Precision planning for exceptional careers
Your HSE pension, the €2.2m cap, professional added years, foreign pensions — the financial landscape for medical consultants is uniquely complex. We understand every nuance.
Peak Financial Ltd trading as Financial Surgery specialises in the financial and pension planning needs of Irish medical consultants. We have worked with over 100 consultants and bring deep, specialist expertise to every engagement.
Built specifically for medical consultants
The new consultant contract has changed the financial picture for many consultants — higher salaries, questions around private practice, and extended hours. But regardless of which contract you are on, the planning principles remain critical.
There are planning opportunities that are unique to medical consultants that are often unknown or poorly understood. The earlier that these are addressed, the greater the benefit.
Based at 36 Mount Street Upper, Peak Financial Ltd trading as Financial Surgery specialise in working with medical consultants, bringing deep expertise to every aspect of pension and financial planning.
The full spectrum of consultant financial planning
Understanding your HSE pension
Your HSE pension is determined by two key variables — salary and service — and the interaction between them is more nuanced than it might first appear.
Salary Considerations
- Impact of changing contract on pensionable salary
- The B Factor and how it affects your net pensionable pay
- Clinical Director and other allowances — are they pensionable?
- Lump sum calculated on gross pensionable salary
- Annual pension calculated on net pensionable salary
Service & Added Years
- Buying back cashed-in years
- Professional added years — the critical 1st April 2005 divide
- Maximum 10 added years (pre-2005) vs 5 years (post-2005)
- How going half-time can protect added years
- Should I purchase notional years?
Retirement Timing
- Normal Retirement Age of 65 — key date 1st April 2004
- Cost neutral early retirement and actuarial reduction factors
- Retirement from age 60 for pre-April 2004 consultants
- Strategic retirement date selection for maximum benefit
- Impact on professional added years of retiring before 65
The €2.2 million pensions cap
Pay restoration completed in July 2022 has pushed virtually all consultants with long service toward or over the Standard Fund Threshold. This is now one of the most pressing planning issues for Irish medical consultants.
The calculation used by Revenue to value your pension includes both public and private pensions. A consultant who is uninformed about the options available to discharge the excess tax liability might pay the tax bill from their pension lump sum — an extremely inefficient and costly approach.
Key questions we help you answer:
- → Should I retire early to minimise the chargeable excess?
- → What strategy should I take with private pensions until retirement?
- → Is there anything I can do now to reduce the future tax bill?
Foreign pension entitlements
Many consultants trained and worked in the UK or US before returning to Ireland. These years can translate into valuable pension entitlements that are frequently overlooked — sometimes worth thousands of euros or dollars annually in retirement.
UK State Pension
A minimum of 10 National Insurance contribution years is needed to receive any UK State Pension. The maximum payable requires 35 years.
£12,500+per year at maximum entitlement. If you worked in the UK, it may be possible to buy back voluntary years — but deadlines apply and windows to purchase historic years can close.
US Social Security
Forty Social Security credits (equivalent to 10 years working in the US) are required to qualify. Crucially, Irish PRSI contributions count toward this threshold under a bilateral agreement.
$3,480–$8,580per year — the range of entitlements we have identified in previous reviews for consultants who were unaware they qualified. The amount depends on Social Security payments made during US employment.
NHS Pensions
Three NHS pension schemes exist — 1995, 2008, and 2015 — each with different structures for annual pension, lump sum entitlements, and access ages.
3 schemesThe 1995 scheme links to your best salary over the final 3 years of service and provides a lump sum of 3× annual pension. The 2008 and 2015 schemes use career average or final average salary bases. Each requires separate analysis to optimise.
Efficient use of company resources
Consultants who conduct private practice through a corporate structure often accumulate significant cash balances within the company. Cash held without a strategy is quietly eroded by inflation — and drawn down inefficiently can result in unnecessary tax.
Why a Cash Strategy Matters
- Cash balances erode in real terms at every level of inflation
- Investment options within corporate structures can be highly liquid
- Risk profiles range from lower to medium — tailored to your situation
- Tax-efficient drawdown from the company is critical to net return
- Corporate cash planning should be integrated with pension planning
The Erosion of €100 by Inflation Over Time
Even moderate inflation materially reduces the purchasing power of company cash over time. Investment within a corporate structure — even at low to medium risk — can protect and grow this value.
Where the detail matters most
The complexities of consultant financial planning mean that errors and missed opportunities are more common than they should be. These are real outcomes from our work with consultants.
The people behind your plan
Our team combines deep technical expertise with genuine specialist experience in medical consultant financial planning. We are qualified, fee-based, and work for you — not any product provider.
Hugh Gallagher
Hugh began his career in 2002 in trading and investment management before moving into financial planning. That grounding in investment markets gives him a perspective most financial planners do not have — an understanding of what ultimately drives investment returns.
He became a CFA Charterholder in 2006 — one of the most rigorous designations in global finance — and a Qualified Financial Adviser in 2009. He is also the author of Straight Talk on Financial Planning, which reflects his approach: clear, honest, and free of jargon.
Brendan Mulvaney
Brendan has over two decades of experience in financial services. He holds one of the most comprehensive sets of professional qualifications of any financial adviser in Ireland — combining the CFA designation with the CFP and Chartered Tax Adviser designations.
That combination is rare and genuinely valuable for our clients. The intersection of investment management, financial planning, and tax expertise means Brendan sees the full picture — how every element of a client's financial life connects and interacts.
Your financial position deserves specialist attention
Every consultant's situation is different. There is no one-size-fits-all advice — but there are always planning opportunities. A call typically takes 30 minutes or less and the findings can be significant.
Book your financial review
We are based in Dublin and advise consultants nationwide
Financial Surgery specialises exclusively in the financial and pension planning needs of Irish medical consultants. Collectively, we have worked with over 100 consultants and bring deep, specialist expertise to every engagement.