At retirement, your options regarding your pension fund are as follows:
a) Take your retirement lump sum, and then
b) Use the residual fund remaining, after your retirement lump sum to:
1) Purchase an annuity (guaranteed income for life), and/or
2) Invest in an Approved (minimum) Retirement Fund (ARF/AMRF)
An Annuity is a guaranteed regular income payment made to you for the rest of your life. You purchase the annuity from a life company. At Cantwell Financial Advisors Ltd, as independent advisors, we will ‘shop around’ to get you the best annuity rate at any given time to suit your personal requirements.
An Approved (Minimum) Retirement Fund (ARF/AMRF) gives you more control over how you manage your retirement fund. An ARF/AMRF is an investment plan which has the intention of growing your fund during retirement, based on your own investment strategy.
You have the option of taking withdrawals from your plan or even setting up a regular income, within pension rules. The remaining fund in your ARF/AMRF passes to your estate on death.