UP to 50 investment and financial advisers from Limerick gathered recently for urgent ‘Credit Crunch’ talks to discuss how to best help Limerick consumers protect their investments in the current financial market turmoil.

The talks, hosted by leading pensions and investment company, Hibernian Life & Pensions, were held at the Castletroy Park Hotel.

At the talks Hibernian also showed that 61% of consumers throughout Munster were worried about retirement and 29% were not financially prepared to deal with the recession.
However the research and the talks also delivered some good news for consumers in Limerick. Hibernian’s research findings, based on a survey of almost 1,000 people throughout Ireland, showed that consumers in Limerick were now more actively saving for retirement and more focused on learning how to maximise their retirement lifestyle. With people now switched on to the need to plan for retirement, the research clearly shows that consumers are no longer splashing the cash and are instead focused on planning for a brighter financial future despite the financial market turmoil.
These findings are particularly important as Ireland is forecasted to have over 1.1million old people by 2036.

This means that anyone who is in their mid-30’s today, having lived through the boom of the past decade, will be living on the state pension, plus any private pension income, by 2036.

In the South West the number of old people is expected to be 114,000 by 2021 so these findings are particularly important to pre-retirees in Limerick.
“Obviously the financial market turmoil is a cause of serious concern for a lot of people. By gathering Limerick’s leading financial and investment experts together, we can get a greater appreciation of the issues being faced by investors from Limerick and also the potential investment options to help those consumers achieve long term peace of mind and financial security,” said Hibernian’s Michael Gordon, Executive Manager of Investment and Funds.
Among the topics discussed at the ‘Credit Crunch’ talks were the use of deposit based pension investment funds which are designed for cautious investors who want the tax benefits of a pension but do not want to invest in a stock market fund just yet.
“The feedback we received during the seminar is that Limerick consumers are nervous about investing at the moment because of this turmoil. Some are even considering freezing their plans to invest in a pension,” Mr Gordon added.

“However those who freeze their retirement planning are more likely to do more damage to their finances than good, as it will actually cost more to top up your fund in the future than you will save in the short term,” Mr Gordon said.
Contributing to a pension is particularly important to self-employed investors as they must file their tax returns by November 17, and the tax relief offered on pension payments is probably the best tax break available.

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