Do people here have an opinion on suitable ARF investment funds. I'm looking to invest an ARF in a medium risk fund with total fees of c. 1% incl broker fees. I've looked at the Zurich Prisma funds such as Prisma 4 although as far as I can see these have only been running since 2013 so not sure whether this is a long enough period to assess performance. What are peoples experience of the Prisma funds or would people here recommend other funds such as Dimension or Vanguard over the Prisma funds. Pensions / ARF are a minefield so I'd be interested in the views of people here
Fund choices
- Thread starter Mcivor
- Start date
I did some analysis a while back
globalwealth.ie
Do You Need to Review Your ARF Strategy? - Everlake
More people invest in an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF), over the certainty of an annuity. But do you need to review your ARF strategy?
globalwealth.ie
Prisma 4 has a current asset split of - 57% Equity, 27% Bonds, 7% Alternatives, 5% Property, 4% Cash
Mixed asset funds are popular with investors and the asset splits vary depending on the appetite for risk (Prisma 2 to Prisma Max have risk ratings of 2 - 6).
There are Dimension funds available on the Zurich Life ARF but they have higher AMCs - 0.23% to 0.40%
Index tracking Vanguard funds aren't available on that platform but the (mainly 100% equity) Blackrock ones are.
Gerard
www.prsa.ie
Have you considered moving from Zurich to a more flexible ARF?
Thks Gordon / Marc for the responses that I am still reviewing including the point about flexibility. Does this refer to point that as far as I can see one is only allowed withdraw max of 10% annually from Prisma fund. I will be engaging with a broker in the next while to set up an ARF and I'd like to have some 'homework' done beforehand on different funds. I guess I'm looking for peoples general opinion on the effectiveness of Zurich Prisma funds and how they perform when compared to their peers and what would be the typical OCF / TER charges I should expect when going through a broker for one of these. Or are there better options than Zurich Prisma.
No, flexibility is derived from selecting an "open architecture" investment platform that offers virtually unlimited investment options rather than an Insured contract that only offers a very limited investment range with opaque charging.
The overwhelming reason why life insurance options are put in front of clients is because most financial brokers are paid by commission and life companies pay commission. QED
Its all set out in our guide preparing for retirement
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