Taking time off to mind children could cost women up to €70k

Working mothers earning the average industrial wage who take just five years off to look after their family could lose up to a fifth of their pension pot or up to €70,000, a pensions expert has warned.

Samantha McConnell, chief investment officer with IFG Corporate Pensions, said working women who take time off to raise a family face an uncertain future due to serious inequities in the pension system.

Using the Pensions Board’s calculator, Ms McConnell has worked out that a woman earning an average of €42,000 annually over her career, who starts her pension at aged 35 and contributes until the age of 68, will build up a pension pot of €356,000.