Auto enrolment went live on 1 January 2026. The implementation reminded me of doing a project in college. You’re given loads of time but leave it to the last minute. Minimum standards With auto enrolment, there was an exemption for PRSAs that were processed through payroll. This lead to a flurry of PRSAs being set […]
In my last article, I mentioned the uplifted scale in calculating the pension payable to you at retirement, so we are going to look at this in a bit more detail This is based in defined benefit pensions where you get a percentage of your salary for each years service. Even though defined benefit pensions […]
I was looking through my blogs and in the 12 years of writing articles (this is blog 559), I can’t believe I never wrote about this. If you have a personal pension or a PRSA, the options at retirement are pretty straight forward: 25% lump sum Remainder: invest in ARF, purchase an annuity or tax […]
Auto enrolment hasn’t even started yet but it is causing lots of grumbling amongst employers and the pension industry. We welcome the introduction of auto enrolment as a concept as not enough people are saving for their retirement. The scheme starts on 1 January with employees need to have had signed up to an occupational […]
The Pensions Authority have launched a consultation on investment rules for PRSAs. They are concerned about the disparity between investment rules of PRSAs and occupational pension schemes and believe the rules should be more closely aligned. After IORPS II was transposed in Ireland, all company paid pension plans have the same investment rules, no matter […]
I was doing a pension review for a couple recently. Going through the figures for their pensions, something wasn’t right. More money had been paid into Aisling’s pension, but Ben’s pension was worth more. They are invested in the same fund. So I had to investigate. We had transferred their benefits to a PRSA in […]
The Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2011 gradually increased the age when people received the State pension in Ireland. It already moved the age from 65 to 66. The next phase of moving to 67 was planned to take effect in in 2021 but the 2020 general election happened. Those coming up to age 66 […]
Last week we wrote an article on how to consolidate your pensions. This week we are going to look at whether you should or not. Charges If you are part of a large occupational pension scheme, there is a good chance that your ex-employer is paying some of the cost of managing your pension and […]
You may have a number of different jobs in your working lifetime and along with that, you may have a number of different pension schemes. It can become an administrative headache, especially if you have a number of small pensions. It can be easier to just have them under the one policy. This article is […]
Just when the pensions industry thought there was a chance that the government wasn’t going to make any changes to PRSAs, the Finance Bill is published and a big change is being made to PRSA funding rules. What were the old rules? For company pension contributions there was always funding limits on how much a […]