Thank you to all those who attended our hughly successful Auto Enrolment Breakfast Briefing today held in conjunction with Enniscorthy Chamber and Zurich Life.  A special note of thanks must go to Jimmy Gahan and Marie Lyng and all support staff of Enniscorthy Chamber and Michelle Leacy and Niall Fitzgerald of Zurich Life.  Thank you also to the Riverside Park Hotel, who looked after us so well.

The Seminar was very well received, with high attendance numbers and welcome attendee interaction with many valuable questions and points put to the presenters.

In summary the main take away points of the Seminar were as follows:

Niall highlighted that the next 4 years will likely see massive change in employment law and pension practices.  The pension landscape will change substantially.

A recent Pensions Roadmap published by the Government signaled the following:

  • The introduction of an auto enrolment retirement scheme in 2022, with a starting contribution rate of 1% of gross salary rising to 6% in year 6 by both employee and employer
  • The removal of mandatory retirement ages
  • The possible lowering of attractive incentives to, in particular, business owners, in wealth management through pension funding.

Niall also spoke of the responsibilities of acting as Trustee of a Pension Scheme and the need to be aware of the legal responsibilities and alternative trustee options here.

Michelle’s presentation focused on the investment of pension funds and one particular slide showing the impact of starting a pension (even at a low contribution rate) at a young age really resonated with the audience and is actually in itself a powerful message for the benefits of auto enrolment.

Myles of this office also spoke of the importance of pension planning and retirement planning.  A pension in itself is invaluable but it needs to regularly reviewed and managed particularly in the years close to retirement.

All presenters spoke of the importance of preparing for auto enrolment now by establishing a Pension Scheme for employees sooner rather than later.

Thank you to all once again and if you have any questions on any aspect of the Seminar, please do contact us at 053 9233640.