Four years ago I left the company I worked with for 30 years and transferred my accumulated pension pot (defined contribution) into a Personal Retirement Bond (Irish Life - Consensus Fund) and went back to college to retrain in a completely different area in which I was interested.
Bad timing - have been unable to get a job in this area and the This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language fell out of the value of the Retirement Bond (at one stage, it was down to 57% of what I put in, has picked up since but is still only at 87%). My 65th birthday was on 20 Jan 2011. I had intended to take the tax-free lump sum and move the rest into an ARF - I would have qualified under the old rules as I have a guaranteed income of about €15000 (€11752 state pension + €3536 from a public service pension). My question is: can I still use the ARF or do I have to take an annuity, as the minimum requirement now seems to be about €18000? From what date exactly did the new rules apply, bearing in mind that my "normal retirement date" was 20 Jan.?
Bad timing - have been unable to get a job in this area and the This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language fell out of the value of the Retirement Bond (at one stage, it was down to 57% of what I put in, has picked up since but is still only at 87%). My 65th birthday was on 20 Jan 2011. I had intended to take the tax-free lump sum and move the rest into an ARF - I would have qualified under the old rules as I have a guaranteed income of about €15000 (€11752 state pension + €3536 from a public service pension). My question is: can I still use the ARF or do I have to take an annuity, as the minimum requirement now seems to be about €18000? From what date exactly did the new rules apply, bearing in mind that my "normal retirement date" was 20 Jan.?