Hi,
We're planning on returning to Ireland, from the UK, at some point in 2021 (timeline is now more difficult with COVID resurgence). We had reached the stage of needing to make a decision on purchasing here, or moving back to Ireland - which was always on the agenda at some point. We have already gone some way in securing jobs so I'm adding in Irish salaries also as that is where the advice is being sought.
Initially we will be renting in Ireland, to show Irish savings ability and for my spouses probation period - but then would like to try purchase a property as soon as we can.
Age: 37
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 34
Annual gross income from employment or profession: UK: £100k (bonus incl.) / Ireland: ~€100k (bonus incl.)
Annual gross income of spouse: UK: None currently / Ireland: €45k
Monthly take-home pay: £4,500 (after pension contrib)
Type of employment: Me: Private / Wife: Public
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?: Saving, but only £700p/m currently, since my spouse finished work
Rough estimate of value of home: N/A
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: We pay £2,100 in rent in UK, would expect this to be a little less in Ireland but difficult to judge rental market currently
What interest rate are you paying? N/A
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?: Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?: Yes
Savings and investments:
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes (Personal contribution: + employer currently = 20%). Value of £108k currently.
Do you own any investment or other property?: No
Ages of children: 1 & 3. No childcare currently, but we will need this in Ireland.
Life insurance: Yes 4X
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
We're planning on returning to Ireland, from the UK, at some point in 2021 (timeline is now more difficult with COVID resurgence). We had reached the stage of needing to make a decision on purchasing here, or moving back to Ireland - which was always on the agenda at some point. We have already gone some way in securing jobs so I'm adding in Irish salaries also as that is where the advice is being sought.
Initially we will be renting in Ireland, to show Irish savings ability and for my spouses probation period - but then would like to try purchase a property as soon as we can.
Age: 37
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 34
Annual gross income from employment or profession: UK: £100k (bonus incl.) / Ireland: ~€100k (bonus incl.)
Annual gross income of spouse: UK: None currently / Ireland: €45k
Monthly take-home pay: £4,500 (after pension contrib)
Type of employment: Me: Private / Wife: Public
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?: Saving, but only £700p/m currently, since my spouse finished work
Rough estimate of value of home: N/A
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: We pay £2,100 in rent in UK, would expect this to be a little less in Ireland but difficult to judge rental market currently
What interest rate are you paying? N/A
Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc: None
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month?: Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card?: Yes
Savings and investments:
- UK: £104k mostly now liquid as I sold majority of positive investments here in December to avail of greater CGT limit. We had expected to be tax residents in Ireland for 2021, but not certain now on move timeline. We also bought two newish cars here in the past 18 months (one was needed for here, other intended for use when we move back), so this has put a dent in savings.
- Savings in Ireland: €102k
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes (Personal contribution: + employer currently = 20%). Value of £108k currently.
Do you own any investment or other property?: No
Ages of children: 1 & 3. No childcare currently, but we will need this in Ireland.
Life insurance: Yes 4X
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
- Original plan was to use the Euro savings towards a house deposit and leave Sterling savings in the UK to see if there is any recovery in pound strength, however reading other threads on this has made me rethink. There's also no tax benefit to leaving in UK investments as I'll be an Irish tax resident. Would it be better to eliminate the FX risk by converting to Euro - perhaps over a few months? And in doing this use this to have a greater house deposit?
- We had hoped to buy in the €450-550k range, but I've been getting some quite strange results from online mortgage calculators, I believe to be down to the childcare costs that we will have (estimated at €2k per month) so I think this may already provide my answer for question 1, presumably it makes more sense to put up a greater deposit with what we have, rather than renting for longer.
- Is there anything I should start thinking of doing for my children's future education costs, or is this something to address further down the line when the home purchase is out of the way?
- Any suggestions on what I should do with UK pension, leave and accept the FX risk, or look to move?
- Is there anything else I should be doing at this stage of my life? e.g. investing more in pension, higher life insurance coverage?
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