Moneymakeover 58 No Pension - Mortgage Free - How best to invest €40,000

eyesgreen_1 said:
and my new job is now in Northern Ireland also.
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If your employment is in N Ireland then are you certain you are building up PRSI credits that will count towards the Irish state pension?
Edit: Looks like this is possible.

Combining social insurance contributions from abroad

Combining social insurance contributions paid in Ireland and abroad can help you qualify for a social welfare payment. Find out more.
www.citizensinformation.ie www.citizensinformation.ie
 
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I only started work in NI in December of 2024 so all my previous years more or less from 1988 onwards has been in Ireland.

Also I earn an average of around €12,000 per year through part-time self employment as well as my full time job, so I expect that to continue.
 
balders93 said:
Those sound like class 3 contributions but you might be eligible for Class 2 contributions which would cost only about ~ £180 per year for the same benefits. There's a form on there that you can fill in to see if you are eligible to fill gaps over the last 6 years and they'll send you a reply in the post within a couple of months.
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I had a look on the HMRC site but not sure where to find the form you suggest, do you know the name of it?
 
At age 58, it's a bit late to be setting up a pension, as you nearly 60 after all. I would concentrate in future proofing your home and get all essential upgrades if needed carried out. I don't think I could bear letting out a room at 60 either, at that age you want your privacy but it's hard to turn down 12k tax free too that's if you are getting that much. Invest in your health too, the public system is not in a pretty shape to be relying on.
 
Heidi100 said:
At age 58, it's a bit late to be setting up a pension, as you nearly 60 after all. I would concentrate in future proofing your home and get all essential upgrades if needed carried out. I don't think I could bear letting out a room at 60 either, at that age you want your privacy but it's hard to turn down 12k tax free too that's if you are getting that much. Invest in your health too, the public system is not in a pretty shape to be relying on.
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Thanks for that. Your suggesting a more holistic approach which I’m definitely drawn too. However, I’m also aware of how the financial minds would suggest that the numbers need to make sense too.

I am reaching around the €12,000 on the rent a room scheme, but as I alluded to earlier and I agree I’m already finding the room rental difficult and would much prefer my privacy at this stage.

As your more holistic approach suggests, I would probably much prefer a mid ground of not having to do the room rental but finding a way to have some decent enough chance of a Financially stress free semi-retirement. This is why I paid off all my debt (House + Car).

I’m happy to open some kind of retirement account but as you say only if it makes sense at my age, as I’m afraid the potential of the compounding years have….well let’s just say ‘Elvis has left the building’.
 
Heidi100 said:
At age 58, it's a bit late to be setting up a pension
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It's the very opposite.
He gets 20% relief immediately and it may not be taxed at all on drawdown.

Look at it like this.

Let's say he had no pension but was retiring next year.
He could put in €100 this year and it would cost him €80.
He could take out €25 next year tax free.
And the remaining €75 may be tax-free or, at most, taxed at 20% of €15.
So it's well worth it.
 
Heidi100 said:
At age 58, it's a bit late to be setting up a pension, as you nearly 60 after all.
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Not true. If the original poster qualifies for 80% or more of the OACP at 66 they could leave any private pension invested for a while after that so their investment timeframe could be 10 years and even longer when you consider that 75% of the pension after tax free lump sum may continue to be invested via an ARF or vested PRSA. The tax relief on pension contributions is generous and shouldn't be foregone without good reason. And pensions offer a wide range of investment options with different risk/reward/volatility profiles.
 
If the OP has a permanent pensionable job, perhaps with a 70 yr retirement age and wants the lodger out I think should forget about early retirement.

You finally got permanent pensionable employment after years of being your own boss. It might be work that's well within your abilities to do and reasonable hours too. Let your employer fund your last chance at building up a pension which if it's public sector might be a defined benefit pension as well.
 
CharlieMac said:
If the OP has a permanent pensionable job, perhaps with a 70 yr retirement age and wants the lodger out I think should forget about early retirement.

You finally got permanent pensionable employment after years of being your own boss. It might be work that's well within your abilities to do and reasonable hours too. Let your employer fund your last chance at building up a pension which if it's public sector might be a defined benefit pension as well.
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Thanks for this. Yes I agree, and I will stick with this plan for now. The room rental at present is a necessity and I will continue to use it to build up cash to apply to retirement.

I also have to look at the pension that is now attached to my job, re: contributions match ect and also as advised in earlier posts, I need to look at possibly setting up a private pension. There is also the Uk state pension to consider.

I will hopefully be speaking with a financial advisor in early January and will try to see how best to amalgamate a strategy for saving/investing towards retirement and also the North/South tax situation.

Also, I have family in Northern Ireland, so retiring and buying a property there (Houses are cheaper from what I can see) might free up extra cash and be an option. I have noted debates over whether it is more economically viable to live in Northern Ireland or the republic.
 
eyesgreen_1 said:
will hopefully be speaking with a financial advisor in early January
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Tried this many moons ago. Terribly disappointed. All they want to do was sell me expensive Zurich products.

Hopefully someone will correct me but my read on it is that there are few enough independent advisors and they are very very expensive and typically only of value to very high net worth individuals.

As I said I hope to be corrected.
 
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eyesgreen_1 said:
I will hopefully be speaking with a financial advisor in early January and will try to see how best to amalgamate a strategy for saving/investing towards retirement and also the North/South tax situation.
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There is plenty of free information on these issues available online, both here on Askaboutmoney and on other sites. Many people face these issues so they're not a mystery. E.g.:
www.gov.ie

Information for current and future frontier workers

www.gov.ie www.gov.ie

Cross-border schemes - pensionsauthority

This section provides information on the requirements for pension schemes operating "cross-border" in Ireland. Included in this section are Authorisation and Approval Forms, Guidelines and any recent news or Frequently Asked Questions.
pensionsauthority.ie
 
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Persia said:
Tried this many moons ago. Terribly disappointed. All they want to do was sell me expensive Zurich products.

Hopefully someone will correct me but my read on it is that there are few enough independent advisors and they are very very expensive.

As I said I hope to be corrected.
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well I do tend to agree. That’s why I posted first, as the community here always offers amazing advice. But any research on pensions tend to advise to speak with an advisor first. (But I suppose of course they would as everyone is selling something).

I think really it comes down to the confidence to take the steps you need to by yourself.

It would seem in my case to open a private pension myself and take it from there.
 
ClubMan said:
There is plenty of free information on these issues available online, both here on Askaboutmoney and on other sites. Many people face these issues so they're not a mystery.
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Yes that is fair. I will have a look and try and educate myself in this regard. It’s just some of the jargon can be a little hard to understand, but I will try.
 
eyesgreen_1 said:
But any research on pensions tend to advise to speak with an advisor first. (But I suppose of course they would as everyone is selling something).
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You said you had a pension in work? All you need do is speak to your HR dept about making additional lump sum payments.
You dont need another pension, indeed as afar as I know, you can only have one active pension anyway.
 
Persia said:
Yes, presumed this was possible?
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I don't understand the question.

But an AVC policy in addition to a public service occupational pension is perfectly feasible and is probably a good idea in this case as previously suggested by several posters.
 
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