Can I retire at 62 ?

Some great suggestions and ideas here ! Plenty for me to think about for my next steps.
Thanks all !
 
I agree with you. In the context of the question I was referring to what extra costs you may have. I should have stated 'You may need to pay for health insurance'. ;)
I don't know if I agree with your comment re usefulness of private health insurance. I know of people waiting ages for surgical procedures and in pain/ poor quality of life. Had they insurance it could be rectified very promptly by a surgical procedure privately by-passing inordinately long public waiting lists for elective procedures.
 
I'm not the expert but there a few threads on how to use ARF income while you are under 66 to ensure that Class S PRSI is paid so that you are still building up eligibility for the contributory state pension (only relevant if you won't have 4,080 contributions by age 62 of course).
Just got my Contribution record - I have already made 2076 (Reckonable Paid + Reckonable Credited) contributions from 1982 to Dec 2022. Including the contributions to date this year, i should have 2080 by April 2023.
(I am working since age 19, so have 40 years worth of contributions already).

I presume this means i would not need to make anymore PRSI contributions if i retired before age 66 ? Even if i retired now (which i wont be)
 
I'm 56 this year and have reached or will reach the 40 years contribution but I won't stop paying the €500 as there's still a bit to go before I can claim the state pension and who knows what will happen during those 10+ years that might affect my entitlement
 
Just reviewing types of pension options.

The rules around taking a ARF or Annuity option seem to be different for PRBs Vs PRSA's

If 25% lump sum is taken from a PRB then the remainder cannot be used to buy an annuity. It must buy a ARF, which can be used to buy an annuity. That implies if I wanted to buy a annuity using a PRB then i can't take the 25% lump sum.
Seems wierd - what the logic behind that rule?

A PRSA can be used to buy an annuity or a ARF or both even after the 25% lump sum is taken.
 
Just a logistical query ...
When the time comes, how do I buy ARFs or annuities with my pension pots of 2x PRBs and 1x PRSA with providers other than Irish Life.
The 3x pensions are currently with Irish Life.
Any ballpark estimates of the costs involved of sticking with Irish Life or going to another provider ?
 
When the time comes, how do I buy ARFs or annuities with my pension pots of 2x PRBs and 1x PRSA with providers other than Irish Life.

You decide what type of service you want and you ask for a quote based on that.

Any ballpark estimates of the costs involved of sticking with Irish Life or going to another provider ?

100% allocation 1.2% to 1.4% AMC and early exit charges (that limit you transferring it elsewhere if you find a lower cost ARF next month/year/etc.) in the first 4 or 5 years.

Gerard

www.prsa.ie
 
Thanks Gerard.

So, would there be a extra charge for closing the Irish Life PRBs and PRSA in order to buy non-Irish Life ARF/annuities?
 
I can't see how there would be a charge for closing unless there are early exit charges on the PRBs. There can't be an early exit charge on a PRSA.

The subsequent charge/s depends on how much work you want to take on yourself.

There will be the charge/costs on the new product - ARF/Annuity - and the intermediary costs would probably be reflected in the amount of work they have to do and advice they give. That's, if you wanted to hand it over to someone else on an advisory service.

You could ask for maturity claim forms for the different products and have them, and all supporting documentation, ready for submission. You could research a suitably priced ARF, complete an application and set up the shell of that to receive the (after tax-free-cash) transfers. Annuity quotes are only valid for two weeks (might be better/worse after that) so there's a potential timing issue with that product but it shouldn't be significant.

Service from product providers is improving but you'd have the help of the intermedary with processing/admin the PRBs, PRSA and ARF/Annuity if you went for an advisory service or an execution only one.

Gerard

www.prsa.ie
 
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100% allocation 1.2% to 1.4% AMC and early exit charges (that limit you transferring it elsewhere if you find a lower cost ARF next month/year/etc.) in the first 4 or 5 years.
Those AMCs seem very high. Are they representative of AMCs on ARFs generally? Are ARF AMCs generally higher than those on pension and non pension investment funds generally or something? If so, why?
 
The company I worked for had a pension set up for employees with Irish Life. Long story short shopped around regarding Arf set up charges allocation all that good stuff.
Regular poster on AAM Stephen sorted me out with very competitive offer. Went back to Irish Life could not match offer.
Shop around The Life company that you may have been paying premiums to for all those years will most probably offer a poor deal.
Talk to Stephen.:)
 
In your shoes, I would retire the smaller PRB at 62, take the tax-free lump sum and transfer the balance to an ARF. Then draw down €12,500 per annum from the ARF until exhausted.
It just occurred to me - Is there a MAX amount per year which can be withdrawn from an ARF ?
I've seen some T&Cs which state that large %s be treated as an early withdrawal charge, within 5 years.
 
It just occurred to me - Is there a MAX amount per year which can be withdrawn from an ARF ?
I've seen some T&Cs which state that large %s be treated as an early withdrawal charge, within 5 years.
I suspect it varies by provider and whether or not there has been a bonus allocation of units (i.e. an allocation greater than 100%), but my understanding is that early encashment charges only apply where an ARF is fully terminated during an initial period after its establishment (typically within the first 5 years) either through full encashment or transfer to another provider.

Hopefully one of our resident brokers will confirm the position.
 
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