To buy a home or invest in shares?

mgbgt

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Not sure if this is the correct forum, if not please move.

I am in the very fortunate position to have over €220k built up. This is through a lot of hard work and saving, getting very lucky with an investment I made and some inheritance.

I am now unsure of where to invest it. My details are, 32 years old, living in Dublin. Renting an apartment with partner at €1150pm. We plan to stay in Dublin, but enter the green card lottery and if we were successful we would emigrate to the US.

I was originally going to invest a large chunk of it in the S&P500, Eurostox, emerging markets and hold some cash. But I'm thinking maybe I should buy a home with it and live mortgage/rent free. We've identified a house and an area that we could live in, although we would prefer another area but if we want to be mortgage free we will have to stay in this particular area.

We considered taking a mortgage and living somewhere else but then decided against that. The plan would be to buy this house and then invest in stocks with the money we would have paid in rent.

Can anyone offer any advice? Am I mad to buy a property at the moment due to the foreclosure stuffing and lack of supply? I think I can make a nice return on the stocks, but may also lose a large chunk of my wealth.

Any thoughts on our plan?
 
...... We plan to stay in Dublin, but enter the green card lottery and if we were successful we would emigrate to the US.

Any thoughts on our plan?

Personally, I wouldn't invest in property if you're hoping to move to the US.
Renting keeps your moving easier to do when you do decide to go.

Re. your money ... do a search of AAM ... lots of ideas/suggestions on what to do with lump sums & investment.
 
We're only hoping we can win the green card lottery so we can go to the US. The chances of that happening are slim and therefore I don't want to make my decision totally based on that.
 
Buying a house to live in makes huge financial sense as the Irish tax system favours it over the alternative of renting and buying shares. Dividend income and capital gains on your shares will be taxed. Capital Gains on your home and the imputed rental income are tax free.

Why do you want to live mortgage-free? If you have a good income and can comfortably afford a mortgage, you should borrow the extra and buy the house you want in the area you want.

As it's all your own money, you should make sure that you buy it in your own name. If you want to understand why, read a few of the threads in the Issues arising from joint mortgages forum.

As the Green Card lottery is only a slim chance, it should not really affect your decision. You might defer the actual signing of the contracts until you know the results of the lottery.
 
Take chance out of the equation you have almost $300,000 dollars! Your very lucky

Use $40k to invest in business startup and you'll qualify for an E2 entrepreneurship visa to the US. That's your lottery fixed

The Irish property market leaves me cold it's very hard to understand or get a handle on the real value of anything. The market is so dependent on political decisions (rent allowance driving base rents and therefore values / reluctance to actually foreclose/repossess on people who haven't paid their mortgage in years and never will / and the now mumbling of help to buy schemes centered around the general election).

These are huge interventions which make it hard to actually define value in the irish property market use your cash for something more interesting and less dependent on the Irish political class's whims
 
Take chance out of the equation you have almost $300,000 dollars! Your very lucky

Use $40k to invest in business startup and you'll qualify for an E2 entrepreneurship visa to the US. That's your lottery fixed

Great thinking outside the box!
 
If you and your partner split up when you are renting, she is unlikely to seek half your investments in shares.

If you split up and own the house jointly, even if you have paid for it in full, she could well claim half the house.

Another argument for continuing to rent.
 
Thanks for all the good advice.

We went to look at a few houses today and everything seemed so overpriced for what it was.

I think I will get better value in a couple of years. So I think Ill keep the money on deposit for the next year or two, as I believe the rent paid will be cancelled out by the better value Ill get. Plus i can stay flexible for the next while should we get visas for the US.

Thanks for the suggestion of the E2 visa, never knew about that and has certainly given us food for thought.
 
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