Am I entitled to OAP, what about Canda Life

[HMCE]

I got married in 2004, I am currently 41 years old, my wife is Spanish and we moved to live in Spain in 2004, I contract from time to time in Ireland and UK. Will I be entitled to an Old age Pension from the Irish Government, if I contract every 2 years paying taxes in Ireland...

Also I have a Canda Life Pension, into which I invested 65,000 through my own company as Director, I stopped contributing in 2008, I do not know the value of the fund, I presume it has lost value.

How can I get Canada Life to give me the value of the Funds as I am not resident in Spain. Is Canda Life a good pension provider to be with, what shoudl I be looking at doing with the pension I currently have with Canda Life

 

[LDFerguson]

Your entitlement to the State Contributory Pension is determined by your PRSI contributions over your working life. See here.

If you [broken link removed] they should tell you the current value of your pension fund with them. Have your policy number handy when you call. If you've mislaid that, they should be able to locate you by your company name or your own name and date of birth.

You can leave the fund in the current Canada Life scheme until you reach an age where you can draw it (usually 50 at the earliest). If your company is currently trustee of the scheme, it would continue to be trustee until then.

Alternatively, you could transfer the fund into a Buy Out Bond or possibly a PRSA, neither of which require trustees. See [broken link removed]. I'm assuming that you're no longer working for your company.

 

[HMCE]

Thank you LDFerguson for your reply, most helpfull, I may indeed leave the Pension fund as it is with Canada Life, I had a look at the PRSI contributions site as you mentioned, good God I think I am going to have to study that site over a night it is very confusing, seems to me though that there are different levels of State Pansion, not everybody gets the same, depending on the number of contributions made.