The benefits of saving for retirement through a personal or occupational pension are well documented, with the State Pension pension alone being inadequate for most to maintain their quality of life in retirement.
However, the question is not whether to invest – but where.
Most pension funds achieved positive growth
Among the most important factors that will determine your pension fund is cumulative performance.
The past five years have been largely positive for fund performance, with the majority of Irish pension funds delivering positive gains. Many funds even achieved cumulative growth of over 100%. However, dozens of funds saw negative growth over the past five years. Each of Ireland’s five main pension providers had some funds that lost value over the period.
For those investing in a pension, this is significant. Two individuals making identical contributions to different funds over the past five years may now have vastly different pension pots, depending on where they invested their money.
5-year trends across Irish pension funds
There was a vast difference in growth between the best and worst performing funds from each of Ireland’s leading providers, alongside some notable trends.
The worst performing funds, often with significant negative growth over five years, were mainly portfolios comprising bonds and property portfolios. Some of these funds have been closed, however most of the funds that recorded negative growth remain open to new investors.
The majority of the funds with the highest returns over five years were high equity funds, mainly with risk ratings of 5 or 6 (in a volatility rating scale from 1 – 7, low to high).
While not all portfolios with these asset allocations performed equally well or poorly, these trends were consistent across the board.
Performance analysis highlights
The 5-year cumulative growth data used to determine the best and worst performing funds in this analysis was collected on 26 September 2025.
Three of the five best performing pension funds were New Ireland funds, with its Technology Indexed Fund coming out as the fund with the highest cumulative growth over the past five years. All of the top five performing funds were high equity funds with risk ratings (ESMA) of 6.
Four of the five worst performing funds were bond portfolios (two corporate and two government). Four were closed funds, while Aviva’s Long Bond was the only open fund of the five worst performers over the past five years.
Zurich
Zurich’s Top Tech 100 G fund was the provider’s best performing over the past five years. The fund comprises equities in leading tech companies, and is linked to the performance of the NASDAQ 100. High equity funds dominate the top performers for Zurich – a trend observed across the board.
The worst performing Zurich fund was the Long Bond G – with negative growth of 29%. The €42 million fund was created on 1 April 2003, and mainly comprises Eurozone government bonds, with a smaller allocation to cash. Four of these Zurich funds were portfolios where a majority of the assets were government bonds, while the fifth worst performing was Zurich Life Property Fund, which has a temporary suspension for both withdrawals and investments as of September 2025.
Aviva
Aviva’s best performing pension fund over the past five years was its High Yield fund (+102%). The 1.68 billion fund was opened in 2020, and is rated 6 on the ESMA risk rating scale. Aviva’s High Yield fund is made up of over 98% equities across a number of markets, including the US (~41%) Europe (~30%, excluding Ireland), the UK (~14%) and Ireland (~2%). Another strong performer was Aviva’s €100 million Physical Gold fund, with growth of almost 89%.
Of the five worst performing Aviva pension funds, three were made up of property assets, while two were government bond funds. The overall worst performing was the Long Bond portfolio, comprising government bonds in the EU. The Aviva Irish Property, a €246 million portfolio, was also among the funds that saw negative growth (-2.4%).
Irish Life
Over the past five years, Irish Life’s best performing funds have been those with high allocations to equities – in particular, technology companies. The best performing was its Indexed Tech fund, which has a relatively small fund size of just €3 million. Indexed Tech was created in 2006 and is closed, like the other best performing Irish Life funds. The fund with the highest growth that is still open for new members is Indexed North American Equity with over 100% growth. Another open fund with extremely high growth has been the Indexed UK Equity fund (+89%).
The two Corporate Long Bond funds, like Irish Life’s best performing funds, are now closed. The worst performing fund that is still open is Irish Life Annuity, with negative growth of 35.8%. This €354 million fund invests in long-term corporate bonds and Eurozone government bonds.
Standard Life
Standard Life’s best performer over the period was its Vanguard US 500 Stock Index fund, with 97.9% growth. Created in 2019, its size is over €611 million and tracks the S&P 500 Index which is dominated by the largest US companies. US equity funds make up four of Standard Life’s best performing funds over the past five years.
Of the worst performing Standard Life portfolios, its Prosperity Fixed Interest had the worst performance over the period analysed, with negative growth of 26.5%. The closed fund invested in government bonds. Standard Life Fixed Interest (open) was the provider’s second worst performer, with commercial paper comprising over 50% of its assets.
New Ireland
New Ireland’s Technology Indexed Fund was the highest performer overall, with positive growth of over 140%. The equity based fund was established in 2001 and has seen steady growth over the past five years, despite a significant dip in Q2 2025, before a strong recovery. Euroland equity, which is the third best performing fund overall, invests only in equities within the Eurozone.
New Ireland Indexed Eurozone Long Bond was the worst performing fund over the period, with negative growth of 34.5%. With a size of over €145 million, the portfolio invests in long-dated government bonds within the Eurozone.
Predicting performance over the next five years
Unfortunately, while looking at the performance of pension funds can give us a great insight into market trends, this cannot be used to determine the future performance of funds.
Fluctuations, especially among those with high risk ratings, are expected, which is why they are best suited to those who plan to invest over the long term. However, what this analysis has shown is that not all bond portfolios are safe.
Those with the highest risk, which have seen the highest cumulative growth, might be worth considering for those in their 20s to 40s – however there are a number of other factors that must be considered, such as management charges, contribution rates, and risk tolerance. Those approaching retirement usually ‘de-risk’ to funds which are lower on the ESMA volatility scale.
The analysis, however, shows that opting for the wrong long-term bond or property fund can severely affect your retirement savings. Seek professional financial advice before making any investment decision.
