanding is that I can do that with a PRSA but not with a personal pension - is that correct? But am I also being too negative about the idea of keeping a small personal pension i.e. is there really any reason not to do this and would it be better to go with the personal pension route for the reduced charges and not worry about the fact that it may leave me with an additional small pension to be aware of and keep an eye on? Am I correct that I could not fold a personal pension into a occupational pension?
Are there other considerations I should be taking into account when trying to decide between a personal pension and a PRSA?
In case it is a consideration, I am 56, and would plan to work for at least another 4-5 years. I do have a DC pension from previous employment.
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.