Self Employed with no pension- where to start

Looking for guidance on where to start regarding setting up a pension at 50.

Self Employed person (3 years s.e.)with no pension from any previous employer. Looking at paying circa 25k in tax on earnings again this year with similar amount paid over last year. I'm coming late into arranging a pension but I am very confused with the options out there.

Looking at something that will produce a high yield in the long term as I would hope to retire at 70 all going well, open to taking some risk to try get a reasonable return.

Have contacted AIB and Zurich but I'm confused by the different options and the fees involved. Ideally if not too late would like to sign up this year to get it in place and help reduce my tax bill, thanks in advance.

Have both recommended a PRSA?

If yes, what is confusing about the charges? There could be just two - an annual management charge and a contribution charge.

Are they Standard or Non-Standard options?

If Non-Standard, what's the reason put fort for recommending this type of PRSA?


Gerard

www.prsa.ie

If you are looking to make a contribution and claim tax relief for 2023, you would need to get your PRSA set up immediately and make the contribution and submit your 2023 tax return before the 31st October. There might still be time to do this.

If you want to get lower charges you can go to an execution only broker.
You would need to choose the funds to invest into and the risk level.

If you are not comfortable doing this you can go to an ordinary broker.

PRSA.ie, ferga.com and LA Brokers offer execution only.
Any other broker will offer an ordinary service.

There is a poster called Dave Vanian who offers both ordinary and execution only service.
You could private message him.

Contact all these and see if they can get you set up before the end of the month.

Don't worry too much about choosing your risk level at this stage. You can adjust this at any time after setting up your PRSA usually without incurring any extra fees.

The important thing is to get the PRSA set up.

GSheehy said:

Have both recommended a PRSA?

If yes, what is confusing about the charges? There could be just two - an annual management charge and a contribution charge.

Are they Standard or Non-Standard options?

If Non-Standard, what's the reason put fort for recommending this type of PRSA?


Gerard

www.prsa.ie

Click to expand...

Sorry my mistake, it was more the choices they were talking about and I was getting confused with which scheme had which charges. I do recall them saying it was a standard prsa, perhaps it's my lack of knowledge of PRSA's that's contributed to my own confusion. I've only spoke over the phone to both and they both recommended low risk funds, Prisma 3 from Zurich but the return would be quiet low, can't even remember the AIB one ,they both seemed apprehensive about me willing to invest in a higher risk/ higher return ( I know nothing is guaranteed) but otherwise I don't really understand why a long term deposit account would not be a better option.

S class said:

If you are looking to make a contribution and claim tax relief for 2023, you would need to get your PRSA set up immediately and make the contribution and submit your 2023 tax return before the 31st October. There might still be time to do this.

If you want to get lower charges you can go to an execution only broker.
You would need to choose the funds to invest into and the risk level.

If you are not comfortable doing this you can go to an ordinary broker.

PRSA.ie, ferga.com and LA Brokers offer execution only.
Any other broker will offer an ordinary service.

There is a poster called Dave Vanian who offers both ordinary and execution only service.
You could private message him.

Contact all these and see if they can get you set up before the end of the month.

Don't worry too much about choosing your risk level at this stage. You can adjust this at any time after setting up your PRSA usually without incurring any extra fees.

The important thing is to get the PRSA set up.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the detailed reply, I will look into setting one up if possible before the end of the month and take my time to decide them best risk option after that.

You can change both existing units and future paid in units without fees up to 4 times per year with Zurich.

Polly 123 said:

I've only spoke over the phone to both and they both recommended low risk funds, Prisma 3 from Zurich but the return would be quiet low, can't even remember the AIB one ,they both seemed apprehensive about me willing to invest in a higher risk/ higher return ( I know nothing is guaranteed) but otherwise I don't really understand why a long term deposit account would not be a better option

Click to expand...

The fund proposal is based on what you're telling them.

IMHO, it's madness to be looking at pensions for the first time and to be having telephone conversations only. Either you choose to hand the responsibility of choosing the provider, product and fund/s over to an advisory and pay them for that service or you roll up your sleeves and take on that responsibility yourself.

AIB will recommend an Irish Life product as they are tied to them for all of this type of business.

You probably have until mid November to finalize this so you have the time to do the research and learn about what exactly you're buying. You could even request an information pack on an execution only service and decide after reading if it's too overwhelming (this year) to go that route.

But, don't expect long conversations over the phone with those intermediaries. Ask your questions (after reading the material) via email so that there's a permanent record of who said what and when. You'll learn more that way and the opportunities for misunderstandings (and salesmanship waffle) are eliminated.

Failing that, go the advisor route (I'd avoid the bank) and pay them for you the responsibility of handling the pension for you.