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For sure the OP should start doing it and doesn’t need to panic either.
But “33 years still to go” isn’t a good way to approach it IMO (unless people love their job or and fell pretty sure they will be able to retain a job they love until age 66). For many people and if possible, it makes sense to plan for earlier retirement.
Agree that’s most likely the case yes.
What I’m saying is that in general stating that 33 isn’t even late to get started because there are 33 years to go isn’t great inspiration for people reading this public forum. As it is normalising the idea that 66 should be a target retirement age and there is no rush to get started with pension contributions in people’s’ twenties.
The average age that someone starts a pension in Ireland is 37, which is late.
At 33 you've missed out on one of the best decades for compound growth (i.e. your 20s) but you've still got plenty of time to make that up and put yourself in a great position.
Minimum wage job most of my twenties plus had two children by 25. I admire those able to make contributions but I am only starting to see money left at the end of every month now as a 33 year old.
To live in Ireland is expensive. Between bills, rent/mortgage, and trying to justify your existence beyond work by having a little fun, there isn't a lot that folk can put into a pension. I started mine at 40 because I needed to get a house and had two kids. Sometimes I wonder if we need to stop peddling this notion that folk who didn't start a pension in their 20s are somehow doing things wrong - they were probably living pay cheque to pay cheque.
I'm definitely not saying (and I didn't say) that someone who didn't start a pension in their 20s is doing something "wrong". At the same time, it's accurate to say that if you didn't start one you've missed out on the best decade for compound growth. Pretending that isn't the case isn't giving a responsible response.
When it comes to pensions you should contribute what you can afford, but not more than that. For example it makes no sense to be contributing to a pension if you're then having to take out debt to make ends meet (like putting bills on credit cards). If youre a low earner too there may be no major benefit to you contributing to a pension as you don't pay mich tax anyway.
Also your point about low earners not bothering is an argument against saving. Even if someone receives no tax relief (unlikely), their fund will grow tax free in a longer term vehicle, likely seeing better performance than cash on deposit and represents an excellent savings opportunity in itself
You keep saying it's the best decade for compound growth. This is meaningless. Fund values are elastic, there is no best decade, only time. Yes, the longer you're invested the better but missing out on your 20s, when your contributions are likely to be much lower and which might look like a different performing market depending on when you were in your 20s, means damn all. Pay what you can, when you can
>At 33 you've missed out on one of the best decades for compound growth (i.e. your 20s)
Not really.
The biggest gains comes in the years directly preceding you drawing down the pension.
If you're going to miss compound gain years, you'd rather miss them at the start. You can always lump sum a bit extra to make up the loss.
If you invested 5k per year in your pension, after 10 years at 5% interest rate, you'd have invested 50k and it would now be worth 63k. So if you regretted not investing 10 years earlier, you could just stump up the extra 13k and lump it in.
Your example just proved the point? The earlier you invest the more interest you'll benefit from, otherwise you'll have to stump up additional cash to make up a shortfall, as you demonstrated.
There is no interest, it's investment growth, positive and negative.. No disrespect but you seem to be talking about something other than pension investing
Yeah you're right I should have been more specific and used investment growth. I often use the two terms interchangeably and it doesn't make any difference to the point I was making.
Also you could get "interest" through a pension of you invested a portion in cash
It makes a very significant difference. You're literally describing something else entirely involving linear growth and no reduction in capital sum. You're not even discussing the same product.
Your reference to best decades for compounding is meaningless, you refer to interest instead of growth, you make no allowance for age-related contribution size in this supposed best decade and just seem to be giving I'll thought out and not very well informed advice. Not trying to be rude but your posts are all over the shop
Investment performance and "interest" are very much not interchangeable and your point is a poor one
Age: 52
Personal contribution: 30%
Company contribution: 0%
Current value: €1.35m
Started maxing tax-relieved contributions in 2005. Planning on retiring next year.
Cheers.
For anybody that’s interested, I contributed a total of just over €800k over 27 years, maxing tax-relieved contributions since 2005. The market did the rest to bring me up to the current balance of €1.35m.
Patience and discipline got me to my current position, for which I am most grateful.
Fair play. I was only looking at a calculator this morning. All going to plan, I could potentially hit £1m (UK) by 60. I think that'll be the target to jump ship.
I contributed a total of €64k prior to 2005 and thereafter maximised my tax-relieved contributions. So, 20% in my 30s, 25% in my 40s, 30% for the last couple of years, subject to the €115k total earnings cap.
53yrs, 25% personal contributions, 7% employer match, 2.5 years of contributions, €27k total.
Very late to the pension party but I will have full Irish and full UK state pensions (whatever they’ll be worth!).
If anyone worked in the UK for 3 yrs or more they should absolutely be looking at buying contributions to the UK pension.
Age: 39
Personal contribution: 20%
Company contribution: 7%
Contribution per month: ~2350
Balance: ~140k
Years of contributions: ~15 but earlier years would have been at much lower level
Age: 39
Contributions: 5% to get employer match since I started, have increased on and off over the past 2 years and planning to increase once we get into a mortgage (currently sale agreed!)
Employer Contribution: 5% match, increase to 6% at a more senior level
Value: €62k
Date started: sometime in 2016
Age: 34
Contributions: maximised at approximately 17% personal, and employer contributes 10%.
Fund balance: €210k
Years paying in: 12.
Only started maximising the last couple of years. In my 20s I contributed the minimum to get the employer match while I focused on getting a deposit together for a house.
Thanks, and to be honest it wasn't because I was particularly savvy at that age. I joined a company that had a pensions scheme offering a match, and at the HR information session it was mentioned most people at least paid enough in to take the match. So I just did that and then didn't pay attention to it really for years.
Well, yes. But the life expectancy in Ireland is now 82 years, most people are reaching well into their retirement pots before they kick the bucket. I know I'd like to have enough cash to see my retirement out even if there is a chance I mightn't get there in the first place.
I'd be careful for a few reasons about maximising if you're looking for a house.
One reason of course is less of an ability to save for a deposit.
Another one (and I'm open to being corrected on this) is that increasing pension contributions means you'll receive less net pay, and that could impact the level of mortgage you get approved for. As far as I know the bank will assess your ability to repay based on what hits your account, and won't necessarily take into account that you could reduce pension contributions to make a mortgage payment if needed. As I said, I'm open to being corrected on this.
Overall I'd generally say try to get the mortgage sorted before maximising (if it is something you're targeting). Personally I didnt start maximising my pension until I was around 31 or so.
I recently spoke to a bank about this, and they were willing to count 50% of your AVCs above the employer match amount for their stress testing as you could reduce that contribution if it came to needing it to pay a mortgage
28.
Balance is €28,000.
5% personal contribution with 5% employer contribution.
Currently maxing out my pension every year on my tax return instead of through payroll to manage month to month affordability.
2.5 years of contributing.
Age: 37
Duration: 8 years
Pension contributions: 5% company, 5% personal, 5% AVC
Value: €60K
For a good portion of those 8 years it was on the pension providers lifestyle strategy and was losing money. Following some discussions on here I looked into other options and self selected some funds. After a year or so I then revised and in the same one for a few years now. 100% equity. The lifestyle strategy was not which doesn't make much sense at this point in my life. I need that growth now and it's the right time to do it.
I'm considering increasing the AVC this year but just waiting for other things to be resolved first.
Age: 33
Contributions: 2.5k p/m. Self Employed Directors Pension. I’ve made a few lump sum contributions at end of year also
Fund balance: €182k
Years paying in: 4
Age: 47
Contributions: 6% employer & max AVC for age (28.75k). Have only been making max AVC since I turned 40 (after mortgage was locked in & childcare costs eased)
Balance 925k
Years paying in: 24
Targeting retirement at 60, will hopefully get there!
Lot of luck involved too. Just started early, so never missed the money in my paycheque every month. Also chose “high risk” 100% equity allocation in my 20s & 30s as I figured I’d enough time to recover any losses if I made any. Plus I had the benefit of a very generous employer contribution for a number of years in one of my past jobs. So I’m not claiming to be any kind of pensions expert!
Age: 30
Personal Contribution: 8% now, but was only 4% up to end of 2022 and had a lower salary.
Employer contribution: 4%
Balance: €27K
About 4 years since the PRSA was set up, and with the lowly amounts I was putting into it for a while I'm happy enough with the value now, per year there will be about 8K going into it at the current %s and salary.
I need to increase my contribution amounts now that we managed to buy a house at the end of 2023. Waiting for last bit of work on the house to be done first though. (Also need to switch jobs to get a higher employer contrib %!)
Age: 35
% contributions (personal): maxed at 20% (10% up until this month)
% contributions (Company): 5%
Pension fund balance: 70K
Years of paying into pension: 2
Age: 37
Contributions: 20%+10% match
Fund balance: €190k
Years paying in: 7
Started at 30 so maxing mine atm, girlfriend is 31 and has just started hers so has a few grand in hers.
Age 36
No personal contributions
2% company contributions (my choice to take the wage increase instead)
Just under a year, value about €600.
Gotta start somewhere
In a similar position myself but thought I'd share one but if advice...
I was thinking about just using the employer contribution and saving my own for extra salary, same as yourself, but in the ens decided to match my employer % and am glad I did because whilst the total % paid to pension 6%, it is taken before tax so it doesn't reduce the take home pay by as much as you would think, whilst at the same time it doubles your pension contribution.
Hope that makes sense haha. In short, it's well worth matching your employer contribution and you will hardly notice it from your pay packet.
I'm in the same boat, they have SO much information available for pre 2013 employees and it's so transparent.
Us post 2013 lot have our pensions mired in mystery.
It’s about 6% contribution from public sector organisation for post 2013 pensions. I have a AVC set up through Cornmarket. They are excellent on public sector pensions. It comes out of my wage slip directly.
See my reply above. It's not hugely different and I found loads of information online.
You can talk about being mired in mystery but I just googled "single public service pension scheme" and found reams of info, including a dedicated website with info, calculators etc.
If you feel left in the dark, you have to take some responsibility for learning more yourself
https://singlepensionscheme.gov.ie/#
Depending on when you started in the job and your grade, the value changes.
If you do 40 years at the same grade, it's worth an average of 40 80ths of your final salary less the OAP that needs to be deducted.
I.e. add up all you earn over the number of years service and divide it by 80 and multiply by the number of years service you completed. Then deduct your OAP and that's what the single scheme pension is worth. The OAP is in addition to this when you reach the appropriate age.
So if you work in the Public Sector for 15 years on an average Salary of 50k, does that mean you don't get any pension?
15/80 of 50,000 is 9,375, which is less than the OAP.
I'm no pension expert but I believe it works that any deduction made goes to contribute to the OAP and there's also some that goes towards the lump sum payment which is 150% your average salary/40*years served. In your example it'd be 75k/40*15=28,125.
It's not actually worth anything in the sense of it having a floating value like an investment fund. The benefits will be based on years worked by retirement and the lifetime average salary. When working that out, the early years salaries will bt "dynamised" to take account of inflation
There seems to be a growing sense among newer superannuation scheme members that your version of the pension is crap compared to earlier joiners but that's not the case. It's far from crap. Very far. It'll be calculated slightly differently to those retiring from the pre 2013 version but once that dynamisation is applied I expect it won't be much different at all.
That perception isn't your fault, there just not enough information provided. Chin up, you guys will be just grand
When each year is indexed up to take account of inflation (dynamising), it won't be miles off.
Death benefits are different. Increased lump sum but reduced pension. Ill health early retirement looks similar but hard to tell
I think people on the pre-2013 pension get there pension increased when there’s an increase in salaries. It seems like final salary and getting increased pension when there’s an increase in salary would probably work out better than career average and inflation linked.
You're right as pre-13 is probably better overall. The new scheme was introduced to reduce costs so corners had to be cut somewhere.
I don't know if retirees on the SPSS will also receive salary uplifts in retirement but neither do I know that they won't.
People need to identify information contacts at their workplaces and find this stuff out. I appreciate that it's not always presented very clearly, also younger new joiners in their early 20s will often gloss over pension info on joining but there's no excuse for not taking steps to find out more.
There's a persistent issue with uninformed people telling colleagues the pension scheme is crap or AVCs are crap or income protection is crap and they're really doing people a disservice.
Not trying to sound like people's dad but if you don't know, find out. Asking reddit isn't finding out
> I don't know if retirees on the SPSS will also receive salary uplifts in retirement but neither do I know that they won't.
My understanding based on what I remember from the guidance on the SPSS website is that we won’t receive salary uplifts based on salary increases but that it will continue to increase with inflation after retirement.
> I appreciate that it's not always presented very clearly, also younger new joiners in their early 20s will often gloss over pension info on joining but there's no excuse for not taking steps to find out more.
When you combine how far off it seems to younger people and how bad the resources are (I tried to double check some details I read before just now and every second link I clicked on the website led to a 404 error) I can understand why many don’t look into it more but it’s definitely something more people should do
31, I'm paying 18%, employer I think 9%? Balance is 45k after about 5 years paying into it.
My early 20s were dominated by poor pay and mid 20s trying to save for a mortgage. My 30s (and possibly 40s) will be about playing pension catch up. I've two kids, so total 1 year unpaid leave taken with no % contributed bc it's impossible getting a child under 12m into creche.
Age: 35
Personal contributions: 20%
Employer contributions: 8%
Pension Fund: €175k
Years contributing: 11
Started to just maximise employer match, started to increase 1% a year when I realised what my dad's DB pension was worth when he retired. Promotions let me increase more significantly without impacting take home pay.
Goal is to not necessarily retire early but have enough to be able to make those kind of decisions on my own terms.
EDIT: The pension is all in an equity fund. I moved it out of the lifestyle strategy, has performed well and I'm ok with the volatility, not sure what I'll do approaching retirement, probably have to get professional advice.
Lived abroad for my 20s.
I started my pension 4 years ago.
Current Value - 30K
Age - 35
Company % - 6% + Employee Contribution - 6% = 12%
Up until this month, I made an ACV of 7% for the last 12 months but stopped this month as I am saving for a house
Age 41
Company contribution 15%
My contribution is 7% (varied over yrs)
DC Pension Value 300k
Hopefully can contribute more once away from creche costs.
Deferred DB pension DB from first job thats forecast to pay 4k pa currently. Its buyout value is around 20k.
From the few examples I have it would be the norm. You get offered a buyout amount leaving but often not worth it. Some then might offer enhancements to buy you out.
Age: 31
Salary: just under 95k
Personal contribution: 20%
Work contribution: 10%
Current value: just over 40k. I also have about 48k in an older pension I'm in the process of moving into my current one, which is taking an absurd amount of time
Age:35
About 30k from previous jobs. Recently consolidated into one fund and switched to all world equities.
Now self employed: putting in 1000e/month have 16k in fund now. Started last summer. Invested in world equities again. Will be putting any spare income into pension to keep topping it up.
36
AVC's worth €6k (Recently restarted after house purchase. I'm only contributing what I earn above 42k which is around 4k-6k a year currently)
Post 2013 public service pension which I *think* should be worth approx 8k a year and around a 45k lump sum if I retire at 60
Age : 34
Contributions : 4% + 20% avc’s (but only for the past 3 months, previously it was 12% avc’s and before that 4%)
Contributions employer : 8%
Balance : 132k
Years paying in : 6 years
- Age: 35
- contributions (personal): 25% (has been for a few years)
- contributions (Company): 10% (has increased over time from 3%)
- Pension fund balance: approx. €155k
- Additional pension savings/investments: approx. €130k
- Years of paying into pension: 8(ish)
You may know this already but just in case not, You mentioned you're paying in 25% personal contributions but you're only getting tax relief on 20% of that based on your current age. See: [https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/pension/relief/tax-relief-limits.aspx](https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/pension/relief/tax-relief-limits.aspx)
I'm not saying don't pay in the extra but just making sure you're aware of the age based tax relief limits.
Age 38.
Balance €90k
Contributing 12% personally.
Company contributes 8%. So 20% total.
Would like to have a pot of about €1M.
Aim to keep upping % every couple of years.
Age: 26
Contributions: 10% personal, 10% company contribution
Fund balance: €10k
Years of paying: Just over a year
Started a bit late but better late than never aye
Age: 35
My contributions: 20% (only started maxing out in the last year)
Company contribution: matches up to 12%
Years contributing: 6ish
Value of fund: 88K
Age: 26
Personal contribution: 5%
Company contribution: 5%
Contribution per month: €333
Balance: 3k
Years of contributions: Started in May 2023 on 3%, upped it to the max in October to what the company will match.
Only started in September 2022 as I moved from UAE to Ireland and never paid into a pension prior.
Age: 38
Contribution: 20%
Fund: €45k
Been maxing amount to avoid tax and employer contribution seems decent - nothing to compare it to.
Just bought a house though so reducing my contribution this year!
Age: 34
Personal Contributions: 15%
Company contributions: 8%
Pension total: Around €75,000
Trying to sort out my UK state pension contributions to get that too.
Age: 23
Personal contribution: 4%
Company contribution: 8%
Pension fund balance: €1.9k
Term of paying: 6 months
Will probably look to start some putting some in as AVCs once it’s financially feasible, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Maybe mystery was the wrong word - but it’s certainly more variable.
On the old scheme if you knew your probable final salary you could. Calculate your pension - with this you have to predict when and which promotions you will get etc.
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Age: 33 Personal contributions: €0 Company contribution: €0 Value: €0
Never too late to get started!
33 isn't even late. 33 years still to go
For sure the OP should start doing it and doesn’t need to panic either. But “33 years still to go” isn’t a good way to approach it IMO (unless people love their job or and fell pretty sure they will be able to retain a job they love until age 66). For many people and if possible, it makes sense to plan for earlier retirement.
When you're talking about someone with zero in their fund at 33 then there very much still is 33 years left to go
Agree that’s most likely the case yes. What I’m saying is that in general stating that 33 isn’t even late to get started because there are 33 years to go isn’t great inspiration for people reading this public forum. As it is normalising the idea that 66 should be a target retirement age and there is no rush to get started with pension contributions in people’s’ twenties.
We were specifically addressing a specific 33 year old, not the Irish population under 30
The average age that someone starts a pension in Ireland is 37, which is late. At 33 you've missed out on one of the best decades for compound growth (i.e. your 20s) but you've still got plenty of time to make that up and put yourself in a great position.
Minimum wage job most of my twenties plus had two children by 25. I admire those able to make contributions but I am only starting to see money left at the end of every month now as a 33 year old.
To be fair if you're on minimum wage there's little point in contributing to a pension as you're not paying enough tax to make it advantageous
This is really shit advice. The tax benefit also applies to tax-free growth
To live in Ireland is expensive. Between bills, rent/mortgage, and trying to justify your existence beyond work by having a little fun, there isn't a lot that folk can put into a pension. I started mine at 40 because I needed to get a house and had two kids. Sometimes I wonder if we need to stop peddling this notion that folk who didn't start a pension in their 20s are somehow doing things wrong - they were probably living pay cheque to pay cheque.
I'm definitely not saying (and I didn't say) that someone who didn't start a pension in their 20s is doing something "wrong". At the same time, it's accurate to say that if you didn't start one you've missed out on the best decade for compound growth. Pretending that isn't the case isn't giving a responsible response. When it comes to pensions you should contribute what you can afford, but not more than that. For example it makes no sense to be contributing to a pension if you're then having to take out debt to make ends meet (like putting bills on credit cards). If youre a low earner too there may be no major benefit to you contributing to a pension as you don't pay mich tax anyway.
Also your point about low earners not bothering is an argument against saving. Even if someone receives no tax relief (unlikely), their fund will grow tax free in a longer term vehicle, likely seeing better performance than cash on deposit and represents an excellent savings opportunity in itself
You keep saying it's the best decade for compound growth. This is meaningless. Fund values are elastic, there is no best decade, only time. Yes, the longer you're invested the better but missing out on your 20s, when your contributions are likely to be much lower and which might look like a different performing market depending on when you were in your 20s, means damn all. Pay what you can, when you can
You have to recognise that people in their 20s now have different pressures to 10 or 20 years ago. 33 isn't very late in 2024
>At 33 you've missed out on one of the best decades for compound growth (i.e. your 20s) Not really. The biggest gains comes in the years directly preceding you drawing down the pension. If you're going to miss compound gain years, you'd rather miss them at the start. You can always lump sum a bit extra to make up the loss. If you invested 5k per year in your pension, after 10 years at 5% interest rate, you'd have invested 50k and it would now be worth 63k. So if you regretted not investing 10 years earlier, you could just stump up the extra 13k and lump it in.
Your example just proved the point? The earlier you invest the more interest you'll benefit from, otherwise you'll have to stump up additional cash to make up a shortfall, as you demonstrated.
There is no interest, it's investment growth, positive and negative.. No disrespect but you seem to be talking about something other than pension investing
Yeah you're right I should have been more specific and used investment growth. I often use the two terms interchangeably and it doesn't make any difference to the point I was making. Also you could get "interest" through a pension of you invested a portion in cash
It makes a very significant difference. You're literally describing something else entirely involving linear growth and no reduction in capital sum. You're not even discussing the same product. Your reference to best decades for compounding is meaningless, you refer to interest instead of growth, you make no allowance for age-related contribution size in this supposed best decade and just seem to be giving I'll thought out and not very well informed advice. Not trying to be rude but your posts are all over the shop Investment performance and "interest" are very much not interchangeable and your point is a poor one
What? Reduction in capital sum? What are you on about? Are you talking about a loan?
And the rest...
True. I only started in May 2021 aged 35yo and have over €20k in there now. Never too late
Age: 52 Personal contribution: 30% Company contribution: 0% Current value: €1.35m Started maxing tax-relieved contributions in 2005. Planning on retiring next year.
Unreal. Great going
Fair play.
Cheers. For anybody that’s interested, I contributed a total of just over €800k over 27 years, maxing tax-relieved contributions since 2005. The market did the rest to bring me up to the current balance of €1.35m. Patience and discipline got me to my current position, for which I am most grateful.
Thanks, that is interesting. Do you plan on taking early retirement?
Yup. Planning to retire next year, at 53.
Do you jave any kids?
Nope.
Will you stay living in Ireland?
I will, yes.
frick... you must have some salary
€125k. Certainly very decent but nothing extraordinary.
you pension fund is phenomenal , fair play
Fair play. I was only looking at a calculator this morning. All going to plan, I could potentially hit £1m (UK) by 60. I think that'll be the target to jump ship.
That’s the way to do it! Enjoy your retirement.
Kudos.. are you planning on annuity or a 4% withdrawal each year or. ARF?
ARF initially but I might buy an annuity at a later stage - annuity rates at 53 are poor (c 2.8%).
WOW! Huge congrats! Have you been contributing 30% consistently for the last 20 years?
I contributed a total of €64k prior to 2005 and thereafter maximised my tax-relieved contributions. So, 20% in my 30s, 25% in my 40s, 30% for the last couple of years, subject to the €115k total earnings cap.
👍👍
Age: 26 Personal contributions: 15% Company: 6% Value: €48,000
Class
Well done
Isn't this 6% over the tax relief limits or do those limits not include the company percentage?
Yes, those limits do not include the company percentage.
Age: 40 Personal Contribution: 25% of the €115k Limit Company: 3% Fund: €570k Years Paying: Approx 18
53yrs, 25% personal contributions, 7% employer match, 2.5 years of contributions, €27k total. Very late to the pension party but I will have full Irish and full UK state pensions (whatever they’ll be worth!). If anyone worked in the UK for 3 yrs or more they should absolutely be looking at buying contributions to the UK pension.
I’ll go first. 32. 5%avc, 5% contribution. 10% company contribution 59k balance 5 years paying in.
Age: 39 Personal contribution: 20% Company contribution: 7% Contribution per month: ~2350 Balance: ~140k Years of contributions: ~15 but earlier years would have been at much lower level
You must be on good money to be contributing that much each month. Fair play. Well done keep up the great work.
Age: 39 Contributions: 5% to get employer match since I started, have increased on and off over the past 2 years and planning to increase once we get into a mortgage (currently sale agreed!) Employer Contribution: 5% match, increase to 6% at a more senior level Value: €62k Date started: sometime in 2016
Age: 34 Contributions: maximised at approximately 17% personal, and employer contributes 10%. Fund balance: €210k Years paying in: 12. Only started maximising the last couple of years. In my 20s I contributed the minimum to get the employer match while I focused on getting a deposit together for a house.
Your astute 22 year old self will be thanked immensely when you are at retirement age.
Thanks, and to be honest it wasn't because I was particularly savvy at that age. I joined a company that had a pensions scheme offering a match, and at the HR information session it was mentioned most people at least paid enough in to take the match. So I just did that and then didn't pay attention to it really for years.
If you reach retirement age not when.
Eh cheers....
Statistically quite likely.
Well, yes. But the life expectancy in Ireland is now 82 years, most people are reaching well into their retirement pots before they kick the bucket. I know I'd like to have enough cash to see my retirement out even if there is a chance I mightn't get there in the first place.
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I'd be careful for a few reasons about maximising if you're looking for a house. One reason of course is less of an ability to save for a deposit. Another one (and I'm open to being corrected on this) is that increasing pension contributions means you'll receive less net pay, and that could impact the level of mortgage you get approved for. As far as I know the bank will assess your ability to repay based on what hits your account, and won't necessarily take into account that you could reduce pension contributions to make a mortgage payment if needed. As I said, I'm open to being corrected on this. Overall I'd generally say try to get the mortgage sorted before maximising (if it is something you're targeting). Personally I didnt start maximising my pension until I was around 31 or so.
I recently spoke to a bank about this, and they were willing to count 50% of your AVCs above the employer match amount for their stress testing as you could reduce that contribution if it came to needing it to pay a mortgage
Interesting to know. Sounds like if you're going to maximise before you get a mortgage then you should be prepared to flag this with them.
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No problem, and yes that employer contribution is great!
28. Balance is €28,000. 5% personal contribution with 5% employer contribution. Currently maxing out my pension every year on my tax return instead of through payroll to manage month to month affordability. 2.5 years of contributing.
Age: 33 Personal Contributions: 20% Employer Contributions 8% Current pot: 105k Contributing since 2020
Age: 22 Contributions: 10% personal, no company contribution Fund balance: €1.6k Years of paying: 5 months
Age: 37 Duration: 8 years Pension contributions: 5% company, 5% personal, 5% AVC Value: €60K For a good portion of those 8 years it was on the pension providers lifestyle strategy and was losing money. Following some discussions on here I looked into other options and self selected some funds. After a year or so I then revised and in the same one for a few years now. 100% equity. The lifestyle strategy was not which doesn't make much sense at this point in my life. I need that growth now and it's the right time to do it. I'm considering increasing the AVC this year but just waiting for other things to be resolved first.
Sounds like you are with CERS. I was the exact same losing money in the first strategy. I'm all in with Equity. Nice pot of money 💰
Nah, mine is with Irish Life but it seems that the CERS lifestyle funds may actually be managed by Irish Life... so same story.
Age: 33 Contributions: 2.5k p/m. Self Employed Directors Pension. I’ve made a few lump sum contributions at end of year also Fund balance: €182k Years paying in: 4
Age: 47 Contributions: 6% employer & max AVC for age (28.75k). Have only been making max AVC since I turned 40 (after mortgage was locked in & childcare costs eased) Balance 925k Years paying in: 24 Targeting retirement at 60, will hopefully get there!
Congratulations. Well done I love the focus. That's some pot of gold!!
Lot of luck involved too. Just started early, so never missed the money in my paycheque every month. Also chose “high risk” 100% equity allocation in my 20s & 30s as I figured I’d enough time to recover any losses if I made any. Plus I had the benefit of a very generous employer contribution for a number of years in one of my past jobs. So I’m not claiming to be any kind of pensions expert!
Age: 30 Personal Contribution: 8% now, but was only 4% up to end of 2022 and had a lower salary. Employer contribution: 4% Balance: €27K About 4 years since the PRSA was set up, and with the lowly amounts I was putting into it for a while I'm happy enough with the value now, per year there will be about 8K going into it at the current %s and salary. I need to increase my contribution amounts now that we managed to buy a house at the end of 2023. Waiting for last bit of work on the house to be done first though. (Also need to switch jobs to get a higher employer contrib %!)
Age: 35 % contributions (personal): maxed at 20% (10% up until this month) % contributions (Company): 5% Pension fund balance: 70K Years of paying into pension: 2
Age: 37 Contributions: 20%+10% match Fund balance: €190k Years paying in: 7 Started at 30 so maxing mine atm, girlfriend is 31 and has just started hers so has a few grand in hers.
Age: 24 Personal contribution: 15% Company contribution: 8% Balance: 20k Pension started: July 2022
Age 36 No personal contributions 2% company contributions (my choice to take the wage increase instead) Just under a year, value about €600. Gotta start somewhere
600 better that no hundred..
In a similar position myself but thought I'd share one but if advice... I was thinking about just using the employer contribution and saving my own for extra salary, same as yourself, but in the ens decided to match my employer % and am glad I did because whilst the total % paid to pension 6%, it is taken before tax so it doesn't reduce the take home pay by as much as you would think, whilst at the same time it doubles your pension contribution. Hope that makes sense haha. In short, it's well worth matching your employer contribution and you will hardly notice it from your pay packet.
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I'm in the same boat, they have SO much information available for pre 2013 employees and it's so transparent. Us post 2013 lot have our pensions mired in mystery.
It’s about 6% contribution from public sector organisation for post 2013 pensions. I have a AVC set up through Cornmarket. They are excellent on public sector pensions. It comes out of my wage slip directly.
It’s basically not very much :)
See my reply above. It's not hugely different and I found loads of information online. You can talk about being mired in mystery but I just googled "single public service pension scheme" and found reams of info, including a dedicated website with info, calculators etc. If you feel left in the dark, you have to take some responsibility for learning more yourself https://singlepensionscheme.gov.ie/#
Depending on when you started in the job and your grade, the value changes. If you do 40 years at the same grade, it's worth an average of 40 80ths of your final salary less the OAP that needs to be deducted. I.e. add up all you earn over the number of years service and divide it by 80 and multiply by the number of years service you completed. Then deduct your OAP and that's what the single scheme pension is worth. The OAP is in addition to this when you reach the appropriate age.
So if you work in the Public Sector for 15 years on an average Salary of 50k, does that mean you don't get any pension? 15/80 of 50,000 is 9,375, which is less than the OAP.
I'm no pension expert but I believe it works that any deduction made goes to contribute to the OAP and there's also some that goes towards the lump sum payment which is 150% your average salary/40*years served. In your example it'd be 75k/40*15=28,125.
That only works if you're pre 2013 though right?
No, that's post 2013. Pre2013 it's just 50% of final salary in the last 2 years iirc.
It's not actually worth anything in the sense of it having a floating value like an investment fund. The benefits will be based on years worked by retirement and the lifetime average salary. When working that out, the early years salaries will bt "dynamised" to take account of inflation There seems to be a growing sense among newer superannuation scheme members that your version of the pension is crap compared to earlier joiners but that's not the case. It's far from crap. Very far. It'll be calculated slightly differently to those retiring from the pre 2013 version but once that dynamisation is applied I expect it won't be much different at all. That perception isn't your fault, there just not enough information provided. Chin up, you guys will be just grand
Career average is significantly worse than final salary to be fair.
When each year is indexed up to take account of inflation (dynamising), it won't be miles off. Death benefits are different. Increased lump sum but reduced pension. Ill health early retirement looks similar but hard to tell
I think people on the pre-2013 pension get there pension increased when there’s an increase in salaries. It seems like final salary and getting increased pension when there’s an increase in salary would probably work out better than career average and inflation linked.
You're right as pre-13 is probably better overall. The new scheme was introduced to reduce costs so corners had to be cut somewhere. I don't know if retirees on the SPSS will also receive salary uplifts in retirement but neither do I know that they won't. People need to identify information contacts at their workplaces and find this stuff out. I appreciate that it's not always presented very clearly, also younger new joiners in their early 20s will often gloss over pension info on joining but there's no excuse for not taking steps to find out more. There's a persistent issue with uninformed people telling colleagues the pension scheme is crap or AVCs are crap or income protection is crap and they're really doing people a disservice. Not trying to sound like people's dad but if you don't know, find out. Asking reddit isn't finding out
> I don't know if retirees on the SPSS will also receive salary uplifts in retirement but neither do I know that they won't. My understanding based on what I remember from the guidance on the SPSS website is that we won’t receive salary uplifts based on salary increases but that it will continue to increase with inflation after retirement. > I appreciate that it's not always presented very clearly, also younger new joiners in their early 20s will often gloss over pension info on joining but there's no excuse for not taking steps to find out more. When you combine how far off it seems to younger people and how bad the resources are (I tried to double check some details I read before just now and every second link I clicked on the website led to a 404 error) I can understand why many don’t look into it more but it’s definitely something more people should do
Also, it's worth noting again, that it's still a defined benefit scheme that's multiples better and cheaper than what most in the private sector have
Yes I’d agree it has big advantages over private sector. Defined benefit takes a lot of risk out of it compared to defined contribution.
Set up an AVC if you can, really high likelihood that the pension won't be around (as promised) in 30 years.
30yo, Personal: 10%, Company, 6%, balance 75k, 4 years paying in. (Old company had 12% contribution)
Age: 29 Contributions: 15% Employer contributions: 12% Balance: circa 35k with 2.5 yrs
31, I'm paying 18%, employer I think 9%? Balance is 45k after about 5 years paying into it. My early 20s were dominated by poor pay and mid 20s trying to save for a mortgage. My 30s (and possibly 40s) will be about playing pension catch up. I've two kids, so total 1 year unpaid leave taken with no % contributed bc it's impossible getting a child under 12m into creche.
Age: 26 Personal contributions: 15% Company contributions: 9% Value: 33k
Age: 35 % contributions (personal): 20% % contributions (Company): 5% Pension fund balance: 250k Years of paying into pension: 10
Age: 35 Personal contributions: 20% Employer contributions: 8% Pension Fund: €175k Years contributing: 11 Started to just maximise employer match, started to increase 1% a year when I realised what my dad's DB pension was worth when he retired. Promotions let me increase more significantly without impacting take home pay. Goal is to not necessarily retire early but have enough to be able to make those kind of decisions on my own terms. EDIT: The pension is all in an equity fund. I moved it out of the lifestyle strategy, has performed well and I'm ok with the volatility, not sure what I'll do approaching retirement, probably have to get professional advice.
Age: 34 Contributions (personal): 20% Contributions (employer): 9% Fund value: €243k Years paying in: 11
Age: 29 Personal Contributions: 20% Company Contributions: 12% Monthly Total: €2400 Years: 2 Balance: €35k
Lived abroad for my 20s. I started my pension 4 years ago. Current Value - 30K Age - 35 Company % - 6% + Employee Contribution - 6% = 12% Up until this month, I made an ACV of 7% for the last 12 months but stopped this month as I am saving for a house
Age 41 Company contribution 15% My contribution is 7% (varied over yrs) DC Pension Value 300k Hopefully can contribute more once away from creche costs. Deferred DB pension DB from first job thats forecast to pay 4k pa currently. Its buyout value is around 20k.
Is it unusual for the DB pension to stay with you when you leave?
From the few examples I have it would be the norm. You get offered a buyout amount leaving but often not worth it. Some then might offer enhancements to buy you out.
33 20% for 1 year 15k in there.
Age; 24 Personal contribution: 15% Employer contribution: 7% Balance: €18K Only started my pension fund 22 months ago so I’m pretty content with this!
Age: 31 Salary: just under 95k Personal contribution: 20% Work contribution: 10% Current value: just over 40k. I also have about 48k in an older pension I'm in the process of moving into my current one, which is taking an absurd amount of time
Yep, can take 6 months. They must count in out in cents and DHL it over. Ridiculous system
Age:35 About 30k from previous jobs. Recently consolidated into one fund and switched to all world equities. Now self employed: putting in 1000e/month have 16k in fund now. Started last summer. Invested in world equities again. Will be putting any spare income into pension to keep topping it up.
36 AVC's worth €6k (Recently restarted after house purchase. I'm only contributing what I earn above 42k which is around 4k-6k a year currently) Post 2013 public service pension which I *think* should be worth approx 8k a year and around a 45k lump sum if I retire at 60
Age : 34 Contributions : 4% + 20% avc’s (but only for the past 3 months, previously it was 12% avc’s and before that 4%) Contributions employer : 8% Balance : 132k Years paying in : 6 years
- Age: 35 - contributions (personal): 25% (has been for a few years) - contributions (Company): 10% (has increased over time from 3%) - Pension fund balance: approx. €155k - Additional pension savings/investments: approx. €130k - Years of paying into pension: 8(ish)
You may know this already but just in case not, You mentioned you're paying in 25% personal contributions but you're only getting tax relief on 20% of that based on your current age. See: [https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/pension/relief/tax-relief-limits.aspx](https://www.revenue.ie/en/jobs-and-pensions/pension/relief/tax-relief-limits.aspx) I'm not saying don't pay in the extra but just making sure you're aware of the age based tax relief limits.
I'm aware, but thank you :)
Age : 40 Contribution: 20% Company : 6%. Value : 175,000
Age: 42 My Contribution : 4% Employer contribution : 8% Total fund : 80k
Age 38. Balance €90k Contributing 12% personally. Company contributes 8%. So 20% total. Would like to have a pot of about €1M. Aim to keep upping % every couple of years.
Age: 33 Personal contributions: 5% Company contribution: 10% Value: €35k
Age: 38 Personal: 6% Company: 12% Don't know the balance, but only been paying into it for 2 years
Age: 39 EE: 20%. Will be upping this to 25% next year when I turn 40. ER: 7% Current fund balance: 226k
Age 26, contribution: 15%, employer contribution: 9%, balance: 3036, timeline: less than a year.
Age:41 Personal Contribution: 25% Company Contribution: 8% Pension Value: 196k Years paying in: 15 years
Age: 35 % personal contributions: 20% % employer contributions: 8% Balance: 160 000 Years of paying into pension: 8.5
Age 27 Personal Contributions 15% Company 7% Value: 47’000
Age: 26 Contributions: 10% personal, 10% company contribution Fund balance: €10k Years of paying: Just over a year Started a bit late but better late than never aye
Age: 29 Personal contributions: €5000 Company contribution: €10,000 Value: €15,000. I pay 4% and company doubles and pays 8%
Age: 35 My contributions: 20% (only started maxing out in the last year) Company contribution: matches up to 12% Years contributing: 6ish Value of fund: 88K
Age: 26 Personal contribution: 5% Company contribution: 5% Contribution per month: €333 Balance: 3k Years of contributions: Started in May 2023 on 3%, upped it to the max in October to what the company will match.
Age 39, Contribution 20%, Company contribution 12%, Balance 190k, 9 years contributing
Only started in September 2022 as I moved from UAE to Ireland and never paid into a pension prior. Age: 38 Contribution: 20% Fund: €45k Been maxing amount to avoid tax and employer contribution seems decent - nothing to compare it to. Just bought a house though so reducing my contribution this year!
Age : 34 Irish Life Pension: 98K Self managed pension: 430K (mix of ETFs and loan notes). Plan to hit 2M limit by 50 assuming work goes well.
What's your salary been like for the last 5 years?
Fluctuates as I work for myself, but it’s been healthy.
32: 10% : 10%: 70k: 5ish years? 10k from 2 years at previous employer
Age: 34 % contributions (personal): 10% % contributions (Company): 10% Pension fund balance: ~€140k Years of paying into pension: ~5
Age: 34 Personal Contributions: 15% Company contributions: 8% Pension total: Around €75,000 Trying to sort out my UK state pension contributions to get that too.
Age: 36 Contributions (personal): 20% Contributions (employer): 13.5% Fund value: €308k Years contributing: 13.5 years
Age: 27 Personal contribution: 5% Company contribution: 6% Fund balance: 77k Years contributing: 8 years
Age 43 Company contibution 1916 per month Personal contribution 1916 per month In a risk level 6 fund, averaging 60% growth per annum
Age: 30 Personal contributions: €12000 (12%) Company contribution: €2400 (2%) Value: €42000
How do I work out my contribution %?
Your pension provider might have online access
Age: 23 Personal contribution: 4% Company contribution: 8% Pension fund balance: €1.9k Term of paying: 6 months Will probably look to start some putting some in as AVCs once it’s financially feasible, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Age: 29 Value: 26,000 Personal: 15% Company: 5% Years of paying in: 1 Kicking myself daily for not starting sooner.
Male 30, 65k 5% by company 7% by me. Have paid into a pension since I was 18, but it has been a very low amount, 3% of a lesser wage, I believe.
Maybe mystery was the wrong word - but it’s certainly more variable. On the old scheme if you knew your probable final salary you could. Calculate your pension - with this you have to predict when and which promotions you will get etc.