Where is good for pensions/monthly contributions???

Raiser

Hi All, after years of putting it off - I'm 30 next birthday, I've decided to finally start contributing to a pension for my golden years. :eek:

I've read through a lot of posts here and read the articles on the financial advice sites but am still v. unsure - I'm generally clueless re. money/investing etc.

I want to throw in an initial €4200 for tax reasons, after this I was wondering what most people are contributing on a monthly basis (I know thats v. subjective) and which financial institution to shake my cash at - all my banking is with PTSB at the minute.

* Earnings per annum will be 30-35K over next 5 years.....

Chipboard

Good decision.

Starting it quickly is more important than who you start it. You have no guarantees and they all claim to be the best over the term that suits them eg. Canada Life top performer over last 5 year/Ark Life Best over last 10 years etc etc. I'd say that over the longer term (30 yrs +) and this is what your talking about, their probably much the same. One tip, make sure that your with a provider that moves your investments from stocks property etc towards safer assets like cash and bonds in the last few years. I knew a couple of people who were due to retire just after the arse fell out of equities the last time, and they were left with a miserable pension. A good scheme would schew the funds away from risky assets in the last 10/7/5/3 years to maintain the gains and make sure you dont lose it all because of bad timing.

ck1

You should firstly get good independant advice and not from a bank who's aim is to sell their product. Remember a pension is a pension but what you get back depends on the growth of the assets in the fund that you select. There are four main asset classes, property, equities, Cash and bonds. Many funds are made up of all of these assets but you can choose to invest into singlular sectors of the equity market by investing say into UK equities.

Make sure that you are fully aware of the assets you will be investing into. New Ireland have a Fund called IRIS fund. This fund invests primarly in equities but the quantity of equities is dependant on the age of the investor. This fund automatically reduces the exposure to equities the closer you get to retirement but there is no definate date that they do this on as they will not switch out when equities are low. Eagle Star also have a similar fund however this fund will switch on a definate date regardless of the state of the stockmarket.

Devrajan.S

I would not go the pensions route at all. I would buy a residential for own use or for letting. You would get tax relief on your mortgage repayments and maybe on the rents that you collect.

I used to work for a life insurance company. I know all their tricks and hidden charges. Look what happened to Equitable Insuarnce in the UK.

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Regards

Devrajan

nesf

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