After a long career, we all want to be able to enjoy retirement with as much in our pockets as possible. Unfortunately, many people in Ireland are investing in underperforming pension funds, leaving them short-changed when they retire.
Zurich has dozens of pension funds to choose from, which can make people feel overwhelmed when trying to compare their performance. To simplify the process, we have analysed the best and worst performing Zurich Life funds over the past 5 years on this page.
If you wish to compare more funds, or to see how your fund is performing over different time periods, our free pension fund comparison tool lists the performance and asset breakdown of every Zurich fund here.
We do not include fees or management charges in this article. We recommend speaking to a financial advisor to discover the fund that best suits your needs.
The difference between the best and worst performing funds is striking. While some Zurich funds have recorded more than 20% negative returns over the past 5 years, the graph above shows that some have experienced growth of well over 100%.
Over the past five years, the top performing Zurich fund is the Top Tech 100 G fund, which is made up of equities in the top tech companies and allows investors to link to the performance of the NASDAQ 100.
All of the top performing Zurich Life funds over the past five years are those with a high asset allocation towards equities and ESMA risk ratings of between 5 and 6, indicating moderately high to high risk. For those approaching retirement, capital preservation is more important than longer term growth.
The five worst performing funds from Zurich over the past 5 years have been government bond portfolios. A number of property portfolios have also seen negative growth over the period.
However, not all property portfolios have underperformed to the same extent. For example, Zurich Life Indexed Australasian Property fund has seen positive growth over the past 5 years.
Comparing Zurich’s Flagship Prisma Funds
Zurich’s Prisma family is among the most well-known pension ranges on the market. Each fund is easily identifiable by its name alone, which promotes transparency for investors and gives people a straightforward de-risking strategy.
The Prisma range gives people a straightforward strategy of moving their savings to funds lower on the risk rating scale as they get closer to retirement and begin to focus on capital preservation.
| Pension Fund | Risk Rating (1-7) | Fund Explorer Page |
| Zurich Life Prisma Low | 2 (Low Risk) | View Fund |
| Zurich Life Prisma 2 | 2 (Low Risk) | View Fund |
| Zurich Life Prisma 3 | 3 (Moderately Low Risk) | View Fund |
| Zurich Life Prisma 4 | 4 (Moderate Risk) | View Fund |
| Zurich Life Prisma 5 | 5 (Moderately High Risk) | View Fund |
| Zurich Life Prisma Max | 5 (Moderately High Risk) | View Fund |
