3 jobs - no pension!

K

kittyjo

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I'm 38 and have finally decided that I need to get a pension in order, I work in 2 part time jobs that offer no pension facilities and I also work as a part -time firefighter. We are now been offered a chance to join a local gov superann scheme with the firefighters which will be a % of our part-time salary. As I can't understand the whole pension malarkey i was hoping someone could tell me if I should join this and set up some other prsa to make it into a full pension? Or what is the best way for me to get a decent pension for my retirement?
Also I have a lump sum that I could put into a pension policy to make up for all my lazy years. Can you do this??
Sorry if this doesn't make sense
 
If you put away any amount up to 20% of your before tax earnings per year this will effectively be added to your tax free allowances.

Say you earn €50,000 per year before tax. If you put away €10,000 p.a. this will go into your pension and you will no longer pay tax on this, saving you €4,100 p.a in tax. So effectively you're putting in €5,900 of your own money and €4,100 that you would otherwise have paid in tax.

If you do this until you're 65 you could potentially build up a retirment income worth €20,000 p.a. in today's prices. Combined with a state pension this would give you a decent retirement.

The lump sum will give you a good start on this target and once you get a start it will ge easier with pay raises, etc
 
Now why couldn't you be writing the pension brochures:) That makes some sense. But do I go it alone or should I go with my employer - or does it make any difference?
 
DerKaiser said:
Say you earn €50,000 per year before tax. If you put away €10,000 p.a. this will go into your pension and you will no longer pay tax on this, saving you €4,100 p.a in tax. So effectively you're putting in €5,900 of your own money and €4,100 that you would otherwise have paid in tax.
Click to expand...
Also worth noting that the tax savings include the 6% PRSI, so rather than a saving of 41% you can recieve a saving of 47%....
so in the above calculation, €5,300 of your net pay to achieve a pension contribution of €10,000.

I'm not familiar with the details of any of the "gov supperann schemes" as I work in the private sector, but a good starting point is to do a little reading up on general PRSAs (search AAM for "PRSA" and there are a number of excellent threads). Once you understand the options/benefits/pitfalls/things to look out for, you'll be in a good position to evaluate the benefit of the scheme on offer through the Superannuation scheme vs. whats available from a "normal" PRSA.

(You mention that you don't currently understand pensions. I'd suggest that with a very small amount of effort reading the info on AAM [I'll agree some of the pension info out there can be a bit hard to digest] you'll soon gain a knowledge of what's happening)

If you still feel unsure of the situation, you might consider discussing it with a Pension Broker/Financial Advisor who can explain all the ins and outs of the details in your specific case and you can hit will all the questions you like to break it down to something you fully understand.

You also query the use of a lump sum payment.... each year you can make contributions up to a certain % threshold of your salary based on your age. These thresholds can be reached with the use of one off payments (combined with the normal monthly contributions) and the relevant tax returned through application to the Revenue and a seperate claim for the PRSI. Again, a discussion with a broker/advisor would allow you to discuss the best route forward given your specific circumstances.
 
Thanks for all your advice. I have tried to read up onj pensions but I get quite confused!!
I think getting advice is the best move. Cheers!
 
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