Irish pension funds underwater for 2018

Irish pension funds are underwater for 2018 after February's stock market correction more than wiped out the gains made in January.

Figures from pension advisers Rubicon Investment Consulting show that average Irish-managed pension fund lost 1.8 per cent of its value last month. That was double the gains made in January and leaves funds, on average, almost 1 per cent down in 2018 to date.

Setanta Asset Management took the worst hit last month, giving up 2.7 per cent. At the other end of the scale, Merrion Investment Managers and Davy Asset Management limited their losses to 1.3 per cent.

To date in 2018, Merrion’s 0.3 per cent retreat is an industry best in Ireland, and well ahead of laggard Setanta, which has a 2.2 per cent decline to cope with.

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Despite the losses, the average managed fund is still 3.3 per cent ahead over the past 12 months, and 3.7 per cent per annum better off over the past three years.

Over the medium term, the bull market has delivered annual gains of almost 10 per cent ahead in the past five years, but this falls back to the 5-7 per cent range per annum over the longer term.