Best Pensions??

Thanos

Hi all,

Bit of background first. I was in a job with pension a few years back, but then went contracting for a while. I am now back in a permenent job. This new job does not pay into a pension but I want to, a) start up my pension again and b) possible move it to a new company (depending on who is best out there)

Are there any sites that would give me the info I am looking for. I.e. compare returns and give some advice on what to look out for what questions to ask? Of could more then happy to here what people here have to say, tips, thinks to look out for, etc.

I did not see much, I did see this on FinFacts, http://www.finfacts.ie/fincentre/irishpenfunds.htm
but that was the only thing I could find and would like to read more if it is out there before making my mind up.

Thanks.

Andymfinancial

go and see 2 or 3 brokers. It depends on numerous factors such as age, amount you wish to invest, what type of investor are you (low, medium, high risk). Zurich Life would be a consistent performer with a wide choice of funds. Standard Life & Irish Life would have a self invested option which allows you to invest in direct shares, property, bonds, high st banks deposits etc etc.

When seeing an advisor you need to find out the charging structure because they can vary massively. You need to compare annual management charges, allocation rate (the percentage of your money actually invested). This can make a massive difference to the long term performance. The charging structure also depends on how much you are investing but a typical example from say irish life would be;

300mth
98% allocation
1% per annum management charge
This would be a fair charge for the irish life pension but if the advisor took more commission it could be as low as 96% and 1.5% per annum so you need to either go to a broker who is trusted and will not rip you off or try 2-3 brokers to compare.

Thanos wrote: »

Hi all,

Bit of background first. I was in a job with pension a few years back, but then went contracting for a while. I am now back in a permenent job. This new job does not pay into a pension but I want to, a) start up my pension again and b) possible move it to a new company (depending on who is best out there)

Are there any sites that would give me the info I am looking for. I.e. compare returns and give some advice on what to look out for what questions to ask? Of could more then happy to here what people here have to say, tips, thinks to look out for, etc.

I did not see much, I did see this on FinFacts, http://www.finfacts.ie/fincentre/irishpenfunds.htm
but that was the only thing I could find and would like to read more if it is out there before making my mind up.

Thanks.

Thanos,

I did a generic blog post here which may be of interest.

Seve37

maybe not be in teh same vein as theis thread but here goes. I was made redundant 5 years ago after paying into a pension for 20 years. I was asked at the time if I wanted to avail of an extra 10k tax free allowance on my redundancy payment. Of course i availed of it. More money for me. Whaat I didnt realise until last year is that the letter I signed to avail of this was actually agreeing not to get a lump sum from my pension. failure to read or understand what I signed has cost me dearly as I could have got 60k tax free if i didnt awail of the 10k allowance. Am trying to find ways of getting this overturned but short of going to court, which I cant afford) I am hitting brick walls...People beware.