Pensions
Retirement Planning For Your Future
We at J M Walsh Financial Advice are regulated, qualified, professionals experienced in helping client build up their retirement fund and advising what your options are at retirement
1. Building up a retirement fund.
If you are not in a company/employer pension scheme there are a number of options open to you
a. Personal Pension Plan
A personal pension plan is a private pension plan that is managed for you by a life insurance or investment company. Anyone who is self-employed or who earns an income but cannot join a company/employers scheme can start a personal pension plan. Also, if you are a member of a company/employers scheme but earn money somewhere else, you may be able to contribute to a personal pension plan.
b. Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA’s)
There are two types of PRSA:
- Standard PRSA
- Non-Standard PRSA
There are two types of PRSA:
There are two types of PRSA:
• Standard PRSA
• Non-Standard PRSA
The main differences are:
• The charges are capped for standard PRSAs but not for non-standard PRSAs
• Types of investment are restricted in standard PRSAs but not in non-standard PRSAs
Standard PRSAs are likely to meet the requirements of most people. The level of charges on your account is important to consider, as the charges imposed reduce the fund you can build up. On your retirement, the size of your fund will depend on your contributions and the investment performance less any charges. It is not possible to predict investment performance.
Charges on Non-Standard PRSAs are not capped and in most cases, are higher than Standard PRSAs. We a J M Walsh Financial Advice are qualified to advise you on which path (Personal Pension or PRSA) is most suitable to meet your individual needs and aspiration
Single Premium Pension /PRSA.
Very similar to the regular premium option, a single premium is paid into a standalone Pension or PRSA by the self-employed at the end of their trading year.
2. What are your options at retirement. Traditionally in the past your accumulated fund was used to purchase a pension/annuity paid for life with the option of taking a tax free lump sum from the fund
We at J M Walsh Financial Advice would be happy to help you draw down your pension in this manner.
There are other options available which may suit individuals who don’t want to drawdown their pension at that moment in time.
As an alternative to using your retirement fund to take a pension, you can invest in an Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (AMRF) and/or Approved Retirement Fund (ARF) and/or take a taxable lump sum. Subject to the overall maximum amount allowable at the time, the 25% tax free lump sum option will continue to apply.”
Approved Retirement Funds (ARFs)
Approved Minimum Retirement Funds (AMRFs)
Personnel Retirement Bonds also known as Buy Out Bonds (PRB or BOB)
A Personal Retirement Bond (PRB) is a personal policy that is set up by trustees of a pension scheme to provide retirement benefits for a former member of the scheme. It basically means that if you leave a pension scheme, you can bring your pension benefits with you by having the value of your fund invested in a bond.
The days of a job for life are gone most people will move employment a number of times during their working life. Accumulating a number of different paid up pensions from schemes they were members of.
Resulting in a mountain of paper to be provided to each separate scheme you were a member of over your working life when you decide to retire.
For example if you were in 4 different schemes there will be that amount of application forms to be complete plus all the backup documentation ( Birth Certs ,Marriage certs etc.) each scheme will need to know how much of a tax free lump sum and pension you are due from the other 3 schemes .
We at J M Walsh advise moving all paid up pension schemes to a single company prior to retirement vastly cutting down the paperwork and simplifying the process of drawing down your pension or opting for the ARF/AMRF route.
