You will need to upload proof of ID and proof of address before you can invest in the FlexInvest plan. You will also be asked to take a selfie, which we will match to the ID document you provide.

Acceptable proof of ID must include your name, date of birth, and photo. This could be:

• Passport (unexpired)
• Driving licence (unexpired)

Acceptable proof of address must include your name and address and be dated within the last six months. This could include a:

• Bank account statement (including e-statement)
• Utility bill
• Household/motor insurance certificate
• Local authority document (water charge bill, refuse collection bill)
• Revenue document
• Department of Social Protection document

Unfortunately, letters to you from Irish Life cannot be accepted.

The Government takes a 1% levy on any payments made into an insurance plan, including your FlexInvest plan. We will invest 100% of your investment amount. Your investment amount is the total amount you have paid less the 1% Government Levy. This means that when you pay €100 via your debit card, you’ll see €99.01 invested into your FlexInvest plan.

A "politically exposed person" means any individual, who currently is, or has at any time in the past 12 months, been entrusted with a prominent public function and performs one of the following roles: 

• A member of a parliament / member of a legislature or equivalent 
• A member of a Supreme Court, Constitutional Court or any other high level judicial body which passes non-appealable verdicts (except in exceptional circumstances) 
• A member of a court of auditors or the board of a central bank 
• An ambassador, charge d'affaires or high-ranking officer in the armed forces 
• A member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of a state-owned enterprise 

A relative of a PEP is: 

• Any spouse of the Politically Exposed Person 
• Any person who is considered to be a common law spouse of the Politically Exposed Person under law 
• A child of the Politically Exposed Person 
• Any spouse of the child of a Politically Exposed Person 
• Any other family member of the politically exposed person who is of a prescribed class set out by the Department of Finance 

A close associate of a PEP is: 

• Any individual who has a joint beneficial ownership of a legal entity or legal arrangement, or any other close business relations with the Politically Exposed Person 
• Any individual who has a sole beneficial ownership of a legal entity or legal arrangement set up for the actual benefit of the Politically Exposed Person

FlexInvest aims to meet your medium to long term investment requirements. You can take your money out at any time but we recommend investing for at least 5 years or more. You're more likely to achieve positive returns the longer you invest. However, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance and you could lose some or all of your money.

Like all financial service companies in Ireland, we are required to follow strict rules to combat both money laundering and terrorist financing. Money laundering is the process of disguising criminal proceeds (cash and assets obtained from criminal activities) to appear legitimate. 

To prevent this, we take measures such as: 

• Collecting your personal details such as name, date of birth, address, country of birth, occupation, source of wealth for your investment, and source bank account details for your payment. 
• Verifying identification and address information with documentation evidence from you (this is why we ask you to take a selfie, a photo of your ID and proof of address when you sign up). 
• Validating your bank statement if you want to change your bank account so that we can make sure we’re paying into a legitimate account in your name. 

Your plan value is updated once daily overnight. 

Cash movements and transactions usually take a few days, so when you make a top up payment or request a withdrawal it can take up to six days to be visible on your plan.

From the time you initiate the payment, to your money being invested, it takes at most 6 business days. This includes validating the identification documents you have provided, when making your first investment.

When you invest in the FlexInvest plan through Smart Invest, one of the three Irish Life MAPs fund options will be recommended for you depending on your attitude to risk. The Irish Life MAPs funds are managed by Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM) and have different levels of investment risk, designed to suit different attitudes to risk.

They aim to create a diversified portfolio, investing in hundreds of companies across a broad range of markets. This helps to ensure that you do not put all of your eggs in one basket, and reap the potential benefits of growth across many different economies.

For example, if you put all your money into oranges, but oranges have a bad season and the crop fails, you lose all your money. However, if you invest in oranges and pears, you can still gain from a good pear season, even if you lose money on oranges.

This diversification aims to ensure that the performance of the funds is not dependent on any one asset type, sector, geographical region, investment manager or investment style. Removing this dependence aims to produce a smoother investment journey over the longer term.

Each of the Irish Life MAPs funds is diversified across a range of assets with different risk profiles. These include shares, bonds, property, cash and external managers/alternatives. Within each of these different asset types, there is even further diversification. The type of assets that the MAPs funds invest in can include:

Global Shares: Track the performance of a large, customised, global share index with sustainability characteristics and alignment to the low carbon transition economy. This index aims to have a more positive impact on the environment and society compared to a standard index. It has shares across a number of geographies, including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, China and France.

Global Low Volatility Shares: ILIM chooses shares from a broad global share index which have shown lower volatility in the past. There are about 200 shares selected for the Global Low Volatility Shares.

Emerging Market Low Volatility Shares: ILIM chooses shares from a broad emerging markets share index which have shown lower volatility in the past. There are about 200 shares selected for the Emerging Markets Low Volatility Shares.

Emerging Market Shares: Track the performance of a broad Emerging Markets share index, which includes over 1,400 companies operating in 26 different markets, including China, South Korea, Taiwan, India and Brazil.

Infrastructure Shares: Track over 100 individual companies across sectors such as airports, toll roads, railways, ports, water and gas. These shares come from mainly developed market economies but also some emerging markets, including the United States, Canada, France, the UK, Spain, China, Italy, Australia and Japan.

Government Bonds: Provide exposure to shorter-dated government bonds. These bonds include bonds from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Ireland.

Corporate Bonds: Track the performance of a recognised and leading corporate bond index to provide exposure to private company debt. Industries include automotive, banking, consumer goods, energy, financial services, healthcare, real estate, telecommunications, and transportation.

Emerging Market Bonds: Tracks the performance of recognised and leading emerging-market bond indices, both local and hard currency (denominated in US dollars), to provide exposure to emerging-market bonds. The geographic split of these bonds includes bonds from China, Brazil, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Thailand, Romania, and South Africa.

High Yield Bonds: Offer a higher rate of interest as they are higher risk. They cover numerous geographies including the US, UK, Italy, Canada, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland and Spain.

Property: Each Irish Life MAPs fund currently has an allocation to ILIM’s Pension Property fund. The portfolio includes approximately 70 individual property assets that are leased to over 300 tenants, as well as a broad mix of commercial property, including offices, retail and industrial properties.

The three MAPs funds available on the FlexInvest plan have different levels of investment risk. When you invest with Smart Invest, the most suitable MAPs fund for you will be recommended, based on all of the information that you give.

If you accept the recommended MAPS fund for your FlexInvest plan, you will remain invested in that fund until such time as you wish to withdraw your funds. You cannot currently switch between the available MAPS funds. If there are changes to this in the future we will notify you.

If you feel your needs are more complex or your situation has changed, please contact us.

To use Smart Invest by Irish Life and to take out a FlexInvest plan, you must be resident in the Republic of Ireland. 

If you become non-resident for tax purposes, you are no longer required to pay Exit Tax. If you wish to claim as a non-resident you will need to complete and submit an original “Declaration of Residence outside of Ireland” form. Please contact us for a copy of this form and details of other documents we will need from you. 

For payments within the EU SEPA zone we will contact you to confirm details. Due to Revenue rules, if you are outside the EU SEPA zone, payment must be sent by cheque to your home address outside Ireland.

If you die, we will pay out 100.1% of the fund value of your plan, less any tax, to the executors or administrators who will deal with your estate. You should understand that if you die, the plan value is not guaranteed and could be higher or lower than the amount you invested.

If you withdraw most or all of your money, your FlexInvest plan will be closed, your investment has ended, and you will not be able to make future top ups.

You can make a payment into your plan by logging onto your Smart Invest account and using your debit card. The debit card you use must be in your own name, which is the same as the name on your FlexInvest plan.

You can invest as little as €100, less the 1% Government levy, in your FlexInvest plan. This is our way of making investing accessible and affordable to everyone. That being said, we encourage you to set up a reminder to top up your plan monthly. You can set this up by heading to the Settings under the main menu on your account, where you’ll find an option underneath the Profile tab there. It's a great way to get in the habit of saving, and to make sure that when life gets busy, you don't end up neglecting your investment.

Not at the moment, but we can send you a monthly reminder to make a payment – just click ‘set up monthly reminders’ under Settings within the Menu, or when you make your next payment, to help you invest for your future. 

If it has been more than 6 business days since you made a payment and you still haven’t seen your money invested, please email us on smartinvest@irishlife.ie or call us on +353 1 704 1984 and we will follow up for you.

We do not process further top ups or withdrawals while an existing request is outstanding. 

From time to time, we may also need more information from you, such as additional proof of ID, proof of address, proof of bank statement or proof of source of investment. We will inform you if this is the case.

You can withdraw all or part of your plan at any stage. You must withdraw at least €20 (after exit tax), and the remaining value of your investment after you make a withdrawal must be at least €10. 

You may need to top up your investment to keep your plan open. 

If you make a full withdrawal, your plan will end. 

You will have to pay exit tax (currently 41%) on any returns you make.

We may require certain information, such as certified ID documents or proof of your bank account, before your withdrawal can be processed. Once we have all the documents that we need, you should see your money in your account within four business days.

If there are returns on your investment, you will be subject to exit tax on any growth on your investment amount. 

Under current Irish tax law you must pay exit tax on any returns you make from your FlexInvest plan. Irish Life Assurance is obliged to deduct this tax and pay it to the Irish Revenue Commissioners on your behalf. The current tax rate is 41%.

We will pay this tax (if it is due):

• when you cash in all or part your FlexInvest plan
• if you die
• every 8th anniversary from the start date of your investment portfolio. Where tax is deducted from your fund on each 8th anniversary, this tax can be offset against any tax that is payable on a subsequent encashment 

However, if you become non-resident for tax purposes, you are no longer required to pay Exit Tax.

Irish Life Assurance will pay you the amount you asked for. If Exit tax is due, the tax amount will be deducted from your plan surrender value and it will be paid directly to the Revenue Commissioners. You will see details of tax in your activity history and in the confirmation letter in your Smart Invest Document Library.

To make a withdrawal, please upload a bank statement (dated within the last 6 months) using the Smart Invest by Irish Life document ‘Upload’ link in your Document Library and email smartinvest@irishlife.ie or call us on +353 1 704 1984.