What your pension’s charges cost you by retirement.
Small percentages add up. Put in your pot and your plan’s charges, and see what they take out of it by the time you retire, next to a plan with other charges. Your charges are on your annual statement.
Your details
Slide, or tap a value to type any amount.
Your plan’s charges
A share of the fund taken every year. On an older plan it may be called a fund management charge.
Sometimes shown as an allocation rate: 95% allocated means a 5% charge.
For comparison: another plan’s charges
A long-term average. Real returns vary year to year and can be negative.
Over 25 years, your plan’s charges would take about €58,754 out of your pot. With the other plan’s charges, you would have about €30,427 more at retirement.
Warning: These figures are estimates only. They are not a reliable guide to the future performance of your investment.
Warning: The value of your investment may go down as well as up.
How your pot could grow, three ways
Where it goes
| Charge | Your plan | The other plan |
|---|---|---|
| Annual charges, in euro at the time | €31,380 | €16,996 |
| Charges on payments | €3,000 | €0 |
| What they cost you by retirement | €58,754 | €28,327 |
The last line is larger than the two above it because every euro a charge takes stops growing. It is the no-charge pot, €286,465 here, less each plan’s.
The other side
A lower charge is not the only thing that matters. Some older plans carry terms worth more than any charge saved, such as a pension a defined benefit scheme promised, and moving a pension can mean giving them up. Charges, terms and the funds themselves are weighed together in a review.
Not sure what your old plans charge?
Charges hide in allocation rates, policy fees and fund charges, and older plans rarely spell them out. Damian can find out what yours are and what they mean, in a free 20-minute call. If you have lost track of a plan, we can help you find it.
This calculator is information, not advice. It shows what the charges you enter would do to a pot, as an illustration. It names no provider and says nothing about whether any plan is right for you. Regulated financial advice is given in a personal consultation with Damian.
The assumptions behind these numbers
- The pot grows each month at the yearly rate you choose, before charges. Then the annual management charge is taken from the fund, a twelfth of a year’s worth at a time, so a year of it takes exactly the percentage shown. Then the month’s payment goes in, less the charge on payments.
- The defaults for your plan, 1% a year and 5% of each payment, are the most a Standard PRSA may charge under the Pensions Act. Other plans can charge more, or charge in other ways.
- Plans can also carry policy fees, set-up charges, bid/offer spreads on older contracts, and exit or switching charges. None of these is included, so a plan that has them costs more than shown. The CCPC’s guide to pension fees and charges explains each one.
- Payments stay the same every month until you retire. Figures are not adjusted for inflation. Tax relief is left out: it changes what a payment costs you, not what the charges take.
- Growth is steady and the same for both plans. Real returns vary, can be negative, and differ between funds.
- Figures are illustrations, not a guarantee of any outcome, and not personalised advice.