Tag Archive for: penion

Back to the Future

We have been constantly told since childhood that it is important to cast an eye to the future and never to “spend it all in the one shop” and to “save for a rainy day”. These are refrains Irish ears are so used to hearing that we could likely finish these sentences from one word. There are ideologies that we have been raised on and yet it seems that very few Irish people take this on board.

A recent survey by Standard Life found that the majority of Irish workers (88%) believe that it is a good idea to hold a private pension as well as the state pension, however it has been revealed that just over half (51%) of Irish adults don’t own a pension at all, with male pension ownership being significantly higher than female ownership across both the public and private sectors. In the private sector, this discrepancy is a lot higher with 50% of men and only 30% of women owning a pension.

It is worth noting that pension ownership has increased in recent years from 46% to 49% from quarter to quarter, with private sector pension ownership increasing from 37% to 40%. As we have spoken about many times in the past, the cost of living in Ireland has been increasing each year and as a result this survey found that the most common reason for not owning a pension was being unable to afford to do so. Sinead McEvoy, Head of Technical Solutions with Standard Life has suggested that she does not think it is that simple as standard weekly number crunching and believes that it is a case of not looking to the future, stating that:

“We don’t believe it is the real reason for some. We think a combination of people wanting to start paying into a pension but not getting around to it, not understanding pensions, not knowing how to start one and being uncomfortable making retirement related decisions are all blockers. […] Once people understand how important it is to have their own pension, how beneficial the tax breaks are and how relatively easy it is to start a pension – they will take action. We think 2020 is a year to take pensions action and we encourage everyone to start talking and learning about how pensions work.”

With this in mind, we here at EcovisDCA would also encourage all Irish workers to look deeper into the pensions process and to ensure that they are paving the way for their futures.

Should you have any concerns or queries about any business or financial matters, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

– – –

~ DCA PARTNERS, DECLAN DOLAN & EAMONN GARVEY