Moving to zurich Prisma max ?

M

Meself

Registered User
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Hi... I've been looking at my pension in have through my employer and wondering if I should move to another investment fund.

Both employers and my avc contributions are in a 'balanced fund'. I'm thinking of moving it to a prisma max as id like a better return. Am I mad to do it ? Just trying to weigh up pros cons.

I'm 47. Wife civil servant. No kids.
I plan to get an Arf when I eventually retire. Employer 8%. i max the pension

I will have small DB (10k) and full uk and Irish state pension when time comes.

Any thoughts welcome
 
Rather than switching to a different provider can't you just switch to a different (presumably more equity heavy) fund with the existing provider assuming that this an option and the charges on your existing pension are reasonable? Surely if you exit the employer's scheme you'll lose out on their contributions going forward? Whatever pension you choose, at 47 you almost certainly should not be investing in a conservative fund in my opinion. I'm touching 60 and am still basically 100% in equities and don't plan to change that even if/when I roll over into an ARF or vested PRSA.
 
ClubMan said:
can't you just switch to a different (presumably more equity heavy) fund with the existing provider
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That's what they're asking about.

I think OP has plenty of guaranteed income, so there's definitely room in the 'risk budget' to switch into the higher equity fund.
 
If you're comfortable with the higher level of risk and won't panic when things go South, then work away.

Moving from (current mix of )

64% Equity
29% Bonds
7% Cash
to
90% Equity
4% Property
2% Cash
2% Bonds
2% Alternative
 
Your pension portal most likely gives you access to a tool that will give you a very basic risk appetite assessment. They also rank all their funds by the (hopefully) same risk exposure. The Prisma Max has a Risk rating of 6 (range of 1 [low] to 7 [high]). The Balanced fund has a risk rating of 5, and indeed, you can see this all playing out in past performance - the graphs for both show Prisma Max swings slightly higher and lower than the Balanced fund.

I was in your position. I ran their risk profiling tool, and it told me I was even less fond of risk than their balanced fund, which I had kind of suspected, so I decided to leave well enough alone. Your mileage should vary.
 
It comes down to your personal appetite to risk /volatility. You have 15+ years investment timeline to retirement so that's plenty of time to ride out most of the volatility in any equity heavy fund. The important thing is that its diversified so I'd suggest a passive global index fund for at least the next 10 years. While volatile these funds historically perform well, so in my mind there's actually relatively little risk. You will most probably gain much more of a return than the balanced fund over that period and could possible even consider keeping it equity heavy at the ARF stage as, again, you will hopefully have a 15+ years investment timeline at that stage. As GSheehy says, the trick is not to panic when things inevitably go South for a period as things will also inevitably go well for a longer period. Ideally just commit to the Equity strategy and don't change for at least 8-10 years. That's what I'm doing.
 
Thanks a million to everyone whos responded so far. Really interesting to read people's thoughts on this.

I've a high risk appetite as I've a bit of fall back on and I'll be able to continue working past 60 with my employer, or pick up contract work should the a**e fall out of the market.
 
Hi Clubman.. yeh I'll be staying with Zurich. No intention of changing provider. Just looking for better fund in zurich to place. Thanks
 
Redzer said:
It comes down to your personal appetite to risk /volatility. You have 15+ years investment timeline to retirement so that's plenty of time to ride out most of the volatility in any equity heavy fund.
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Plus potentially several decades more into retirement during which the pension funds may remain invested while drawing income from them.
kickstart said:
I was in your position. I ran their risk profiling tool, and it told me I was even less fond of risk than their balanced fund, which I had kind of suspected, so I decided to leave well enough alone.
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Investing your pension in anything other than high or all equity or index tracking funds with a maybe 18+ years to go to retirement is a questionable and arguably far too conservative an investment approach very likely leading to missing out on significant gains.
 
Last edited:
If the income from all the guaranteed pensions that both of you will receive is sufficient to provide you with a decent standard of living in retirement and the extra income from your ARF is the icing on the cake, you can comfortably afford to take a maximum risk maximum gain strategy with your pension contributions.
 
Thanks all.
Considering going 100% into indexed global equity fund (blackrock).
Was looking at indexed top tech 100 but maybe a bit too risky.
What have others gone with
 
I know Zurich push the Prisma funds but their old suite of funds, the Balanced, Performance and Dynamic are better funds. No alts and property, just equities and bonds. If you are looking at Prisma Max, I'd look at the Dynamic instead.

 
Are the charges the same and the only difference is the asset mix?

Do they offer passive equity index trackers or something similar?
 
Thanks for this Steven. Is it possible to plot these against a passive world equities index by any chance?
 
GSheehy said:
Comparing funds with indicative equity ranges of 75% to 100% and 85% to 95% with a 100% Equity Fund is an exercise in absolute futility.


Gerard

www.prsa.ie
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Yeah, I get they're not the same but was curious about the difference in patterns. For example, it's only '22 onwards where the 100% equity index starts to open a gap vs Dynamic. Is that an Nvidia/Mag7/AI bubble forming? Maybe yes, maybe no. In that regard, the Dynamic fund might be a smarter option for diversification though.
 
conor_mc said:
I get they're not the same
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They're really not the same. Mixed/Multi Asset Funds should not be presented on the same page for comparison purposes with 100% equity funds.

Do the exercise with the Blackrock Global Index Tracker , the 5*5 Global Equity Fund and the International Equity Fund, on the same platform. All 100% World Equity Funds.
 
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