Archive for the 'Retirement' Category

Danger of buying back years for Defined Benefit Pensions

A few weeks ago, I got a phonecall from a retired member of the DAA pension scheme. He had contributed to AVC’s for all his working life with the DAA and when he came to retirement, he decided to buy back years to boost his pension. He was phoning me because as part of the recent […]

Read More

What happens to my pension if I die?

I have written about the different type of pension plans before. They are mostly all the same i.e. a savings plan for retirement, but there are differences such as how much you can put into a particular plan . Another difference is what happens to your pension if you die. People are afraid that the insurance company will […]

Read More

When are you entitled to your employers pension contributions?

If you are thinking of moving jobs, one of the things you need to take into consideration is the value of the pension benefits that you have accumulated and whether you can taken them with you.  So when do your employers pension contributions become yours and what can you do with them? When are you entitled […]

Read More

How much can you put into a pension?

There is a huge difference between how much you can put into a pension depending on whether you are paying into a personal pension/ PRSA or a company paid plan. I will go through the maximum amounts you can make and claim tax relief on the contributions. You can, of course, contribute more and not […]

Read More

When can you mature your pension?

I previously wrote on how pensions work. In that article, I focused on the common traits of all the different pension plans that are available. One difference with the various pension plans is when you can mature your pension. Different rules apply to different pensions, so it is important that you are aware of these differences. […]

Read More

ARF early exit penalties

The Finance Bill changed the amount that people had to take from the ARF each year. But something that most ARF holders aren’t aware of, is that there are limits imposed by the life companies on how much they can take from their policy each year. Why are there early exit penalties? When I wrote […]

Read More

Are you a speculator or an investor?

There was an article in the Sunday Independent last week asking Where’s the best place to invest a spare €100k. I was surprised the some of the advisors interviewed said to invest in Irish property. Is it really that long ago since we saw property values plummet -60%? Or was this some great advice for long term […]

Read More

The Finance Bill & ARF’s

The Finance Bill was published on Thursday (23 October 2014). It usually throws up a few interesting changes that weren’t big enough to be included in the Budget speech. And sure enough, there were some changes to the treatment of ARF’s and AMRF’s. ARF Changes In 2006, in a measure to combat using ARF’s as tax […]

Read More

Reducing an Inheritance tax liability

In 2009, a child could inherit €542,544 from their parents and pay Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) of 25% on the remainder. Fast forward to 2014 and a child can inherit €225,000 tax free and pay CAT of 33% on the remainder. In Ireland, where parents still feel the need to leave an inheritance, the inheritance […]

Read More

Retirement Options - How to mature a pension

Retirement Options – How to mature a pension

The world of pensions has become more complex over the years so when it comes to retirement, people don’t know where to start when it comes to maturing their pension plans and starting their retirement. Today, I am going to look at the the retirement options available and how to mature a pension. There are […]

Read More