As 2025 comes to a close, it’s the perfect moment to take that next step toward securing your retirement. The start of a new year offers an opportunity to reflect, review, and take action to ensure your long-term financial goals are on track. Retirement planning is not just about accumulating wealth—it’s about preserving it, generating sustainable income, and aligning your strategy with your lifestyle and family objectives.

Managing Your Retirement Contracts: Making the Most of Your Retirement Savings

With modern career patterns, many individuals accumulate multiple retirement contracts linked to previous employments. These retirement pots are often held across different providers, adding to the complexity of managing your overall retirement benefits. For those who already have private retirement arrangements, the key is understanding how your retained benefits are managed and ensuring they form part of an active, coordinated investment strategy.

A common question is: “Should I consolidate my pension contracts?”

On the surface, consolidation seems straightforward: one provider, one account, tidier administration. In reality, the decision should be guided by your personal goals and financial circumstances. Having multiple contracts can actually provide flexibility—for example, allowing phased access to retirement benefits. Consolidating may sometimes reduce that flexibility. Our approach is simple: whether you consolidate or maintain multiple contracts, the important thing is that your retirement savings work together in a coordinated strategy to help achieve your retirement goals.

How PRSAs, PRBs, ARFs, and Occupational Pension Schemes Fit Into Your Wealth Planning

Planning for retirement in Ireland can be complex, with several retirement structures offering different benefits:

• Occupational Pension Schemes: Allow employees to save for retirement directly through payroll, often with contributions from both employer and employee. These structures form a core part of many retirement strategies.
• PRSAs (Personal Retirement Savings Accounts): Flexible, tax-efficient accounts for ongoing retirement savings. Contributions qualify for income tax relief, and the funds grow tax-free. You can adjust contributions, freeze them, or transfer to a different provider without penalties.
• PRBs (Personal Retirement Bonds): Allow you to separate (or carve out) your retirement benefit accumulated in previous employment by moving it into your name. You gain investment control with flexible access between ages 50–70. At retirement, funds can be taken as a lump sum, used for an annuity, or transferred into an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF).
• ARFs (Approved Retirement Funds): Post-retirement investment accounts that allow you to keep your money invested, giving access to flexible withdrawals, which are subject to PAYE.

We routinely meet clients who have a combination of retirement contracts, and in many cases, this can work very well within the context of a broader financial plan. This is where we add real value—by bringing structure and coordination to both investment strategy and overall financial planning. Many clients use a mix of retirement structures: contributing to a PRSA or occupational pension during their career, maintaining a PRB from a previous employer, and consolidating into an ARF at retirement, perhaps on a phased basis. It is all about maximising flexibility, tax efficiency, and control over retirement income while ensuring all contracts work together toward their long-term goals.

Clients Without Existing Retirement Contracts

If you are just starting your retirement planning journey, the focus should be on building a clear strategy from the outset, as it helps you stay on track. As life changes, your retirement planning needs may change too. We help clients navigate through the various structures to align them with their goals, risk appetite, and retirement timelines.

Auto-Enrolment: A New Step in Workplace Pensions

Looking ahead, auto-enrolment in workplace pensions is coming to Ireland. While this is a positive development for many employees, it is important to note that auto-enrolment is different from private retirement planning and will not automatically cover company directors and self-employed individuals (PRSI Class S).

Employers are currently navigating the new system, and we expect it will evolve throughout 2026 as the infrastructure becomes established and best practices emerge.

Even for those already saving through private pensions, auto-enrolment serves as a reminder to review contributions and strategy to ensure your overall plan remains optimised. For others, it represents an opportunity to increase pension coverage across the population, helping more people take the first steps toward financial security in retirement.

Approaches to Retirement Planning: Target Pot vs Target Income

This is where retirement planning really comes into its own, allowing us to advise clients based on their individual goals and objectives.

1. Target Pot
Focus on accumulating a specific retirement fund, often aligned with the Standard Fund Threshold (currently €2 million, increasing to €2.8 million by 2029). Another benchmark is a pot sufficient to replace around two-thirds of pre-retirement income.

Progress checkpoints:

• 1× salary by 35
• 3× salary by 45
• 7× salary by 55
• 11× salary by 65

 2. Target Income

Focus on the annual income needed to maintain your desired lifestyle. Consider:

• Current lifestyle expenses minus costs that disappear (e.g., mortgage)
• Additional expenses for hobbies, travel, or family events
• Sources of retirement income, including private retirement contracts, state pension, rental income, investments, and business proceeds

The Retirement Council of Ireland estimates a comfortable retirement for a couple requires approximately €43,200 per year, but your personal target will depend on lifestyle and family needs.

Countdown to Retirement: Integrating Your Financial Plan

Retirement is rarely about stopping work entirely at 65. Many clients opt for semi-retirement, working part-time while pursuing hobbies, travel, and personal projects. The 5–10 year period before retirement is crucial for maximising contributions, refining strategies, and preparing for income drawdowns.

Key steps include:

• Reviewing your financial plan annually
• Maximising retirement contributions to benefit from tax reliefs
• Adjusting investment strategies to align with goals
• Paying down debts
• Planning retirement income drawdowns to meet financial objectives

Case Study: Senior Executive Approaching Retirement

A senior executive nearing Normal Retirement Age sought advice to optimise income from multiple sources, including private retirement contracts, state pension, rental income, and investments.

Key considerations:

• Timing retirement drawdowns to optimise tax efficiency
• Sequencing income streams to reduce tax exposure
• Maintaining lifestyle and part-time consultancy work post-retirement

Our recommendations:

1. Transfer accumulated retirement benefits and defer access to retirement benefits on a phased basis to optimise tax efficiency within the context of the client’s overall income.
2. Integrate all income sources into a comprehensive cashflow plan to ensure sustainability and predictability.
3. Plan estate and legacy arrangements to preserve wealth for heirs and minimise potential tax exposure.

This approach provided the client with confidence, flexibility, and security, highlighting the value of a holistic retirement plan.

Final Thoughts: Make 2026 the Year You Take Action

Retirement planning is an ongoing journey, not a single decision. Without a plan, it’s easy to underestimate the funds needed or overlook risks such as longevity, inflation, or unexpected healthcare costs.

By taking action now, whether you already have multiple retirement contracts or are just starting, you can ensure your retirement aligns with your values, lifestyle, and family goals.

At Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland, our wealth planning team can help you:

• Coordinate multiple retirement contracts, ensuring they work together effectively for both investment growth and broader financial planning purposes.
• Make informed decisions about contributions, drawdowns, and estate planning to optimise your retirement strategy.

Take the first step this New Year and make 2026 the year your retirement plan truly begins.

WRITTEN BY Laura Reidy, Director,  Wealth Management