Informed Decisions: Ireland's Independent Retirement Planning Podcast

Hosted by Paddy Delaney, QFA RPA APA | Independent Retirement Planner, Ireland

Business EducationInterviews guestsExplicit

Website RSS feed

Episodes

396

Latest episode

Sep 2026

Language

EN-IE

About the show

Informed Decisions is Ireland's award-winning podcast on pensions, retirement planning and financial planning, hosted by Paddy Delaney. Paddy, founder of Informed Decisions, is one of a small number of retirement planners in Ireland who work on a genuinely fee-only basis: no commission from any product provider, no products sold, and nobody but the client paying for the advice. If you are within ten years of retiring and you have built up a substantial pension, the difficult part is no longer saving. It is knowing what to do with what you have. An awful lot of people arrive at that point with a fund value and no strategy, and no clear sense of whose advice is actually on their side. That is what this show is for. Every week, Paddy works through the decisions that really make a difference: current issues in the world of finance that affect your pension in Ireland and fundamental questions that every Irish person should ask themselves when planning their retirement, f.e.: • How much income a pension can realistically sustain in retirement, and for how long • ARF or annuity: what each one actually costs you over twenty years of drawdown • Why the default fund your pension has been sitting in may not be doing what you assume • What Revenue's rules mean in practice: the Standard Fund Threshold, imputed distribution, and the tax on your retirement lump sum • PRSAs, AVCs and company pensions, and which structure suits which situation ABOUT YOUR HOST Paddy Delaney is one of very few independent, fee-only financial planner in Ireland and the voice behind Informed Decisions. He is a Qualified Financial Adviser (QFA) and Retirement Planning Adviser (RPA), also holding the APA designation, and has been publishing this podcast since 2017. His work centres on Irish retirement income planning: ARF drawdown strategy, pension structuring, and tax-efficient income for people approaching or already in retirement. New episode every week and more content on YouTube, too. 📊 Check where you stand with Informed Decisions free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 See how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie WHO THIS PODCAST IS FOR Business owners, senior professionals and executives across Ireland, typically between 45 and 65, with pension and investment assets built over a career. DISCLAIMER This podcast is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different. Always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 7, 2026Episode 39023 min

Budget 2027 Ireland: The €50,000 Tax-Free Investment Account

Budget 2027 in Ireland came with the usual noise about tax bands and credits. If you are within 5 to 10 years of retiring, or already retired, those are rarely the lines that matter. In this Budget special, Paddy Delaney goes through what actually changed for Irish pensions, investments and retirement income. The new Investment Account in Ireland: €12,000 a year, the first €50,000 tax-free, 1% a year above that, from 1 July 2027 Exit tax down from 38% to 35%, capital gains tax down to 31%, and why deemed disposal is still with us What the Budget did and did not touch on pensions, including new valuation factors for defined benefit schemes under the Standard Fund Threshold And a practical example: €1,000 a month for 8 years, and the difference between €15,400 of exit tax and roughly €2,000 of account charge If the Budget has you wondering where you actually stand, this episode is for you. 🎓 Free webinar about "Your Money in 2027": Friday 9 October, 12:00, with Alan Purcell: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/webinar 📖 Full Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/budget-2027-ireland-pensions-investing 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different — always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

September 28, 2026Episode 38925 min

Before You Retire in Ireland: 5 Decisions You Can't Undo

It's good to know which decisions can never be undone, before you retire in Ireland. Most of a pre-retirement checklist can be changed next year. Four or five items cannot. In this episode Paddy Delaney, independent retirement and investment planner, takes them door by door: the €200,000 lifetime limit on tax-free lump sums, the annuity decision, the tax year you crystallise near the Standard Fund Threshold, the pension tax relief that stops with your last payslip, and the order you do it all in. This episode is for anyone a year or two from retirement who wants to know which doors close for good. What you'll learn: Why the €200,000 tax-free retirement lump sum in Ireland is a lifetime limit across all your pensions, not per pension Why an ARF can become an annuity later, but an annuity can never go back How the Standard Fund Threshold rising from €2.2m to €2.8m makes the tax year you crystallise matter, and why growth can erase the saving (fictional case study: Maggie, 61, €2.6m) How much pension tax relief you can still use at 55 to 59 and at 60 and over, before your last payslip If you're approaching retirement with a significant pension and want clarity on which decisions to slow down on, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Access all our podcast episodes and our blog 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard 📅 Find out how we work DISCLAIMER: This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different. Always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

September 21, 2026Episode 38819 min

Trust in Financial Advice: Why Ireland Scores 49 Out of 100

Trust in financial services in Ireland sits at 49%, against a global average of 63%. Paddy Delaney goes through the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer research on financial services, where Ireland ranks, and what sits behind the number. Edelman surveyed almost 34,000 people across 28 countries and publishes a separate report on financial services. Ireland comes in 23rd of 28, inside the distrust band, below the developed-economy average of 53% and well below the global figure. In this episode, Paddy goes through the following: Where Ireland ranks for trust in financial services, and which countries sit above and below Why trust in financial services runs at 73% in developing economies and 53% in developed ones Which sub-sectors are trusted least, and why banks score higher than financial advisers What the tracker mortgage scandal actually cost, and why it is far more recent than most people remember The one question to ask any adviser about how they are paid, and what the answer tells you If you are weighing up financial advice in Ireland, particularly with significant pension or investment assets behind you, this episode is about how to judge who is worth listening to. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/trust-financial-advice-ireland 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different: always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

September 14, 2026Episode 38722 min

Prize Bonds Ireland: What the New 1.5% Rate Actually Pays You

The Prize Bond prize fund rate rose from 1.00% to 1.50% this month, the first State Savings increase in about three years. Almost every write-up has described that 1.5% as a return. It is not one. It is the size of the prize pool spread across the whole €4.4 billion in issue, and what an individual holder receives is decided by a draw. In this Episode, Paddy works through the NTMA's own published figures and puts a realistic number on what Prize Bonds are actually worth to a normal holding, then lines them up against what the same State will pay for certainty. What you'll learn: Why the 1.5% prize fund rate is not interest, and what it actually describes What the odds look like in practice: 0.067% per bond, and a 59% chance of a year with nothing on a €5,000 holding The new State Savings rates: 1.96%, 2.29%, 2.33% and 2.66%, all tax-free, and the one product that pays DIRT How to compare any bank rate properly by dividing the gross rate by 0.67 Why the State Savings guarantee has no €100,000 ceiling, and who that actually matters to The trap in locking a 10-year rate, and why "eaten bread is soon forgotten" belongs in this decision If you are holding Prize Bonds, State Savings or cash on deposit in Ireland and want to know what those balances are really doing, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: https://informeddecisions.ie/prize-bonds-ireland-what-the-rate-means/ 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different: always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

September 7, 2026Episode 38644 min

Inheritance Tax in Ireland: Gift Now or Leave It? - with Mairéad Hennessy from Taxkey.ie

Inheritance tax in Ireland is charged at 33% on anything above €400,000 passing from a parent to a child. The question most families never properly work through is whether to move assets during their lifetime or leave them until the end. And that decision changes the bill, the timing, and who ends up paying it. Paddy is joined by Mairéad Hennessy of Taxkey, a firm of independent tax consultants, for a practical conversation about passing wealth on in Ireland. What you'll learn in this episode: • Why the tax question is the wrong place to start, and what to work out first • How the €3,000 small gift exemption works, what makes it fail, and why it is worth far more over time than the figure suggests • How capital gains tax paid by a parent can be credited against a child's inheritance tax bill and the two-year condition attached to it • What a business transfer needs in place in the ten years before it happens, and why the child has to be in the room • Family partnerships: how they work, who they suit, and what they cost you in privacy • The US Federal Estate Tax exposure sitting in Irish households through employer shares, and the $60,000 threshold behind it We recorded this just as the roadmap for the taxation of private investments was published; it therefore also provides an initial outlook on the investment account to be introduced in 2027 and its implications for notional disposals. If you are approaching retirement with a business, property or a portfolio that will have to move at some point, or you are in line to inherit and would rather understand it in advance, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/inheritance-tax-ireland-gift-or-inherit 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: www.informeddecisions.ie 🔗 Mairéad Hennessy, Taxkey: www.taxkey.ie Book mentioned: Self Employed – The Forgotten Community by Dan O'Donoghue: https://buythebook.ie/product/self-employed-the-forgotten-community/ DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial or tax advice. Everyone's situation is different: always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension, investment or estate planning decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

August 31, 2026Episode 38524 min

Should You Retire at a Market All-Time High? Sequence Risk & the Irish ARF

Should you retire with the market at an all-time high? In Ireland, the record level feels dangerous, but it is not the risk that decides your outcome. In this episode, Paddy asks whether retiring at an all-time high is really the risk Irish savers fear, or whether the thing that decides your outcome is something else entirely. What you'll learn: • Why all-time highs are common, not a warning: global equities sit at or near record highs on roughly a third of trading days • What Japan's lost decades really warn against: concentration in one market, not equities themselves • A sequence-of-returns case study: how two retirees with the same €1.2m and the same average return finished €1.25m apart • The Irish nuance: why Revenue's imputed distribution makes the buffer inside your ARF matter more than any market call If you're within a couple of years of drawing down, and the timing has you worried, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/should-i-retire-at-all-time-highs-ireland 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 10-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different. Always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording. #PensionIreland #RetirementPlanningIreland #SequenceOfReturnsRisk #StockMarketAllTimeHigh #ARFIreland

August 24, 2026Episode 38426 min

Planning to 95: Life Expectancy, the Irish ARF and the Real Retirement Lever

Your Irish pension plan probably runs to age 95, but you'll likely live to around 83, and the gap changes your pot far less than you'd expect. In this episode, Paddy digs into the retirement life expactancy in Ireland. He checks on the one age assumption buried in almost every Irish retirement plan, where the default of 95 comes from and what the most recent CSO life tables actually say about how long a 65-year-old really lives. It's for you if you're approaching or already in retirement with a meaningful pension or ARF, and you've never been asked (or never questioned) the age your own plan is built to. Using a fictional €1.2m ARF, this piece shows how Revenue's imputed distribution means the closing pot is almost identical whether you plan to 83 or 95 (around €1.25m versus €1.21m). The end age was never really the lever. What is covered in this Episode: Where the default planning age of 95 comes from and the US research (Barron's, TIAA, Stanford) behind "oversaving and underliving" What the most recent Irish CSO life tables really say and why they're a floor, not a forecast How Revenue's imputed distribution (4%, 5%, 6%) shapes drawdown from an ARF Why a €1.2m ARF lands at almost the same value at 83 or 95 and what that means for your estate The real lever: what you do with the income you're forced to draw, including a scenario that leaves roughly €283,000 less to Revenue 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/how-long-should-retirement-plan-last-ireland 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 5-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different. Always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

August 17, 2026Episode 38331 min

72% - One Country: Is Your Irish Pension Actually Diversified?

If you hold an Irish pension or an ARF invested in a global equity index fund, you have almost certainly been told you are diversified: Thousands of companies, dozens of countries, one fund, job done. And it is true: your global index fund really does hold well over a thousand companies across more than twenty developed markets. But there is a second truth sitting right beside it. As at the end of June 2026, roughly 72.45% of that same "global" fund is allocated to a single country: The United States. Same fund, same name, same low-cost passive approach and yet quietly a very different animal to the one you bought a decade ago. For anyone drawing an income from an ARF, that second fact matters a great deal more than most people realise. In this episode, Paddy walks through what has actually happened inside these funds while we have been getting on with things: why a cap-weighted index concentrates all on its own, what the published weightings look like right now, and why the very same allocation means something completely different depending on whether you are still contributing or already drawing an income. He uses a worked Irish example (Seamus, 65, with €900,000 in an ARF held in a single global fund) to show what concentration actually looks like under the bonnet, and where Revenue's imputed distribution quietly turns a concentrated investor into a forced seller. What you'll learn: Why a cap-weighted index quietly concentrates over time, and why nobody writes to tell you What a global equity fund actually holds today: 72.45% United States, 26.6% in ten companies, 30.27% in one sector Why concentration is a volatility question at 52 and a sequencing question at 65 What Revenue's imputed distribution does to an investor who is already concentrated Why over-correcting, like running to cash, is usually the more expensive mistake of the two The one variable in this whole picture you actually control None of this is an argument against index investing, and it is not a forecast. It is an argument for being able to describe what you own before you decide how you feel about it. Never mind before you decide what to do about it. If you hold an ARF invested in a single global fund and you haven't seen a factsheet in years, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/market-concentration-irish-pensions 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 5-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different. Always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

August 10, 2026Episode 38422 min

Should You Take Your Pension Lump Sum at 60? A Worked Irish Case Study

Turning 60 with a significant pension pot and nothing forcing your hand? This episode is a worked case study on the pension lump sum decision at 60 in Ireland: Take the tax-free lump sum now, or leave the fund invested and revisit it at 65. Paddy goes through a study-case: Larry is 60, a senior private-sector executive, with €1.4 million in a defined contribution scheme. He doesn't exist. The numbers do. What you'll learn in this Episode: How the retirement lump sum is actually taxed in Ireland: the first €200,000 tax-free as a lifetime limit across all schemes, the 20% band to €500,000, and the marginal rate above it Why an uncrystallised pension carries no mandatory drawdown, and what imputed distribution at 4% from age 61 means once you have crystallised What five years of 5% to 6% growth is actually worth in net lump sum terms and why the honest answer is a range, not a number Where the Standard Fund Threshold genuinely bites and where it doesn't, including why a threshold rising €200,000 a year to 2029 changes the usual "don't let it grow too big" advice The three mistakes that decide most of these cases in practice If you're approaching retirement with a significant pension pot and you've been assuming 60 or 65 is the moment you have to act, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/tfls-at-60-or-wait-ireland 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 5-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different — always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

August 3, 2026Episode 38125 min

Private Credit in Ireland: Can You Actually Get Your Money Out?

There is a pitch doing the rounds in Irish advice circles at the moment: private markets have finally been democratised, and private credit and private equity are now open to anyone with a decent pension pot. But is it really like that? In this episode, Paddy looks at what is actually being sold, and at the one feature that matters more than anything else in the brochure, because liquidity here is offered, not guaranteed . Have a listen, if you'd like to get an idea of what these 'zombie funds' in the private markets sector are all about, what your ARF has to do with them, and what considerations there are regarding private loans and equity investments when it comes to your retirement planning. What you'll learn: What an evergreen or semi-liquid fund actually is, and why a redemption window is nothing like selling a share Why the value on your statement can lag what is really happening in the underlying businesses by months What a zombie fund is, and why roughly 48% of the institutional investors surveyed by Coller Capital already hold one Why illiquid assets collide badly with ARF drawdown, where Revenue requires you to draw at least 4% a year from age 61 The four questions to ask before you sign anything and what a vague answer actually tells you None of this means private markets are wicked, or that nobody should ever own them. It means a bit of healthy scepticism is no bad thing. If you are approaching or already in retirement and someone has put one of these opportunities in front of you, this episode is for you. 🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/zombie-funds-private-markets-ireland 📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 5-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 📅 Find out how we work: https://www.informeddecisions.ie DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different — always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.