A PRSA Personal Retirement Savings Account is a personally owned pension that lets you save for retirement on your own terms A PRSA or "personal retirement savings account", is a pension plan issued by a life insurance company to an individual. Contributions can be made to the PRSA by the employer, by the employee or by both. You don't need to be in employment to have a PRSA; however tax relief will only apply to contributions made from relevant earnings.

• It is flexible you can contribute to it whenever you want and stop making contributions at any time.
• It is portable so you can take it with you if you move jobs, or opt for a career break

PRSA versus Personal Pension Plan ?

The key difference between PRSA's and personal pension plans, is that employer contributions can be made to PRSA's, they cannot be made to personal pension plans. Another difference is that PRSA's have statutory set charges, whereas personal pension plans do not. However, based on the level of contributions personal pension plans may offer the individual lower charges. When you retire On retirement you can take a tax-free lump sum of 25% of your fund, up to a maximum of €200,000 (as at July 2015). The remainder of your fund can then be invested in an Annuity or Approved Retirement Fund.

Self-Direct Pension

Pensions that let you manage your investment

Self directed pension- Suitable for experience investors who wish to manage their fund investments themselves

AVCS

Additional Voluntary Contributions or AVC’s, are extra contributions you can make in addition to your company pension

• AVCs give you the opportunity to grow your pension ahead of retirement, on your own terms
• They’re tax efficient – You can claim tax relief against AVCs, subject to revenue limits

AVC PRSA

Members of occupational pension schemes may elect to make AVC contributions to an AVC PRSA, rather than the main occupational scheme. Individuals may split AVC contributions between the occupational scheme and an individual AVC PRSA.  If you have taken out a PRSA to make Additional Voluntary Contributions, you must take your benefits from your PRSA in the same way as you take the benefits from the main scheme.