If you have changed jobs three or four times, you probably have three or four pensions. Most people cannot name them all, and a fair number do not know they exist.
Auto-enrolment has just added another one for more than 768,000 workers. Now is a sensible moment to count.
Why this has become a live issue
More than 768,000 people had been automatically enrolled in My Future Fund by the end of March, and more than €157 million had been paid into the scheme in employee and employer contributions by that point. For a lot of those workers, that is a second or third pension pot rather than a first.
The average worker now changes jobs far more often than the generation that designed the pension system anticipated. Every move potentially leaves a pot behind: a small occupational scheme, a PRSA, a deferred benefit sitting with a provider you have not thought about in a decade.
Nobody chases you about it. The money does not disappear, but it does go quiet.
What happens to a pension when you leave a job?
It depends on the scheme and how long you were there, and this is where most of the confusion lives.
If you were in a scheme for more than two years, you generally have a preserved benefit. The pot stays where it is, remains invested, and is paid to you at retirement. You do not lose the employer contributions.
If you were there for less than two years, the rules differ by scheme. You may be entitled only to a refund of your own contributions, less tax at the basic rate, currently 20%. The employer’s contributions may go back to the employer. This is the one that stings.
If you had a PRSA, it is yours and it travels with you. It simply stops receiving contributions when the employment ends.
The key point is that a preserved benefit does not manage itself. It sits in whatever fund you selected, or whatever the default was, on the day you joined. If you picked an adventurous fund at 26 and are now 51, nobody has rebalanced it on your behalf.
How to find pensions you have lost track of
- List every employer you have worked for since you were about 22. All of them, including the short stints.
- For each one, ask yourself whether pension contributions came off your payslip. If you are not sure, your old payslips or P60s will tell you. Revenue’s myAccount holds your employment history going back years.
- Contact the pension scheme trustees or the HR department of each former employer. If the company no longer exists, the Pensions Authority can help you identify who administers the scheme now.
- Ask for a current statement of your preserved benefit, showing the fund value, the fund it is invested in and the projected value at retirement.
- Log in to the My Future Fund portal with your verified MyGovID if you were auto-enrolled, and add that to the list.
- Put every statement in one place. This is the first time most people see the full picture, and it is usually larger than they expected.
Should you combine them?
Sometimes. Not always, and the honest answer is that it depends on what you find.
Reasons to consider consolidating. One statement instead of five. One fund strategy you actually chose rather than five defaults you did not. Potentially lower total charges. Far simpler for whoever has to deal with your affairs if something happens to you. And crucially, a single number you can measure against what you will actually need.
Reasons to leave a pot where it is. Some older schemes carry guarantees, protected retirement ages or benefit structures that are genuinely valuable and cannot be replicated. Some have exit penalties. Defined benefit entitlements in particular should not be moved without serious analysis, because you are giving up a promise of income in exchange for a pot of money and the investment risk that comes with it.
This is the point where advice earns its fee. The decision is not reversible, and the right answer differs from person to person. A transfer that suits one person is a poor move for the next.
What most people find when they look
Two things, usually.
The first is that they have more than they thought. Small pots from early jobs have been quietly compounding for fifteen or twenty years, and the numbers surprise people.
The second is less welcome. The money is often in the wrong fund. A default fund chosen for a 25-year-old is rarely appropriate for someone in their fifties who is a decade from drawing on it, and left alone, that mismatch does real damage in the years when it matters most. Reviewing your benefit statement is the fix, and almost nobody does it.
It is worth knowing that most Irish workers are saving for retirement but are not on track for the retirement they expect. Finding the pots you forgot is the cheapest way to close part of that gap, because it is money you already have.
The practical next step
You cannot plan a retirement around pots you cannot name. Start with the list. Six employers, six phone calls, one afternoon.
Once you know what you have, the questions get much easier: whether to consolidate, whether the funds suit your age and plans, and whether you are contributing enough. Our pensions page covers the fundamentals, and if auto-enrolment has just given you a new pot, this is the moment to fit it into everything else.
Bring the statements. Book a call and we will build the full picture with you.
