It’s good to know the main differences between a Standard PRSA and a more traditional Personal Pension Plan before you start investing to ensure you get the retirement plan that suits you. Here’s how they stack up on some of the more important issues.
| Standard PRSA | Personal Pension Plan |
|---|
| Benefits at retirement | You can take 25% of your fund tax-free and leave the balance in the PRSA to keep growing (with some conditions). | You can take 25% of your fund tax-free, but the remainder must also be withdrawn as taxable cash or to buy an annuity, ARF, AMRF (some conditions apply). |
| Fund choice | You’ll have access to a limited pool of funds with the option of a default investment strategy that gradually changes your pension fund from a higher to lower risk portfolio as you approach retirement. | There are no investment fund restrictions with Personal Pension Plans. |
| Charges | Charges are limited to a maximum of 5% of contributions and 1% of the fund. There are no charges: if you terminate your PRSA or transfer your funds out suspend or vary your contributions for initial transfers received into your PRSA
RaboDirect's PRSA Fees
| There are no restrictions on the types or levels of charges for Personal Pension Plans. These will vary between providers. |
| Eligibility | Standard PRSAs are available to everyone regardless of employment status. | You must have or have had a source of relevant earnings to take out and continue contributing to this type of pension, for example, employees in non-pensionable employment and those in self-employed trades or professions. |
| Transferring money in | You can transfer money in from other PRSAs, Occupational Pension Schemes (some conditions apply), AVCs and Personal Pension Plans. | You can only transfer money in from other Personal Pension Plans. |