What a pension
actually is.
Strip away the language and a pension is a savings pot with two unusual features. The government pays part of every contribution for you, and you cannot touch it until you are older.
Six kinds of pension, in plain terms
Most people have one or two of these and are not certain which. Pick one to see what it actually is.
What is your pension actually heading for?
Put in what you have already and what is going in each month, and see where it lands, then what that fund would pay you as a yearly income. No sign-up to see an answer.
{{ msg }}
Illustrative only and not personal advice. Figures are checked against Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and the Pensions Authority, and revised after each Budget. The State Pension (Contributory) is shown at the maximum 2026 rate of €299.30 a week from age 66, which needs about 40 years of PRSI contributions. Income from a fund assumes a 4% drawdown unless you change it. ARF minimum drawdown of 4% applies from the year you turn 61 and 5% from 71, and 6% where ARF assets are €2 million or more; withdrawals are taxed as income.
Four more pension calculators
Each one answers a single question, with the workings shown. No sign-up on any of them.
Tax relief
What a €100 contribution really costs you, and the headroom you have left this year.
Open the calculator →Auto-enrolment or private
My Future Fund set against your own pension: the top-up and match against tax relief.
Open the calculator →State Pension gap
What the State leaves you short each year, and the fund needed to cover it.
Open the calculator →Will the money last?
How long a fund would last at the rate you want to draw from it in retirement.
Open the calculator →Annuity or ARF
After you take your lump sum, you generally choose between two things. Neither is right or wrong.
An annuity
You hand the fund to an insurance company and they pay you a guaranteed income for life. Certainty, but the money is gone and usually does not pass on.
Get annuity rates for your fund ↓An ARF
An Approved Retirement Fund. Your money stays invested and you draw from it as you need. Flexibility, and it can pass to your family, but the fund can run out and the value moves with markets.
See how long a fund would last →How to tell whether yours is any good
Four questions. Most people cannot answer any of them about their own pension, which is the problem.
What is it invested in?
A great many pensions sit in a default fund nobody ever chose. That may be too cautious for someone in their thirties, or far too adventurous for someone at sixty three.
What are the charges?
A 1% difference over thirty years is not a rounding error, it is years of retirement.
Is anyone else contributing?
If your employer will match more than you currently pay, you are turning down a pay rise.
Where is it heading?
Not the balance. The projected income. That is the only number that matters.
Two different starting points
The right first move is not the same for an employee and for someone who owns the business. Find yours below.
If you are on PAYE
Five things worth doing this month.
If you own the business
Nobody else is going to raise any of this with you.
There is a good chance you have a pension you have lost track of.
We will trace a scheme from a previous employer, find out what it is worth and what it is invested in, and go through your options. No charge for the search and no obligation afterwards.
Where to go from here
Find an old pension
We will trace a scheme from a previous employer, no paperwork needed from you.
Start the search →Auto-enrolment
What My Future Fund means, and whether to stay in it or top up separately.
Auto-enrolment →Retirement
What happens when you actually stop: the lump sum, the tax and the income.
Retirement →Questions we get asked
How much should I be putting in?
A very rough rule is to halve your age when you start and use that as a percentage of your salary. Start at thirty and that is 15%, including anything your employer puts in. Start at forty and it is 20%. It is blunt and it ignores what you already have, but it gets people into roughly the right region, which is much better than the nothing most people are working from.
Is it too late for me to start?
Almost never. The relief limits rise with age precisely because the State expects people to fund later, so from 50 you can shelter 30% of earnings, and 40% from 60. Later starts need bigger contributions, but the tax treatment is at its most generous exactly when you have the most spare income.
What if I change jobs?
Your pension stays yours. You can usually leave it where it is, move it to your new employer’s scheme, or move it to a personal arrangement. Leaving it behind and forgetting about it is the option most people accidentally take, and it is the one that costs money.
Can I get at the money if things go wrong?
Generally no, and that is deliberate. Access usually starts from 50 at the earliest and only in particular circumstances. Which is why you should always hold an emergency fund on deposit before committing money to a pension.
What happens to it if I die before retiring?
It goes to your estate or your dependants, with the treatment depending on the type of scheme. It is not lost. Worth checking that whatever nomination is on file still reflects your circumstances, because these forms often date back years.
The Budget, explained in the time it takes to drive home.
Budget measures are confusing and the headlines rarely show the full picture. We go through what actually changed for individuals and for businesses, and what it means for the year ahead. Available all year, not just on the night.
- Understand the real impact. Income tax, PRSI, USC, pensions and the supports for business owners, in plain terms.
- Listen whenever it suits. Under twenty minutes, at your desk, in the car or at home. No sign-up.
- The full summary alongside it. Our written Budget summary and flipbook sit on the same page.
What Budget {{ budgetYear }} means for you and your business
Finnegan Maguire Financial Advisors · 20 min
Not sure whether what you have is any good?
Bring whatever paperwork you can find, or none at all. We will get the values, tell you what it is invested in, what it costs and where it is heading.
Book a first meetingPick a date and time that suits you.
No sales pitch, just a conversation about what you already have, what it is heading for and whether we can improve it. You will get a written summary either way.
