CIF Pension - Question on transferring to private pension

[Tonisop]

As i am no longer employed in the construction Industry and make no contribution to my CIF pension (company & AVC). Can i transfer these funds to a private or self invest pension fund either in Ireland or UK. Based on the results of Pension funds i don't trust them to invest anything for me so if anyone has any recommendations if there are any self invest pension funds in Ireland i can use, like a UK SIPP? Or can i transfer the monies to a sipp in the UK to get out of the euro ? (i know stg is not great at the moment but i'd prefer it over euro) ?? any advise or recommendations would be welcome..

 

[Baracuda]

You cannot transfer your CIF pension to a personal pension. Depending on service and value you may be able to transfer to a PRSA which may have SIF options but not all PRSA providers offer a SIF option in their PRSA offering.

The pension's board will only allow you to transfer your CIF pension the UK as long as the receiving pension is of a similar nature to the CIF scheme. You should contact them before you make any arrangement to transfer.

Final option is to transfer to a Buy Out Bond. I do not know if you could get a SIF BOB though as I don't know of any provider that offers SIF option

Finally what makes you thing you can get a better return than the average fund manager? ( I am not suggesting you can't) I know several people that thought that they could do far better than the fund manager and invested in assets that performed way above the market average back in the mid noughties only to see their pension fund decimated over the the last 4 years i.e. they invested in property and financial shares. Even those who had a well diversified portfolio off loaded quality quality shares in late 2008 and early 2009 and thus missed the up swing that followed over the folllowing 12 months.

 

[LDFerguson]

Standard Life and Wealth Options offer self-invested BOBs.

But I'd echo Baracuda's comments about self-invested funds in general - only go for one if you have enough experience, knowledge and time to choose your own investments for the full duration. Many people run with self-invested funds with great enthusiasm at the start and then lose interest after a year or two.