Synergy Executive Pension

A Synergy Executive Pension could be the ideal way for you to build up a retirement fund if you are a proprietary director (owning or controlling 5% or more of the shares in a company) or a company employee.

It is a Revenue requirement that your company invests in your executive pension but you can also choose to make additional voluntary contributions yourself.

Both you and your company benefit from generous tax reliefs on contributions to your pension. In addition your money grows tax-free until you retire.

Investing in a Synergy Executive Pension is therefore a very tax efficient way of providing for your retirement.

Making your investment

While your company must make the contributions to your pension on your behalf, you can also make Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) if you wish.

An initial single contribution or transfer payment of €5,000 or more can be made
You can top up your investment with €2,000 or more whenever you want and invest it differently each time.
You can transfer in money from previous company pensions.
You can make regular contributions as long as you start 5 years before you retire.
You can make single contributions as long as you invest for at least a year

Flexibility

It's not just financial markets that change over time. As life goes on, your circumstances and priorities might change too. You may find that either your company or you can afford to contribute more or less to your pension than you do now.

With our Synergy Executive Pension:

You can stop, start or vary your contributions at any time.
You can invest directly in all the main asset classes including equity, property, fixed interest and fixed term bank deposits.
You can pool your other eligible pensions into your Synergy Executive Pension.
if you change your employment you can still keep your fund invested or you can also transfer it to another pension arrangement.

Access to your money

At retirement you will be able to access your benefits.

can choose to take the proceeds of your executive pension as an income, a lump sum, or a retirement fund or a combination of these.

A 5% director will have the option of taking a tax-free lump sum of up to 25% of the fund value and then invest the balance in an approved retirement fund.
A member who is not a 5% director will have the option of taking a tax-free lump sum of up to 1.5 times final salary and then buying an annuity with the balance. However, any fund relating to additional voluntary contributions can be used to invest in an approved retirement fund instead.

Your investment options

Our Synergy Executive Pension includes a huge range of investment options so you can decide how and where your money is invested, as well as who manages it.

Synergy funds: You can achieve the diversification you need within your portfolio thanks to a selection of different investment styles including Actively Managed, Multi-Manager, and Index tracking. See the Investment Options guide for the full list of funds.
Direct property: Invest in your choice of any suitable residential and commercial property in Ireland and the UK. You may also be able to borrow to buy a property.
Shares: You can choose from a selection of stockbroking options including Execution only, Discretionary and Advisory.
Fixed term bank deposit: You can choose to have your money earn interest in a fixed term bank deposit account.

You can find more information in our Investment Options guide and the Property guide.

Tax

A Synergy Executive Pension is a tax efficient investment for both your company and you. It means that both your company and you can avail of generous tax relief on contributions and your money grows tax-free until you retire. You can also take part of your benefits as a tax-free lump sum when you retire.

The maximum percentage of your earnings that you can put into a pension and get tax relief on is set out in the table.

Your age now	% of your earnings
Under 30	15%
30 to 39	20%
40 to 49	25%
50 to 54	30%
55 to 59	35%
60 and over	40%

Earnings are subject to a current ceiling of €150,000 for the purpose of calculating tax relief. These percentage limits include any contributions you may be making to other pension arrangements.

What happens next

Before you take out a Synergy Executive Pension with us, you'll need to speak to your financial adviser to get a brochure, an Illustration (of benefits and charges), and the Investment Options guide.

Important things to consider

The information we've given here is based on our understanding of Irish law and Revenue practice as at May 2010. Tax and legislation may change. The value of your tax relief depends on your specific circumstances and could be affected by future changes in legislation.
Warning: The value of your investment may go down as well as up.

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