Transferring a PRSA

[MichaelDonal]

I've got about 40k in a PRSA which I've let lie idle for a year or so. I've started a new job contracting and wanted to reactivate the PRSA, I've always found this confusing so when it was suggested to me by the agency I deal with that I should contact a company they recommend I went ahead.

That company sent me a folder of detail about their PRSA offering and told me it's no problem transferring my existing PRSA to them but that they'll deal with that once I'm on board. Something about this feels a little rushed and I just wanted to check whether PRSAs are easily transferred, whether I'll lose any of the value of it and if it's generally a wise move to do something like this where PRSA's are concerned. The new people I'm potentially moving to mentioned vaguely that my existing PRSA might not be returning as well as it could etc....but I had thought these were all the same in terms of returns, presumably this is wrong though?

I have not committed to anything, still have my idle PRSA - what should I look for in the small print of this new place to see if I could lose out by moving to them?

THanks

 

[jpd]

The rate of return on your PRSA is made up of the rate of return achieved by the investments minus the charges & fees taken by the provider. The rate of return achieved by the investments will depend on the skill or otherwise of the investment manager entrusted with the funds. As it is not possible to know this in advance, and as most funds are invested in a broad range of assets (shares, etc) the best strategy is to assume that all the managers will achieve the same rate of return - I know this is not what they outcome will be but it is all you assume in the circumstances. The question then comes down to comparing fees & charges

You can not be charged fees for moving your PRSA funds from one provider to another

 

[GSheehy]

@MichaelDonal

You could:

i) Ask the new employer to set up a letter of appointment/direct debit for your previous PRSA and company. They're not obliged to, but they might. If the charging structure on the previous PRSA is better than the new one then I'd say they'd find it hard to refuse.

ii) Leave the existing PRSA where it is. Nothing wrong with diversification of company/funds. The only charge is likely to be the 1% AMC unless it was a non-standard PRSA and has a higher AMC.

"....might not be returning as a well as it could.." is a pretty vague statement. As @jpd said, there's no charge to you for transferring a PRSA to another PRSA but the intermediary is likely to be paid a commission for doing that.