There are two methods of calculating the maximum lump sum. One relates to her years of service with the employer and her salary when she left. The other is a simple 25% of the fund value. I'm going to assume that the second one is the more favourable.
So she takes 25% of the fund value as a tax-free lump sum. With the remaining 75% she has two options. (1) Buy an annuity - a fixed pension for life. Not a great option as the rate she'll get at age 50 will be poor and it sounds like you don't need the income immediately. (2) Reinvest the 75% in an Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (AMRF). She can withdraw up to 4% per year from an AMRF (subject to Income Tax and levies). But she has no obligation to draw anything from it, until she either (a) acquires guaranteed lifetime income (i.e. a pension) of at least €12,700 per year elsewhere (e.g. the State Pension) or (b) turns 75.
1) do we need to reinvest the pot until she reaches 65 or is it 67 years old?
No - an AMRF exists until age 75 at which time it becomes an ARF.
2) if so, we assume we can we decide where to reinvest the pot?
You can start the AMRF with Zurich Life or any other pension company. There are even self-administered AMRFs allowing you to manage your funds, but for the amounts involved here, those are probably not a great option.
3) what are the typical reinvestment options available, safe and more risky?
The full range of pension fund choices - cash, bond, equities, property, alternatives, multi-asset funds, gold ... managed funds with varying levels of risk, index-tracking funds... the choices are many and varied.
4) where is the best place to get more information on the options?
Any Financial Broker should be well able to advise you.
5) we assume we cant transfer the pot from her into my DB pension as AVCs? In effect reassign it to me?
That's correct. Pension funds are not transferable between spouses.
Regards,
Liam
www.ferga.com