Get some professional financial advice.
....we had decided to setup AVC to begin the process of buying back these years. ........
you can buy back avc from dept of ed.
Perhaps, but a salary protection scheme and a pension are generally seperate issues.i think the salary protection scheme from cornmarket is important to have
Short answer - No!
My wife was paying into a Woodchester AVC since early 1997. Scheme did not break even for her until 2005 (contributing approx. €4k p.a.)
Repeated requests for a breakdown of costs, both verbal and in writing, failed to achieve anything other than extra copies of information booklet.
My wife opened an independent PRSA last March, so her charges are set at 5%, if she increases her contributions, the charge falls to 3% - we'll see how the first year goes but looking good so far.
Unfortunately her Woodchester/Cornmarket fund must stay with them until retirement, but hopefully it will have grown a little by then.
ASTI AVCs:
Dept. of Ed takes a 1% charge from your contributions, justified on the basis of the "difficulties in collecting the contributions".
Then there is the 5% management fee taken by Woodchester/Cornmarket off the gross contribution.
At the end of the year there is the Woodchester/Cornmarket annual management fee, generally 1% but, hidden in the booklet the Concensus Fund fee is given as 1.75%.
Woodchester/Cornmarket push people for a meeting with their advisor. This will cost you €832, the same as the initial consultation fee. If you want to vary the contribution without a meeting, just inform them - it will then only cost you €416. Clearly if you go for an annual consultation you will be fleeced.
Our advice - if you haven't a Woodchester/Cornmarket Teachers AVC - don't go there - get an independent PRSA AVC. If you do have one, get out. Between the Dept. and Woodchester/Cornmarket the costs of staying in this scheme are exorbitant and unjustifiable.
btw, the independent PRSA AVC isn't payable thro' the Dept. - you'll have to pay it thro' your current a/c
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