qwerty-2023
Registered User
- Messages
- 61
Hi all, I would love some guidance please! For the past 4 years I only made €18k/year (PhD student) but I finally completed my studies and started working a decently paid job again last month, so now I want to set some financial goals and work towards them!
Personal details
Age: 27 (F)
Partner: 31 (M) - our finances are mostly separate but I'll include everything for context
Children: None - unlikely to change as I've been with my partner for 10 years and our plans are aligned
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income: €42k PAYE + €0-10k self-employed
Partner annual gross income: €50k
Monthly take-home pay: Around €2.6k for me, around €3k for partner
Employment: Fixed-term public sector (me) and permanent public sector (partner)
Are you saving/spending: Usually we each save around €1k/month in our respective accounts
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
My assets: €30k investment bond (global equities index fund) + €5k PRSA (not currently contributing to it) + €2k savings account
Partner's assets: Studio apartment worth €200k with mortgage currently at €100k + around €10k in savings + €5-10k individual stocks
Joint assets: Joint savings account around €10k for emergencies / holidays / repairs
Pensions: we are both in the post-2013 public sector pension scheme (SPSPS) but neither of us is making AVCs
Liabilities: None (except for my partner's mortgage)
Family home mortgage information
(This is the studio apartment mentioned above)
Lender - Avant
Interest rate - 1.95% (fixed for 3 more years)
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None (and no credit cards)
Buy to let properties
None
Other savings and investments:
None (all listed above)
Other information which might be relevant
No life insurance but partner has mortgage insurance as required by lender
I think public sector also provides long-term illness protection and death in service
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My main question is what would you recommend for people in our situation in terms of financial goals? What should we focus on?
I'm mainly asking for myself, but of course me and my partner discuss all important financial stuff and he is also open to advice.
For example, should I save up a cash cushion? Contribute to a pension beyond the default public sector contributions? Invest via another bond?
Another option could be to start saving for a bigger home that we'd own jointly, as we might like more space in the future. However, I'm on a fixed term contract, and in my field, low job security and frequent international moves are very common (for example, I've done two year-long contracts abroad in the past while my partner lived with roommates to cover costs), so I'm not sure tying both of us to a bigger mortgage would be a good idea in case we need to move. More broadly, because I've experienced quite a bit of PhD/work stress lately, it reassures me to keep our very affordable lifestyle in case I need a break later, or decide to go freelance/do consulting full-time, etc. And finally - we both have wild ideas about living offgrid one day, and/or taking over my partner's dad's organic veggie farm, and/or travel the world on a shoestring.....etc etc, so all that to say we are not too pushed about the traditional mortgage lifestyle (the main reason for buying my partner's flat was it saved us a ton of money vs. rent).
Thank you for reading all this, and very grateful for any guidance!!
Personal details
Age: 27 (F)
Partner: 31 (M) - our finances are mostly separate but I'll include everything for context
Children: None - unlikely to change as I've been with my partner for 10 years and our plans are aligned
Income and expenditure
Annual gross income: €42k PAYE + €0-10k self-employed
Partner annual gross income: €50k
Monthly take-home pay: Around €2.6k for me, around €3k for partner
Employment: Fixed-term public sector (me) and permanent public sector (partner)
Are you saving/spending: Usually we each save around €1k/month in our respective accounts
Summary of Assets and Liabilities
My assets: €30k investment bond (global equities index fund) + €5k PRSA (not currently contributing to it) + €2k savings account
Partner's assets: Studio apartment worth €200k with mortgage currently at €100k + around €10k in savings + €5-10k individual stocks
Joint assets: Joint savings account around €10k for emergencies / holidays / repairs
Pensions: we are both in the post-2013 public sector pension scheme (SPSPS) but neither of us is making AVCs
Liabilities: None (except for my partner's mortgage)
Family home mortgage information
(This is the studio apartment mentioned above)
Lender - Avant
Interest rate - 1.95% (fixed for 3 more years)
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
None (and no credit cards)
Buy to let properties
None
Other savings and investments:
None (all listed above)
Other information which might be relevant
No life insurance but partner has mortgage insurance as required by lender
I think public sector also provides long-term illness protection and death in service
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
My main question is what would you recommend for people in our situation in terms of financial goals? What should we focus on?
I'm mainly asking for myself, but of course me and my partner discuss all important financial stuff and he is also open to advice.
For example, should I save up a cash cushion? Contribute to a pension beyond the default public sector contributions? Invest via another bond?
Another option could be to start saving for a bigger home that we'd own jointly, as we might like more space in the future. However, I'm on a fixed term contract, and in my field, low job security and frequent international moves are very common (for example, I've done two year-long contracts abroad in the past while my partner lived with roommates to cover costs), so I'm not sure tying both of us to a bigger mortgage would be a good idea in case we need to move. More broadly, because I've experienced quite a bit of PhD/work stress lately, it reassures me to keep our very affordable lifestyle in case I need a break later, or decide to go freelance/do consulting full-time, etc. And finally - we both have wild ideas about living offgrid one day, and/or taking over my partner's dad's organic veggie farm, and/or travel the world on a shoestring.....etc etc, so all that to say we are not too pushed about the traditional mortgage lifestyle (the main reason for buying my partner's flat was it saved us a ton of money vs. rent).
Thank you for reading all this, and very grateful for any guidance!!
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