Self-Administered Pensions

A Self-Administered Pension Scheme is an employer occupational pension scheme. The pension scheme is ‘Self-Administered’ which simply means that you decide yourself what the pension fund will be invested in. So the main difference between this type of pension and any other pension is that instead of giving your money to an insurance company for them to invest in a fund, you keep the money and invest it in the actual assets yourself. It is commonly used where family members work and own a business together or for groups of company directors. The scheme is set by a company by creating an irrevocable Trust which is a separate legal entity from the company. This Trust may then only be accessed by the beneficiary.

Under Revenue rules all Self-Administered Pension Schemes must have a Revenue approved trustee called a ‘Pensioneer Trustee’. This person/company is independent of the business and is a professional pension trustee. This person or company will have experience in dealing with and setting up pensions, acts as Co-Trustee and controls all transactions in the pension with joint signing authority. O’Mahony Insurances can help Advise on whether a SSAP is suitable for you and the process involved in setting up a new scheme.