Eagle Star Pension Funds

[OnLooker]

I have just been made permanent in my current role and would be like to join the company pension fund (Defined Contribution Pension Fund).

I am 30 yrs old and have yet to start a pension. I am currently on €52k and save approx €1300 a month. In the default company scheme, the company contributes 8% of basic salary per month and the employee contributes 2%.

I'm very much a novice to all the pension funds so any help would be greatly appreciated. The company scheme is with Eagle Star.

I can go with the PensionSTAR (Annuity) investment strategy or you the matrix fund choice.

The matrix fund has the following choices:

Equity Portfolio Fund (5*5 Global)
Global Equity Fund (Dividend Growth)
Managed Fund (Balanced)
Utilised with Profits Fund (SuperCAPP)
Fixed Internet/Bonds (Long Bond)

Has anyone got any opinions on these funds and their performance?

Working off the 10% of salary per year I think I should probably add AVC contributions to make up for lost time over the last few years.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[DerKaiser]

I have just been made permanent in my current role and would be like to join the company pension fund (Defined Contribution Pension Fund).

I am 30 yrs old and have yet to start a pension. I am currently on €52k and save approx €1300 a month. In the default company scheme, the company contributes 8% of basic salary per month and the employee contributes 2%.

I'm very much a novice to all the pension funds so any help would be greatly appreciated. The company scheme is with Eagle Star.

I can go with the PensionSTAR (Annuity) investment strategy or you the matrix fund choice.

The matrix fund has the following choices:

Equity Portfolio Fund (5*5 Global)
Global Equity Fund (Dividend Growth)
Managed Fund (Balanced)
Utilised with Profits Fund (SuperCAPP)
Fixed Internet/Bonds (Long Bond)

Has anyone got any opinions on these funds and their performance?

Working off the 10% of salary per year I think I should probably add AVC contributions to make up for lost time over the last few years.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't fancy Long Bond at the moment with German/French bond yields so low. Supercapp is a better option if you are being very cautious.

Pensionstar is probably the easiest choice as it will gradually switch you into safer funds as you approach retirement but should be practically equivalent to the Balanced fund for the next 20 years as far as you're concerned.

5*5 and Dividend Growth are good options if you want to take on a bit more risk (100% equity) at this stage.

Don't mind past performance in making your choice between these funds, despite the fact that someone will insist on showing you a glossy flyer!! The bond funds may look good over the past 3 years, but perversely the better bond funds have performed in the past, the less their scope to do well in the future!