Lost Pension Funds
This is a regular issue we come across again and again. It is estimated there is upwards of €500 million in lost and unclaimed pensions in Ireland alone. Again and again people visit our office looking for help tracking down their old accounts. The most common scenarios include:
- Someone close to pension age is looking to track a pension they were contributing to in their 20s and 30s, but does not know the name of the original insurer or where to begin to look. We help to link the two together and get the information again;
- The individual was a member of an Employer Pension Scheme many years ago. Having left that Employer, the pension was left in place. The original Employer may have since changed their trading name or is no longer even trading. Again, the pension fund will still be in place but difficult to track down. We help to join the dots to bring the two together once more;
- You have since changed your address and the old insurer has lost contact with you;
- Following marriage there is a change of name and/or change of address and again contact with the original provider been lost.
We all have the best intentions of keeping contact where there is change. Before we know it though, one month stretches out to one year, stretches out to a decade and with time, things are forgotten.
Keep A Dedicated Folder
Best advice will suggest you keep a hard folder dedicated to all your Pension, Life Insurances, Savings & Investments. Always keep this up to date with your latest statements. If you have a secure Cloud Account where you keep other information, keep a folder here too.
Former Employer Pensions
Where you have left a Former Employer, your options are to leave the pension in place until final retirement. If you join a new Employer pension, subject to their agreement, you can move your first pension here to keep everything together.
In most scenarios though where you leave an Employer, we usually recommend transferring the pension into your own name personally. This gives you more control over your own account and more choice. In your own name, you have less worries about having to keep in contact with the former Employer, that can be lost to you for whatever reason in the years that follow. You have left that employment, without good reason, why would you leave your pension behind with someone you no longer have a relationship with is a question we always ask.
Keep Everyone Informed
Where you change name, change address or otherwise, always keep your Insurance Provider / Financial Advisor up to date. Send a letter, send an email, make a phone call – it is that simple!
We always recommend for anyone living in short term rented accommodation to use your Family Home address as your main point of contact. That address is likely to change less frequently.
Most insurers today can keep in contact with you via Email if you give them the details. Use a Personal Email rather than a Work Email, for the simple reason of you changing jobs and no longer having access to old work email addresses.
These are just a few simple examples and recommendations. If you believe you have Pension Benefits that you have lost contact with, or if you are still a member of a former Employer Scheme, come talk to us. We may be able to help you reconnect or perhaps just point you in the right direction if that is all that is needed.