Pension to start

[pension starter]

I am self employed and 31 years old.I have researhed the pension talk from this site and the papers and would appreciate some slarity on a question.

Am I right to say that my choices basically are
1.I could start a prsa with say a discount broker for a once off fee and pay nil commission and 1 % annual charge?
or
2.I could start a personal pension with nil commission and a 0.75 % charge for a once off charge through a discount broker?

It would be a high aggressive equity fund or should I put in some property mix also as both my wife and I have max SSIA contributions to equity based SSIA's.?

I feel I should go for the personal pension as the annual charge is more competitive.I was also thinking about an actively managed fund rather than index tracking even though I know it is up in the air re one versus other..but why not when charges are the same.Thanks.

 

[Guest]

> I feel I should go for the personal pension as the annual charge is more competitive.

In terms of how the charges on the PRSA compare with those on the personal pension plan over time this topic contains some discussion between Brendan and Michael Kiernan of MyAdviser near the end which might be of interest to you:



While the charges mentioned in the "case study" discussed are different note what Brendan says on the matter:

I am not sure that your client is better off going for the Personal Pension. He is 32, and if all the factors favour the personal pension, he will be better off in 28 years time! Presumably, the PRSA will be ahead for the first 28 years.

In ten years, he will have a decent sized pension and will be able to shop around for a better deal elsewhere - and there will be no charges for tranferring to a new provider.

In decisions like this, I think a person is better off going for immediate value rather than some long term value which might never materialise.

> It would be a high aggressive equity fund or should I put in some property mix also as both my wife and I have max SSIA contributions to equity based SSIA's.?

There is no easy answer as a lot depends on your own attitude to risk etc. Personally I would be inclined go mainly or solely with equities with more than a couple of decades to retirement but that's my own choice. If you need more comprehensive investment advice then you should talk to an independent advisor: