Informed Decisions Independent Financial Planning & Money Podcast

This one was recorded a while back (in 2024), but the argument hasn't dated a day, if anything, it holds up better now than when we first put it out. A of complexity in Irish pension and investment advice isn't there to help you. It's there to help the person selling it. In this episode, Paddy explains why simplicity almost always beats sophistication when it comes to your pension and investment planning, and what a genuinely simple structure actually looks like.
What you'll learn:
● Why financial firms are often incentivised to make your pension and investments more complicated than they need to be
● The real-world cost of sophisticated, structured investment products that underperform
● What a simple, transparent pension and investment structure actually looks like in practice
● The questions worth asking any advisor before trusting them with your retirement assets
If you've ever had a feeling that your own pension or investment structure is more complicated than it needs to be, this episode is for you.
🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/simplicity-over-sophistication-pension-planning
And a quick word on something new: alongside the podcast, I've started putting together shorter pieces for YouTube: Paddy's Pension Pieces. Each one built around a single question from a fuller episode or a specific topic I'd like to discuss in shorter time . The first is up now, on what a €1 million pension pot in Ireland actually leaves you with after tax: check out our YT Channel to discover :) More to follow.
📊 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.

Two people can retire with the same ARF, the same average return, and the same
withdrawal rate and still end up in completely different places. One leaves
over €1m to his family. The other runs out of money before he turns 88. The only
difference is the order in which the returns arrived.

In this episode, Paddy breaks down sequence of returns risk in Ireland. The risk
that gets far less attention than fund performance or pot size, but can matter
more than either.

What you'll learn:
• Why sequence of returns doesn't matter at all while you're still accumulating
• Why the first ten years of drawdown can account for roughly 77% of your final outcome
• How Revenue's 4%/5%/6% imputed distribution rules interact with this risk in an Irish ARF
• Four practical ways to protect your ARF: cash buffers, dynamic withdrawal, portfolio
  construction, and timing flexibility

If you're within a decade of retirement, or already drawing an income from your ARF, this
is worth half an hour of your time. Enjoy!

🎙️ Find all the full podcast episode and 📖 Blog here: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/sequence-of-returns-risk-ireland 
📊 Want to check where you are? Try our free 5-minute Retirement Readiness Scorecard: www.informeddecisions.ie/pension-calculator 
📅 Find out how we work: 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.

An Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) is the planning step most Irish adults never get to. Only around 8% have one, against roughly a third who've made a will. Yet if you lost capacity tomorrow, it's the document that decides whether the people you trust can actually act for you, or whether your family ends up in front of the Circuit Court.
Paddy Delaney is joined by Áine Flynn, Director of Ireland's Decision Support Service, for a clear, practical conversation about planning ahead. If you're approaching retirement with assets to protect, this one matters.
For more information about Áine Flynn and the work of Ireland's Decision Support Service: https://www.decisionsupportservice.ie
In this episode:
Why your next of kin can't automatically step in. And what an EPA changes
The joint-account trap most couples assume protects them
What it costs (€30 to register, €90 to activate) and how the DSS process works
The "holy trinity": Will, EPA and Advance Healthcare Directive, and what each one covers
If you want genuine clarity on protecting yourself and the people you love, whatever happens, this episode is for you.
🎙️ Full episode (video) and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/enduring-power-of-attorney-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 or legal advice. Everyone's situation is different — always speak to a qualified, independent advisor (and a solicitor for legal documents) before making pension, investment or estate-planning decisions. Rules and figures change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.

As you get closer to retirement, move your money to safer investments. It sounds reasonable. But what if that one piece of conventional wisdom could cost you €80,000 or more?
In this episode, Paddy unpacks one of the most consequential (and most overlooked) investment decisions you'll make: whether to reduce investment risk before you retire. For a lot of Irish pension holders, this decision has already been made for them automatically, through something called lifestyling often without their knowledge or consent.
Paddy works through the two opposing risks at the heart of the decision: de-risking too early and leaving significant growth on the table in your final accumulation years and sequence-of-returns risk, the single most underappreciated danger in early retirement. Using two scenarios he shows how a default setting can quietly create an €85,000–€100,000 gap, and why the order in which your returns arrive matters more than the average.
You'll come away with a simple three-question framework to bring deliberate, personalised thinking to your own pension, instead of leaving it to a system designed for an average that doesn't exist.
What this Episode covers:
•  The two real risks and why most people only know one
•  Lifestyling: what your provider may be doing without telling you
•  The €85k–€100k cost of de-risking too early
•  Sequence-of-returns risk and the retirement 'red zone'
•  The bucket strategy as a simple income buffer
•  A three-question framework for the ten years before retirement
And if you like to read this episode again, read the full blog post here: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/reduce-investment-risk-before-retirement-ireland 
Chapters:
00:00 - The €80,000 question
01:30 - The two real risks
04:00 - Lifestyling explained
07:00 - The real numbers
12:00 - Sequence-of-returns risk
17:00 - The decision framework
21:00 - Mistakes to avoid + ARF considerations
24:30 - Summary & key takeaways
 
📊 Check out our new Retirement Readiness Scorecard: www.informeddecisions.ie/retirement-readiness-scorecard
📖 Find out how we work at www.informeddecisions.ie 
 
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Informed Decisions podcast is hosted by Paddy Delaney, QFA RPA APA, independent, fee-only retirement planner in Ireland. The podcast and the blog at informeddecisions.ie are educational resources for Irish professionals, business owners, and high-net-worth individuals navigating retirement, tax efficiency, and investment strategy.
DISCLAIMER
This podcast is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute personalised financial advice. Figures and rules referenced reflect the position as at May 2026 and are subject to change. Always speak to a qualified, independent financial advisor about your specific situation.

If your pension is approaching or has passed €2 million, the question is no longer just how to grow it, it's how to generate income without handing a significant portion to Revenue unnecessarily. The Standard Fund Threshold in Ireland rose to €2.2 million in January 2026, and the decisions you make in the next few years will determine how much of that headroom you actually use.
In this episode, Paddy covers the income strategies that matter most at the SFT level.
If your pension is approaching €1.5 million or more, this episode is for you.
• Why timing your Benefit Crystallisation Events can shelter up to €500,000 from Chargeable Excess Tax
• How the lump sum offset mechanism reduces your CET exposure — and what the effective SFT really is in 2026
• What the imputed distribution rules mean when your ARF exceeds €2 million
• How to manage income through the standard rate tax band efficiently
• Why spousal pension planning is one of the most underused strategies at this level
 
📊 Find out how we work and have a look at our Retirement Readiness Scorecard: https://www.informeddecisions.ie
📖 Read the full blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/generating-income-standard-fund-threshold-ireland
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Informed Decisions podcast is hosted by Paddy Delaney QFA RPA APA — independent, fee-only retirement planner in Ireland. The podcast and the blog at informeddecisions.ie are educational resources for Irish professionals, business owners, and high-net-worth individuals navigating retirement, tax efficiency, and investment strategy.
DISCLAIMER
This podcast is for general educational purposes only. It does not constitute personalised financial advice. Figures and rules referenced reflect the position as at May 2026 and are subject to change. Always speak to a qualified, independent financial advisor about your specific situation.