PRSA Charges

My ER offers PRSA setup with a broker;
The charges are as follows:

Zero ER contribution
A plan charge of 3% deducted from the contribution (seems high)
An AMC of 1% on the particular fund I have chosen
An annual government levy

Would I get a better rate if I went independent and setup a PRSA with an alternative broker or is the 3% contribution charge competitive?

Thanks

If you don't need any advice and are happy to choose your own PRSA provider, contribution level and fund(s) then you can get a PRSA with a zero charge per contribution and 1% annual charge from various brokers that offer an execution-only service. There's a list on Askaboutmoney of discount brokers, many of whom would offer this.

If you need advice from the broker on the product, level of contribution, investment funds etc. then you have to pay for it. That's what the contribution charge goes towards.

If you don't need advice and complete the documentation yourself, then you can buy the PRSA on an 'execution only' basis with a 0% contribution charge and 1% AMC. Hopefully the levy will be gone in 2016.

Sometimes, if you set it up on your own, you have to get the permission of the employer to facilitate salary deduction as the PRSA provider may not be the one that the employer has signed up to. In my experience, they have no problem in doing this as they understand cost cutting.

The maximum is 5%.

You should ask your employer if he'll pick up the cost of the financial advice needed for the pension he's providing instead of you paying it over the lifetime of the contract.