Elessar wrote: » Bloody hell. To get a 30k pension (which includes the state pension) I'll need to drop another €600 per month into it :eek:
Moo Moo Land wrote: » I reckon there will be a lot of elderly people on the breadline in about 20-25 years
seamus wrote: » ...before tax, remember. That's less than €300/month from your take-home.
hmmm wrote: » A normal equity fund would have recovered all its losses since then. Even more when you consider investing in a pension is tax free. People can choose how much risk they want to take in their investments. What they can't control is how much money an Irish government is going to look to steal.
mahoganygas wrote: » A private pension is one of the most tax efficient ways of saving. Especially if your employer contributes. I'm amazed at the amount of people who don't take advantage of employer contributions. It's free money!! I really do fear a populist government dipping into private pensions to pay for those who can't pay / won't pay. The pension levy set a dangerous precedent. An aging population along with a low uptake in people taking responsibility for their retirement will soon lead to a huge poverty gap.
hairy_head wrote: interesting thread , its one of the reasons voters should be appalled at the push by politicians ( especially FF ) to raise the current old age pension , the old age pension should be reduced , raising it does nothing to bring home the message of the impending pension time bomb , it does the opposite
listermint wrote: » Interested in how people can control how much risk the want to take on their investments if many schemes are mandated by the company you work for. i.e there is no choice.
sbsquarepants wrote: » The government have already set a precedent by skimming pensions to pay for their stupidity - I just don't trust mine. I have one but I started lateish, mid 30's & only pay in around 150 month (job used to match that, but now they only put in 10%) Can't remember the exact figure but my last statement said all going well, if I retire at 65 (in 23 years) i'll have the princely sum of €4,500/ year to live on. I just don't trust it enough to put anymore in though - it's already been robbed once, I very much doubt it will be the last time.
anewme wrote: » I think a lot of people have distrust on Pensions. will the tax free lump sum on retiring still be an option when I retire. What if the whole thing goes bang as has happened in the past just before I draw mine. I know they put your investments into cash 10 years before - but what if there is a huge hit 10 years and 3 months for example....it seems too much like pot luck. Mine looks like it will pay out about 9 K pension after the lump sum but I wont solely be relying on that and will have other investments also. A few of my friends, all decent paid people would be the same, mixing their options and not relying totally on the pension.
ongarboy wrote: » I've heard more than one recent retiree who had 6 figure pension funds accumulated now finding that they only receive a paltry 90 or 100 euro a month from it and they're disgusted. Not sure how it all works out but that seems like a raw deal.............
BrokenArrows wrote: » The reality is that pensions are investments have have risks, however they are probably the best investment you are going to get outside of property, and as we all know property isnt even bullet proof. Market crashes happen and yes they could impact the value of your pension however markets recover and so do the pension pots. All those people who said their pensions were wiped out would have had them recover mostly in the following few years. In reality you need to be particularly unlucky to require the pension money during a massive financial crisis. And again in reality if you decide to save your money as cash in your own savings account you will be significantly worse off than a pension fund during a crash.
listermint wrote: » .......... I'm personally not sure what lefty government had to do with the crash in 2008 which wiped both by parents funds out to half their value. It appears none of these folks who are maxing out their contributions and bingeing on free money are saying anything about this potential fly in the ointment? What lefty government did that specifically?
anewme wrote: » these things tend to come in cycles...so there is a good chance that they will be wiped again and we cant change our ages at that point - so someone will lose at the time they are wiped. My poor old boss in my last job had his pension wiped. Being self employed he did not have the money to fund it all through the years and only in the boom of the celtic tiger he was able to feed a lot of money into it in a short space of time. Unfortunately, because he was so underfunded his last 10 years did not go into cash as he needed some kind of growth. the arse fell out of the pension just as he was about to draw. Lost a lot of money. I dont know, I think at least if you have some cash its a safety net- ok I have €300K or whatever irrespective of the markets. I prefer to mix stuff - not to put all eggs in the one basket.
IrishZeus wrote: » Basic question - do you pay tax on your pension when you start drawing it? i.e If I built up to a yearly pension of €50,000/year + €12000 from the state - would I pay tax on the €50,000 when I start drawing it?
anewme wrote: » My poor old boss in my last job had his pension wiped.
Patww79 wrote: » This post has been deleted.
hmmm wrote: How could he have had it "wiped" - he lost 100% of his pension? What was he doing, investing it all in Lehmans?
MeatTwoVeg wrote: » I think at it's lowest, my pension was worth slightly less than the contributions I'd made to it over the previous 15years. All the gains were wiped.
