Irish life

Walter lemon

Hey guys

I have an irish life pension and I received a letter outlining the closure of the safe deposit fund and they are now investing it in a global cash fund.
I am looking for advise in some options, is this global cash fund reliable, safe?

What other options are there I like to pay into. Fund where my employer contributes, quite safe but ticking over any help would be gratefully appreciated

Liam D Ferguson

The Irish Life Safe Deposit fund was invested with just one Irish bank. Their Global Cash fund invests across several multi-national banks. I'd believe that the global cash fund is more financially secure. However, because of this security, the rate of return on the global cash fund will be lower than the Safe Deposit Fund. It may not even equal the charges on your particular pension policy. It almost certainly won't keep up with inflation over the long-term, meaning that the spending power of your pension fund could be eroded by inflation over time.

Irish Life have a fairly wide range of alternative funds to choose from. Each one has its own merits and is only suitable to particular people. In order to decide which one (or which combination of them) is best suited to your needs, at a minimum we'd need to know: -

• How many years until you plan to retire?
• What level of risk are you willing to take with your pension fund, bearing in mind that the greater the risk, the greater the potential return and vice versa?
• In terms of your overall retirement plan and net worth, how big a proportion does this policy represent? (If it's a drop in the ocean, you can probably afford to take more risk. If it's a huge portion of your overall financial plan, then you might want to take less risk. Or somewhere in between.

Choosing a fund or group of funds that's suitable for your own risk tolerance and risk capacity is a very important but a very personal decision. There's no "one size fits all" choice that can be given out to everyone on a board like this. I'd recommend you go back to the Financial Broker that arranged the Personal Pension for you, unless there's a reason you don't want to.

Walter lemon

Liam D Ferguson wrote: »

The Irish Life Safe Deposit fund was invested with just one Irish bank. Their Global Cash fund invests across several multi-national banks. I'd believe that the global cash fund is more financially secure. However, because of this security, the rate of return on the global cash fund will be lower than the Safe Deposit Fund. It may not even equal the charges on your particular pension policy. It almost certainly won't keep up with inflation over the long-term, meaning that the spending power of your pension fund could be eroded by inflation over time.

Irish Life have a fairly wide range of alternative funds to choose from. Each one has its own merits and is only suitable to particular people. In order to decide which one (or which combination of them) is best suited to your needs, at a minimum we'd need to know: -

• How many years until you plan to retire?
• What level of risk are you willing to take with your pension fund, bearing in mind that the greater the risk, the greater the potential return and vice versa?
• In terms of your overall retirement plan and net worth, how big a proportion does this policy represent? (If it's a drop in the ocean, you can probably afford to take more risk. If it's a huge portion of your overall financial plan, then you might want to take less risk. Or somewhere in between.

Choosing a fund or group of funds that's suitable for your own risk tolerance and risk capacity is a very important but a very personal decision. There's no "one size fits all" choice that can be given out to everyone on a board like this. I'd recommend you go back to the Financial Broker that arranged the Personal Pension for you, unless there's a reason you don't want to.

Wow thanks for getting back, I'm about 30 years off retirement and I suppose I am a cautious person, I get the greater the risk the better return but also the greater risk.

Thanks for your feedback I really do appreciate it, I will talk to the broker

Cheers

coylemj

Walter lemon wrote: »

Wow thanks for getting back, I'm about 30 years off retirement and I suppose I am a cautious person, I get the greater the risk the better return but also the greater risk.

Put the money in a managed fund and starting 10 years before your planned retirement move it 10% at a time into a cautiously managed fund.

That is the advice that any sensible financial adviser will give you.

That far from retirement you are crazy having your pension fund in cash.

Walter lemon

coylemj wrote: »

Put the money in a managed fund and starting 10 years before your planned retirement move it 10% at a time into a cautiously managed fund.

That is the advice that any sensible financial adviser will give you.

That far from retirement you are crazy having your pension fund in cash.

I will mention that to the broker dude, will it show a return? I am shockingly bad at speculating, brought up as a hard saver

coylemj

Walter lemon wrote: »

I will mention that to the broker dude, will it show a return? I am shockingly bad at speculating, brought up as a hard saver

Will it show a return? Over 30 years there will be a massive difference in return. You will be poor in retirement believe me if you invest your pension in funds that will be eroded by inflation.

You can afford to take risks when you are 30 years off retiring. If you suggest to the broker that you stay with cash funds and he doesn't tell you that you would be stark raving mad to do so, get a different broker.

Are you forgoing an employer contribution by going it alone with a self-administered fund? If you are, chances are that admin charges and broker commission will eat up a huge % of your contributions.

Walter lemon

Okay fair enough i hear ye, no mynemployer contributes really appreciate your help on this