Self directed pension plans

Trying to second guess market trends and movements is a recipe for disaster. That's what Zurich mean when they advise prospective customers that that scheme 'should be considered a high-risk investment.' They also point out that it is aimed at 'experienced investors'.

If you're more than 10 years off retirement, put your money in a managed fund and leave the day to day investment decisions to the professionals.

Touche!

Before they can be unleashed on the general public, drugs have to be approved by state regulatory bodies (the FDA in the US), not by the pharmaceutical companies which developed them.

Completely barmy comparison.

Aviva offer something similar, called SDIO.

Considering how many managed pension plans for people close to retirement lost significant money recently by having a large portion of the portfolios invested in zero interest bonds, which tanked once the ECB/Fed started raising rates, it is IMHO legitimate for a customer to look for alternatives.

There's other providers who offer this service, not just Zurich. You'll need to look at the cost, service levels and access to market you want to play with

Heard of a fellow who worked for Tullow Oil and had 300k invested with them in 2019. Lost his job and his hole in 2020.

Putting money in individual stocks is only for those who are constantly monitoring their investments.

I think both of them had ridiculously bad investments

It was very common up until the GFC for Irish people to have a lot of money in bank shares. I know of one person whose parents' pension was wiped out in the crash because of this. I know of a solicitor acting for a client who sold a large amount of land in the mid 2000's. The solicitor took advice on what the client should do with the money, and the advice he got (I forget from whom) was to put it all in bank shares. Fortunately, in this case, the solicitor didn't trust the advice and left the money on deposit instead.

I pointed out earlier that there are options for self directed pension funds, and there are legitimate reasons for using them. But since I'm at least 9 years from retirement (and probably realistically 15 years from retirement), I'm happy to leave most of my own money in an MSCI World Index tracker fund. I've a small bit in a Euro tracker index and a small bit in a default fund from the pension provider. When I get closer to retirement, I may wish to have more flexibility.

What would you gain over having a professional fund manager, someone who actually knows their stuff and is paid to do this stuff, managing the fund for you - diversifying, rebalancing, holding their nerve and more?

Irish pension fund managers have a tendency to not stray far from the benchmark; underperformance is feared more than they desire outperformance. All of which essentially means active costs for passive performance.

It was from an article a few years ago. I don't remember which newspaper it was in, and it's proving difficult to Google.

Possibly a thing of the oast. The number of funds has exploded on recent years, and these reports always focused just on the Managed fund from each provider which is less popular than previously. I did see one for last year, but whoever produced it had chosen a different type of fund from each provider and was trying to use it to determine which provider was best.

I'd always found the notion of comparing these laughable. It doesn't provide any information that would enable anyone to make any decision.

But given that so few fund managers do better than an index over the longterm (if that is correct?- its what I seem to keep encountering) how do you choose with any degree of confidence a manager/management company etc you think might be worth paying an additional fee to

Would you compare a Zurich emerging equity fund against an Aviva European equity fund and decide that means Aviva is a better fund manager?

Could you explain why in a bit more detail?

I was under the impression self directed/execution only was cheaper?

Less management fees etc...more of your funds invested less fees as there is less management?

I ...perhaps naively thought it wouldn't be a bad option to use a prsa/avc as a vehicle to purchase a mix of one or a number of index trackers and benefit from the diversification without deemed disposal + the tax relief at the high rate

So is something like Zurich and prisma funds a better option?

Thank you. I appreciate the info.

Are you transferring from an occupational pension scheme to a PRSA?

If so, then it's the law that you need to get the assessment done to get the certificate.

Also, if so, you might be better transferring it to a personal retirement bond (PRB), assuming that you are no longer employed by the company that gave you the occupational pension. You won't be able to contribute any more to the PRB, but you should have flexibility as to what funds its invested in.

You can then take out a brand new PRSA for your new job.